by George Moore
A draught of clean water, and we will tell the strange sights we have witnessed: islands taken by the sea and other islands thrown up by the sea, great sinkings and uprisings under calm skies. We watched dead fish floating to the surface, mermaids and tritons.
Dost believe these stories of islands heaved up by the sea and dragged down by the sea, of dying tritons and mermaids floating past amid tunny-fish? Thyonicus asked Kebren. My good Thyonicus, no man knows what he believes! Whereupon Milon was raised above himself, and seeking again with his eyes among the audience he espied the man whom he sought, an old seafarer, who came forward saying: Mine is a story stranger than any that Milon hath heard from his fishers; and so far the seafarer’s words were truthful, for his story was certainly stranger than that of the drowned mermaids and tritons. A great wave from the bottom of the sea, he said, had split his ship, and all were drowned but he within sight of an island on which tritons and mermaids had taken refuge from their natural element, the sea, and for forty days he lived among these. None can live for forty days without food, somebody cried, and the seafarer answered: The tritons and mermaids did not share with me the fish they caught about the island, but an animal with the docile nature of a dog and large, round eyes, softer than any woman’s, came up the rocks and presented me with a fish he had caught. After that he came every day to me with fish, beguiling me at last into the water with him, and together we swam from island to island, getting the fish that we needed sometimes here and sometimes there. My courage often deserted me and I asked myself: Whither goes he? but we swam on together mile after mile, till at last there were no islands within sight and I said: Now I drown! But my friend helped me to endure some hours longer, and when the coast appeared I said: It is to Greece he hath brought me! and swimming on with my last strength I reached the shore; but my friend was nowhere. A cry had rent the air, but I was so weary with swimming that I had not heeded it, and I said: Some great fish hath got him. A voice from the end of the hall cried: A shark must have taken thy friend from thee — a wonderful story indeed! And this story, too, thou wouldst believe? Thyonicus asked Kebren, and to appease the cobbler Kebren dissembled, saying: I know not what I believe, Thyonicus, and in this I am the same as thou art; man, finding no complete truth anywhere, is a weaver of stories — words that were well received by many. Milon’s voice rising above the many voices thanked him for the consideration he had given to the stories of the fishers, and of all, to the story of the seafarer that a seal had brought to shore, and when the tumult ceased Kebren said: On now with thine own story, Thyonicus.
I come with no wild tale of the sea, said Thyonicus, of islands raised up by the waters and dragged down by the waters, but with a simple tale that will persuade you without difficulty to give your votes to Aphrodite rather than to Poseidon, who according to my friend Milon is threatening to destroy all ships and drown all mariners. Would he have us believe that Poseidon is no Greek divinity but a cruel God come over from Babylon or Egypt? Poseidon hath always had a kindly eye for Aulis, and will not be impatient with us if we delay the building of his temple for a week or a month or a year. Being a God he knows all things; in his sea palaces, perchance, he hath heard my odes to Aphrodite, his heart relenting towards her all the while, and being, as I have said, a kind God, he hath pity for the children that are exposed every year by parents who lack money to buy their daily bread and have no heart to rear children with nothing in front of them but a life more miserable than they themselves have known. Many of our ancient stories tell of male children brought home by shepherds to childless wives, few of rescued girls, and it is for these I plead.
So did Thyonicus speak, and all the crowd about him were agape to hear why he pleaded for the innocent human flesh of the children of poor parents, and how he would connect their deaths with the temple of Aphrodite. But being a clever pleader Thyonicus waited till the curiosity of the townsfolk was at height before revealing his project for the maintenance of the temple. Among the female children exposed, he said, there would be many who would grow into beautiful girls, and being dedicate to Aphrodite would bring the great world to Aulis; and instead of being a small port, with but few hetaeræ and those of an inferior sort, sufficient for the fishermen but no more, Aulis would soon rival Corinth. Out of human pity Thyonicus raised a vision of great profligacy clearly to be read in the faces of all about him, a profligacy that enraged Kebren till he could bear it no longer; and with an anger that was seldom in him he denounced Thyonicus’s pity for abandoned female children as a means of reshaping the blithe Aphrodite to the likeness of her abominable sister, the Persian Goddess Astarte. His indignation waxed, and he asked Thyonicus if he knew that in the temple of Belus every girl on attaining the age of puberty had to sit there till a piece of silver was thrown into her lap, the silver going to the maintenance of the temple and the girl to the pleasure of the man in some secluded dell. Thyonicus shrugged his shoulders saying: — Tales from Herodotus! a sneer that Kebren could not let pass without a reproof. One of the greatest of our writers, he answered; wouldst thou stint our knowledge of the world to the hollow, rocky coasts of Euboea? And to smite through helmet and breastplate, he added: Yesterday, whilst we sought along the plain for a site for the temple, thy pleading was for secluded groves of pines and plane-trees; thy thoughts then were upon the temple of Belus and its priestesses, and no doubt if thou wert alone in this matter our own sweet Erycine would soon be changed to the Astarte of the Assyrians. We were austere and pure till the Persians came, and having chased the Persians out of our country would it not be shameful to bring over their Gods for worship? — words that brought a majority of the deputation over to the side supported by Kebren, who, quick to take advantage of a revulsion of feeling in his favour, cried: — Let us to the vote and discover by a show of hands who is for Aphrodite and who for Poseidon. Many hands were raised, but before Kebren had time to apply himself to the count, Thyonicus intervened, saying: — My answer to thee, Kebren, hath not yet been heard. Is it not better that children exposed on the mountainsides should live for the Goddess than become food for wolves and bears? I ask, fellow-townsmen, that your votes shall be given to the children. And I ask, said Kebren, that children whom their parents cannot support shall be taken over by the town and taught trades. Thou wouldst impose further taxes on the people? Thyonicus asked. At the word taxes a shudder seemed to pass through the assembly, and Kebren, knowing he had lost many supporters, began his count languidly, which turned out as he expected, an equal number of votes being given to Poseidon and to Aphrodite. Thyonicus called upon Kebren to give the casting vote. It is for Otanes to give the casting vote, Kebren answered, and I will not detain you here any longer. Milon, Thyonicus, myself, and an ancient seaman whose name I have not heard, have spoken; a vote hath been taken, and the decision remains with Otanes, which is as it should be, since he pays for the temple.
CHAPTER XIV
MY MANAGEMENT OF the people seems to have pleased thee, Biote; thy face is full of happiness. Biote, taken by surprise, answered demurely that since Otanes was to give the casting vote they had better go to him, but as they rose to their feet Timotheus opened the door. Thou art about early this morning, father. We were on our way to thee. And thou, Thrasillos, whence comest thou? From a search with Rhesos along the valley-side for a site for the temple, and the news reaching us that the meeting in the market-place was over, and that a deputation had come hither, I have come to hear if the temple is to be dedicated to Aphrodite or to Poseidon. As many were for God as for Goddess, Kebren answered, and Thyonicus asked me to give the casting vote; but I said that the casting vote lay with Otanes. If Poseidon had been chosen as tutelar God of Aulis, said Thrasillos, we might have been compelled to bring a sculptor from Athens to carve his statue; and on being asked wherefore, he replied: — Rhesos told me he could do nothing with Poseidon, and I agreed with him that the God would not be a suitable statue for the temple I have in mind. Rhesos coming into the hall at that moment was asked why he
was averse from Poseidon, and he answered: Because I have Aphrodite in my mind. But grandfather — hath he heard the story of the assembly? Grandfather hath only just left his bed, Kebren replied. Then let us hear the story. But I have told it to thy mother, Rhesos, and may not repeat it without wearying her. I can leave if I weary of it, said Biote, but I shall not; and tell it in the same words, Kebren, for a good story loses none of its goodness in repetition. And Kebren having told the story as nearly as he could in the words he had used before, was reproved by Biote: As an actor of old time and a rhapsodist, thou shouldst have been able to repeat it without loss of accent or intonation.
This morning, Biote, thou’rt cross-grained, Otanes remarked, and wishing his grandsons to make Aulis memorable with their skill, come what might, he averred in no hesitating voice that Thyonicus had raised a question which appealed to him, saying he had always pitied the children exposed on mountain-sides to be devoured by wild beasts, or to be rescued, perchance, by a passing shepherd. Oracles, it is true, have bidden this to be done, he continued, and poverty, perhaps the most potent oracle of all, hath urged parents to abandon their children; but now an opportunity comes to make an end of a practice of which the Greeks everywhere begin to be ashamed. Kebren and myself are paying for the temple, but we must make provision for the future, and Thyonicus hath shown us that this can be done. We shall take the children in their early infancies, before they have will to choose, but it may be assumed that they would prefer to live to be priestesses rather than to be devoured by wolves and bears; and compromise being the essence of wisdom, I propose compromise with thine ideas, Kebren, which I know well. Although younger by many years than I am, thy mind goes back to an earlier period, when Greeks lived austere lives, but as we cannot return to the past I propose that the children we have collected shall be given their choice on attaining the age of puberty whether they shall remain in the temple as priestesses or be sold as slaves. It seems not a little cruel, said Kebren, that after having trained these children in all the rites of Aphrodite — choral dancing, the playing of lyre and lute, the weaving of garlands — we should sell them. We cannot permit them to remain in the temple save as priestesses Otanes replied, and I vow, Kebren, that to trouble thy heart on their account is vain. Perfect justice hath never existed in the world. The scales tilt on one side or the other. But in rescuing these children from wolves and bears we shall be expressing a morality hidden in the hearts of all the Greeks. Let us be the first to express it. In opposing Thyonicus at the meeting, said Kebren, I knew not that Rhesos was not in favour of the Sea-God, and I must thank Thyonicus for his opposition, since to have chosen Poseidon would have left me under the necessity of bringing a sculptor from Athens to carve a statue that comes by right to my son. Thine apology will be welcomed by the poet-cobbler for a while, Otanes answered, and then, perchance, form the subject of a lampoon. Thy task is to make known to the people of Aulis that I have given my casting vote in favour of Aphrodite. The people of Aulis shall know it within an hour, replied Kebren. Come, Biote, and thou too, Rhesos, for thou wilt have something to say that may help us. Thrasillos — I am concerned with the site for the temple, father, and grandfather knowing the plain better than we, though we have known it all our lives, I would consider with him if the hill over against the sea hath his approval.
Thou hast known the valley but a dozen years, Thrasillos, said Otanes, for in infancy we see little; I have known it for seventy years and have thought of it, which is another kind of seeing, and I would tell thee that on the top of yonder hill are ruins of great antiquity, said to be the remnants of a temple to which the worshippers of Chronos came in a dateless time, before history was, to thank the God for the peace of their lives and the enjoyment of the sun. In that far-off time the beauty of the earth was enough for all men, and satisfied with the fruits of cornfield and vineyard, and the milk given to them by numerous flocks and herds, men wandered or lived in tents without knowledge of the skies and the revolt that Zeus was brooding against his father, Chronos. And for why, grandfather, did Zeus rebel against the reign of Chronos, since it was, in thy telling, of exceeding excellence? Men are not concerned, Thrasillos, with good or evil so much as with their own vanities and ambitions, the bane of godkind as well as of mankind. And the old man’s talk drifting into legends come down from immemorial time of the fierce battles that were fought on high between those who stood by Chronos and those who wished for his fall, he said: Ages went by, till the old forsaken God was left with a few followers in the forests, and when these dropped away the God died. But are not the Gods immortal? Thrasillos asked. We appeal to the Gods in our afflictions and troubles, Otanes answered, and these having seemingly passed over like the clouds, we make mockery of the Gods. Is there no God in which we may believe always, grandfather? Yes, grandson — Providence! On looking back everybody believes himself to have been led by the hand. A sad belief, said Thrasillos. Why sad? Otanes asked, for in it we find escape from our dread that we and all the world are no more than blind chance.
Go on talking, grandfather; I like to listen, for thou art wise. Not in myself, Otanes answered; mine is but the wisdom of years. Our minds enlarge like rivers as they approach the sea. Go thou and seek the first requisite of thine art: a site.
The old man’s head sank into the cushion of his chair, and Thrasillos waited for the old brown hands, like dead wood, to move; but they were moveless. At last a snore warned him that Otanes had passed out of waking into sleep. Now to glide out of the room noiseless as a shadow! he said, which he did; and coming upon Rhesos in the town he told that grandfather believed only in one God, but had bidden him forth to seek a site for the temple to Aphrodite. Did he speak of the ruins on the hilltop? Rhesos asked. He did, saying we must respect the Gods that have been. I am with grandfather in this, Thrasillos, for if we do not, who will in time to come respect our Gods, our temples, our statues? Thrasillos did not answer, and Rhesos was glad to be left to enjoy in silence the light wispy clouds stretching across the skies, reminding him of the manes and tails of the wild horses that were brought from the Lelantian plain to Athens to serve the sculptors as models, and to admire the herons in a patch of tall grasses, without communicating his admiration of the birds to his brother. Nature when she called that bird into being was a sculptor, he said to himself, and when the birds, finding they were watched, rose into the air, he added: — Half the beauty of the heron is in his grey-blue plumage; a painter would be needed to represent him. Every art, he said aloud, still communing with himself, is stinted; it is always loss and gain, turn and turn about. Of what art thou speaking? Thrasillos asked, and he received a sharp reprimand from Rhesos. Thou hast no ears for me, Thrasillos; thine eyes are busy seeking a site. After all, the first requisite of an architect, Thrasillos answered — grandfather’s words to me before he fell asleep. But grant me thine attention, Rhesos, whilst we search this plain or valley for a site suitable to our temple. Methinks we are not far from one yonder where the shelving hillside juts and rises, shaping itself into a knoll. I should like thy temple to be visible from Aulis, Rhesos answered. And it will be, Thrasillos replied; a few trees felled, and pillared front and architrave will come agreeably into the landscape. A view there should be, said Rhesos, for the knoll rises steeply out of the valley; but thou mayst not find enough space on the top for the gardens that we associate with a temple dedicate to Aphrodite. Measurement will tell us that, Thrasillos replied; a rude measurement my stride will give me. And leaving his brother to his thoughts, he paced the swards along and across, tallying on his fingers, returning at last to Rhesos, saying: — I think the space will be enough for the temple, and the slope of the ground giving a natural place for steps leading up to the portico, the building will have the height thou desirest. But Rhesos, still immersed in himself, thought that the site was not sufficiently imposing. Because thou art a sculptor, said Thrasillos, thou regardest only the folds of the ground as they now stand. I promise thee that this terraced sward will give
the appearance thou hast in mind when it is capped by the portico of the temple. Another advantage of this site, he continued, will be that the path at the edge of the field where the neatherds pass every morning can at very little cost be changed to a road whereby we can bring up marble from the wharves.
Thou, Thrasillos, canst judge a landscape as I judge the model before me, foreseeing what can be done with him or with her. But if our decision is to be mutual we must climb all the hillsides, keeping our knowledge of this site from father and mother, and of all, from the townsfolk, and by wearing a solemn, omniscient air we shall be able in the end to impose our choice upon them. Thou art the architect, accountable for the site and the walls and the portico, for everything except the statue in the cella. But I would have thee consider one thing seemingly overlooked: the dwellings of the priestesses. These will be hidden in the woods of the hillside, replied Thrasillos, and the priestesses will reach the temple by rising and dipping paths. Thou foreseest the temple in its relation to the headland, Rhesos answered, and they walked to the end of the shallow valley speaking of the choral dances that grandfather had witnessed in his youth, till they came unexpectedly upon a great plane-tree hollowed out by fire, with a pool about its roots. Whither, said Rhesos, the goatherd brings his flock to drink. Sniff the breeze, Thrasillos, and thou’lt get the scent of goats, as father did when he journeyed across Attica — I catch sight of the folk coming up the valley, Rhesos, and since thou art averse from babble, come behind these trees. Their babble concerns us little, Rhesos answered; it is part of the evening that I would not suppress if I could. All the same, our thoughts about the site we would do well to keep private from them.
