Requiem For Athens

by David Alkek

“Go to it, Phidias. Give them such a strong argument that they are defeated before they even start,” replied a fourth.

  Phidias, eloquently and with unassailable logic, laid down his arguments. It is the moral law given to us by the gods and put into practice by the state to take care of those, who by no fault of their own, are sick, destitute or maimed. The state has no wealth of its own, but must obtain it through taxes. Those that have more property and wealth should pay more taxes because they have been blessed by the gods. The taxes obtained by the state from the wealthy then can be used to support the less fortunate.

  After he finished, Phidias sat down, satisfied that he had built an impregnable argument. His fellows smiled and patted him on the back.

  The student from Isocrates school arose and began to speak, “What is morally right? Where do morals come from? Who says what is morally right or wrong?” He began with the morals of the gods. Their actions, as depicted in the myths, revealed that they engaged in acts of rape, incest, torture, murder, lying deception and other acts that we consider immoral. If the gods do these things, then are they moral? He next pointed out that what we consider moral acts in Athens, are considered immoral or vice versa in other countries. He told how the Egyptian pharaohs married their own sisters, that the kings of some Asian countries murdered all of their brothers on gaining the throne, so that none would be left to contest his reign. He then illustrated the immoral behavior of the poorer class, who engage in stealing, murder, drunkenness, and rape. Was it therefore moral to support people who act immorally?

  The students then debated back and forth about morality. Was there an absolute standard of morals, and if so where does it come from? Are morals relative to a time and place, that is, do they change according to circumstances? Do extenuating circumstances such as war, plague, or famine justify the suspension of morals or the institution of new ones?

  Whatever the students of the Academy argued, the Isocrates students seem to counter brilliantly. They turned the Academy arguments on their heads and made them appear absurd. Iophon tried to bring the argument back to the original thesis that it is right to take care of the poor. The last and most talented debater of the other school closed by destroying all his points. As he finished, the audience clapped and cheered.

  The Academy students were embarrassed and demoralized. The headmaster thanked them for coming and escorted them from the school. He thanked their instructor for the opportunity to debate the learned students of the Academy. “And feel free to return again for a debate. Our students need the practice,’’ he said with a smile.

  They each went to their homes with heads down, like beaten dogs with tails between their legs. The next day they returned to the Academy. Plato had heard about the debate from Lycon. He asked that all the debaters come and relate to him the course of the debate. Iophon laid it all out. “Whatever arguments we had they seemed to turn inside out. They made us look absurd. We thought our reasoning was sound and logically presented. We don’t know what went wrong.”

  Plato said, “You were foolish to try to debate the students of Isocrates. They are trained to argue any point and make excellent lawyers, if you ever have need for one. They reduced your arguments and thesis to the definition of the words themselves. Words have different meanings depending on their use and contexts. Thus the words ‘right,’ ‘moral’ and ‘good’ mean different things depending on how we are using them.”

  In his third year at the Academy, Phidias was invited with his friend, Stilpo, to attend a dinner at the home of Eucleides, a well-to-do and learned man. There were eight men attending the dinner, and Phidias shared his couch with Stilpo. During the dinner of fish, roast duck, vegetables and fresh-baked bread, the auletrides played musical instruments and danced around the room.

  One in particular kept exchanging glances with Phidias. He was mesmerized by her eyes that twinkled like stars surrounded by a dark halo. Her blond hair, braided and interwoven with bright blue ribbon, hung down to her lower back. Long lashes fluttered as she smiled when she looked at Phidias. He could barely concentrate on his food and conversation.

  After the dinner attendants swept the floor and passed around perfumes. The dishes were taken away and fresh wine was poured for all the guests. In the typical symposion, or drinking together, the wine cups were kept full, while the quests engaged in games, watched professional entertainers, matched poems, riddles or witticisms, or as in Plato’s famous dialogues, discussed politics and philosophy.

  Eucleides spoke, “I propose that each of you in turn submit a riddle for all to solve, or recite a poem that you have created. It may be serious, comical or lascivious. Being the host, I will begin, then pass to the person on my right.” He gave them a riddle, which they all began to ponder. Many solutions were given, some extremely funny, so all laughed. Some wits were sharpened while tongues loosened by the flowing wine.

  As the guests took their turns, Phidias had time to compose his poem. The loveliness of the auletrid moved his sensual feelings. When his time came he said, “I have a poem that I have composed tonight, inspired by the beautiful auletrides provided by our guest. I dedicate it to him.” He glanced purposefully at the auletrid that had held his attention all evening, and then recited.

  “Good food and wine to sate our taste

  Nor we to drink or eat in haste.

  We fill our cups and toast with wine

  The friends herein with whom we dine.

  Fluted notes, dance and poet’s rhyme

  Cool hot emotions for a time.

  Bright talk fills our symposion,

  The mind’s hearty companion.

  Auletrides light heart’s desire

  And energize our loins with fire.

  Beautiful hair and eyes alight

  May warm our beds and souls this night.”

  As he finished, he raised his wine. All the men clapped and lifted their cups. The auletrides returning the favor, smiled, bowed, and began to mingle with the guests. The beauty, whom Phidias had lost his heart to, danced to his couch, her face alight with smiling eyes. Her erect nipples tented the light fabric flitting open between full breasts as she approached, and he held out his arms to envelope her warm, perfumed body. She raised her pale arms around his curl-draped neck and placed her full, moist lips on his.

  After the full, arousing kiss, she grasped his hand and pulled him towards the door. Phidias noticed that all the auletrides were engaging the guests in flirting conversation or caresses. She led him to a small bedroom lit with fragrant candles. Again he pulled her into his arms and kissed her mouth, her cheeks and neck. She pushed his robe off his shoulder until it hung around his waist. She gently ran her hands over his chest, massaging his firm pectorals and tweaking his nipples. His manhood was fully erected and pressed against her abdomen as he lifted her shoulder drapes and let them fall away from her firm breasts. She pressed them against his warm chest.

  Disengaging herself, she led him to the bed, removed his robe and pushed him gently onto the cover. Looking sensually into his eyes, she loosened the cord around her waist, letting the light skirt fall to the floor. His eyes drank in the soft, flawless skin that covered young curves and secret parts. He reached for her hand and pulled her to his chest. She nestled onto his body, his legs open and enveloping hers.

  The time passed in ecstatic delight, each sensually stimulating the other into explosive orgasms. Phidias had never had an experience such as this. His other sexual escapades had been with the pornai. It is true that he paid them to do whatever he wanted, but this auletrid seemed to know how to arouse him to dizzying heights and stimulate him in ways he had never known. After hours of sexual play, they lay exhausted, her perspiring body across his broad chest.

  “My name is Phidias, what is yours, my lovely?”

  “Danae,” she said smiling.

  “You have brought out sensual feelings I never knew existed. You are not only the most beautiful auletrid that I have ever seen, but the most talented.”
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  “Thank you, sir. I appreciate your flattery for a simple orphan girl. Pleasing the guests of my master is what I am trained to do. I am in turn pleased that you like me.”

  “I not only like you, I love you,” Phidias murmured.

  “It is not agape love, but erotic love,” she advised. “Enjoy it for the moment, for it will pass, until reignited by another. Now rest and sleep. The slave will bring you water in the morning and escort you home.” She rose, ran her hand once more from his lips to his chest and left the room, trailing her clothes behind her.

  II The Mentor and the Lover

  Chapter 6

  While at the Academy, Phidias was impressed by the lectures of a particularly bright and energetic teacher. His name was Aristotle. He was not very much older than Phidias, but had been at the Academy for several years. He had dark brown hair and beard. Full of intelligent energy, his mind inquired into many aspects of knowledge. His genius shone through eyes that pierced to the heart of the matter that he was dissecting, or the mind of the person he was conversing with.

  His father had been the court physician to the king of Macedon, and had taught his son some anatomy, endowing him with a lifelong interest in the subject. He decided that Aristotle needed to broaden and polish his son's Macedonian heritage with Greek culture, so he sent Aristotle at the age of seventeen to Athens to study with Plato at his Academy.

  The young man immediately caught his master's eye. He was intelligent, and hungry for knowledge, seeming to soak up everything he could from anyone he met. But whereas Plato was more interested in philosophy, Aristotle's mind was more taken with the practical aspects of this world. He was not averse to arguing with his master about points that he disagreed with.

  Phidias was captured by the incisive mind and broad interests of Aristotle. There seemed to be nothing that he had inquired into, and was willing to expound on. He eagerly attended Aristotle's lectures on biology, physics, logic, politics, and ethics. Once, after a particularly interesting demonstration on biology, Phidias approached Aristotle.

  "I ask you, Aristotle, do you believe that all animals are related in some way?"

  For his part, Aristotle had taken a liking to this eager student, who was curious about so many things. He enjoyed discussing his stimulating questions. "I not only believe that they're all related, I will show you. Come with me to my work room."

  He displayed to Phidias the carcasses of a dog, a lamb, a chicken, and a fish. “Let me show you something." He pointed out that all of the animals had the same organs - heart, liver, stomach, intestines. "The fish do not have lungs like the others because they breathe underwater and have these openings I call gills that the water flows through."

  Aristotle showed Phidias his collections of insects, plants, and animals. "We all know about the sexual union of animals such as sheep, or dogs, or oxen. However, I believe that other animals such as beetles and also plants have sexual union." He explained his thoughts to the eager student.

  "I will eventually collect all my notes on anatomy and will write a book on the subject. Come with me tomorrow to the butchers. I can probably find a pregnant dog or cat to take with us. I would like to show you the similarities in the development before birth of animals such as sheep, dogs, cats and rabbits."

  Phidias was excited. He was eager to know about anything that Aristotle could teach him, and that was a lot.

  One day while sitting with Phidias in the shade of a large oak tree, Aristotle said, “What interests you, my young friend?”

  Phidias replied, “I want to know everything, yet I don’t know how to begin, how to organize my inquiries.”

  “Let’s put them in categories, Phidias. First are you interested in the heavens, that is, the sun, moon, planets and fixed stars?”

  “Yes, how and why do they move? What keeps them up? What are they made of?”

  “Next, are you interested in the manner of inanimate things, how objects move, why some fall and others rise, and what is their most basic substance that comprises them?”

  “Yes, yes, all those things.”

  “Then are you interested in why men act the way they do? What makes a person happy? What is the basis of friendship?”

  “Yes, Aristotle, and tell me also why the different classes fight with one another for power in the polis, the city-state? In your opinion what form of government is best, a king or monarchy, an aristocracy of the nobles, or a democracy of the people.”

  "I agree with the master Plato, that democracy has some good points, but also some deep faults. I have read his idea of a government by philosophers, who own nothing and live in a common community. I disagree with it. I think it is too idealistic and won't work."

  "What do you think is the best form of government?"

  "I think a combination of a type of aristocracy and democracy is probably the best. I would like to do a study of all the forms of governments in the Greek city-states and write a book about it. Would you help me?”

  Phidias was excited by the prospect. "I would very much like to help in the study. I’ve wondered about the different ways that cities such as Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth govern themselves. They have different laws than Athens, but seem to thrive in what they do. So what makes a good government?

  "I also would like to make a study of other non-Greek countries -- Thrace and Macedonia, the cities of Asia, Egypt, and Persia. Some of those lands have ancient histories. They fascinate me."

  "I will help you channel your investigations,” Aristotle replied. “Tomorrow, at a lecture at mid-morning, I will discuss astronomy, and why the planets move the way they do. Now let's go to our homes, for I am invited to a symposium tonight to discuss some of the political questions you have posed."

  * * *

  Not long after that, when Phidias returned to his home, his mother told him that his father was not feeling well and would not be joining him and his younger brothers for dinner. Phidias went to his father’s room and found him propped up in his bed on several cushions, pale and breathing laboriously.

  “Mother said you are not feeling well, Father. What ails you?”

  “Phidias, I’m glad you’re here. I have difficulty of late climbing the steps in the city. I have to stop every little way and catch my breath. Sometimes I cough up pink foamy phlegm. Also I have tightness in my chest if I exert myself. I am getting old, and feel I do not have many years, possibly even months remaining to me.”

  “Father, please don’t speak that way,” said Phidias as he took the old man’s hand and choked down tears.

  “One must be realistic, my son, and face the fact that life will end. We are not gods.”

  “Oh, Father. I never think about death. I merely assumed you’d be with us for many more years. You’re not as old as some men I know. Perhaps you can visit the physicians at the Temple of Aesculapius.”

  “I don’t think they can help me. Some men age and become weaker sooner than others. I’ve had a hard life. I have fought many wars for Athens and have been wounded. Yes, I feel the life left to me is short and I must do some things before the end comes. And you should think about the end of your life, my son. It makes you want to put more meaning into your life each day. For all the days that the gods give us are precious. We should not waste them.

  “Now I want you to do something for me. I want you to write down the will I want to dictate. Your bother Meletus, as eldest son, will inherit the house, the fields and the slaves. He must take care of your mother, younger brothers, and provide for your sister’s dowry. Now that he has married, he seems to have a better head on his shoulders. I think he will do a good job with the estate.”

  “I think so too, Father. I only ask one favor before we write your will. I want to remain at the Academy and teach there if possible. I will gladly give any lands you may leave for me to Meletus. He is good with numbers and knows how to manage slaves and make decisions. I only ask for the house in Athens for myself, so that I may be close to the Academy.”

>   "I have heard from Plato that you are a good student. He is impressed with your accomplishments and eagerness. You have learned much, my son, but there is still much more about life that you must know, life outside of the Academy."

  "I feel you’re right, Father. I want to explore the world outside of Athens, outside of Greece."

  "I don't mean only in that way," his father smiled." You must learn about how and why men act the way they do, about the dirty world of politics, and of course about women."

  "I have had sexual relationships with women, Father."

  "I don't mean just sexual relations. You will be married someday and have a family. You must educate your children. They are all great responsibilities."

  "Yes," said Phidias, "but you have taught me. I will marry and have a family someday, but now I want to remain at the Academy and be a teacher."

  "I knew you would probably say that. You're a scholar and I'm sure that you'll be a good teacher, and perhaps even write a book. Now get paper and stylus and let's get to work."

  Phidias dutifully wrote down the wishes of a dying man. Sorrow filled his heart as the finitude of life struck him in the face. He heard the words of the man who had sired him, raised him with a loving discipline, and given him the opportunity for his education. This courageous man, who was facing death, yet was calmly dictating his will. Phidias hoped that he could face death with the same equanimity.

  Six months after his father had given Phidias his will, he was dead. The family had a modest ceremony that was attended by over a hundred, who spoke of the honest and virtuous man that had been Phidias' father. He listened to the warm compliments that men gave to Aristippus, for he had many friends. Phidias vowed that he would live a life that had as much meaning. He felt that he had a long journey in which to do it. He was only twenty-seven.

  * * *

  A year or so later after attending a lecture on ethics by Plato, Phidias followed the master who was walking along a path away from the stoa. He quickly caught up with him and politely said, “Master Plato, are you engaged in important thought or may I speak with you?”

  “Phidias, I am always engaged in thought and expect to be so until I am dead. For isn’t it true that whoever does not think is as good as dead?”