The Siege of Syracuse

by Dan Armstrong

  PART III

  AN EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRACY

  “I’d rather be a slave on Earth for another man, than rule the underworld and all the breathless dead.”

  -Ghost of Achilles to Odysseus

  Homer, The Odyssey.

  CHAPTER 42

  We learned later that two high ranking officers in Syracuse’s militia had orchestrated the assassination of Hieronymus. One of the conspirators was Theodotus, the same man who had been tortured by the young king’s henchmen eleven months earlier. The other, Sosis, was one of the militia’s most capable soldiers. They returned to Syracuse the night of the murder with twenty of the militia’s cavalry. The rest of the army remained in Leontini to secure the city. Theodotus led the small contingent through the Hexapylon, proudly carrying Hieronymus’ blood-stained mantle and golden diadem as proof of the king’s death. They galloped through the city with torches, bringing the populace out into the streets. Theodotus announced the death of the tyrant and called for the lives of the rest of the royal family—just as Damarata had feared.

  An armed mob, led by Theodotus, swarmed across the city to Achradina. Theodotus ordered the guards to open the gates. The crowd pushed through, filling the agora up to the palace stairs, calling for leadership and accountability. When no one came forward at the palace, the enraged mob began pounding on the doors, prepared to break them down.

  Theodotus climbed halfway up the Altar of Concord to get the attention of the crowd, then called out at the top of his lungs, “We’ve come too late. The royal family isn’t in the palace! They’ve taken refuge on Ortygia. What further indictment do we need? It may be that Hieronymus was about to give our city over to Hannibal, but he was little more than a puppet manipulated by the rest of his family.”

  The mob was largely working class and uneducated. Many of them had supported Carthage because they believed Hannibal would win the war. But these same people were easily swayed by immediate events and a convincing speaker.

  Theodotus was more than up to the task. Following his announcement, he made the case for supporting Rome. He rekindled memories of Hiero and better times. He lied about the status of the war in Italy and invented messages he had supposedly received from the battle lines. He called for a rejection of the royal lineage, and spoke to the ideal of democracy and government by the people. “This is what Hiero always hoped would be in Syracuse’s future—a true democracy! And yet, since his death, the tyrants have taken over. The city council has met just once. What a travesty! I say we call the city magistrates together in the morning and ask them to determine the best way to proceed.”

  By this time the crowd had calmed. Theodotus seemed to speak with reason. The call for a meeting of the city council, which Theodotus knew would favor allegiance to Rome, seemed sensible and right. Slowly the crowd dispersed, anxious to see the matter resolved in the morning.

  CHAPTER 43

  While the guards would not allow Archimedes to leave the top two floors of the tower, they recognized that I had to go outside to help in the kitchen and to empty the chamber pots. The morning after Adranodorus and the royal family had moved into the tower, I went down to the pantry before daylight as I always did.

  I heard Hektor cursing from the ground floor landing. When I reached the pantry, he stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Lavinia and Agathe. He turned at the sound of my footsteps. “Timon, you’re part of the kitchen crew now. Adranodorus flooded the tunnel to the palace last night, cutting off underground access to the island.” He had drunk heavily the day before and the pantry smelled like a tavern. “We’ve got twice as many soldiers to feed and none of the slaves to help.”

  Lavinia was in no better mood. She had not been allowed off the island the evening before and had spent the night in the pantry sleeping on bags of grain. The added stress didn’t help with her tolerance of the always edgy Agathe. Their code of mutual silence gave way under the increased pressure. I spent much of the morning listening to Agathe and Lavinia spit at each other like cats.

  The situation was bad. Everyone was upset by the extra work and the lack of help. Anxious about the prospect of defending the island, the soldiers were nearly as difficult, snapping at our slow service and complaining about the food. As busy as we were that morning, I did manage to get in a few words with Lavinia while we kneaded bread. I asked her about Eurydice.

  “I’ve had no word from her since the birth, Timon. I’ve been seeing Gelo every day, but who knows when I’ll get off this island to see him again.” She turned from her work and looked at me. “Still, I’m more concerned for Eurydice than I am for the child.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The assassination. If violence breaks out in the city, a pretty young slave like Eurydice will become sport of the worst kind.”

  Hektor, already back at the wine, overheard us talking and sidled up to the table. “Any young girl is at risk—no matter what she looks like. But I like our chances better than the royal family’s.” He ran his index finger across his throat and made a ripping sound out the side of his mouth. “I have no idea what Adranodorus was thinking when he walled himself in here. He would have been a lot smarter to have gathered up his family and left Syracuse altogether.”

  Midmorning the Achradina gate was opened to the public after thirteen months of being closed and guarded. I watched from the tower’s north window as citizens from all over the city began to assemble outside the council chambers. The city magistrates arrived soon afterward. They invited Theodotus and Sosis to take part in the meeting. Behind closed doors, it became a trial of the late king.

  Theodotus defended the assassination. Hieronymus was a self-centered tyrant who had jeopardized the safety of the city with his drinking and poor decisions. He was unfit to rule and had to go. The council agreed with Theodotus on this, but when he argued that the rest of the royal family should also be executed, he got more resistance than he had expected. A long, heated discussion ended in a compromise. The council would send three of its members to Ortygia as emissaries. They would give Adranodorus a chance to peacefully give up the island and all claim to the throne.

  Following the meeting, one of the council members, a man by the name of Polyaenus, came out to address the anxious crowd. He stood at the base of the Altar of Concord, where the impassioned Theodotus had spoken the night before, and explained the council’s decision with utter calm and reason. “Those of you who have known slavery, know the horror that it is,” he began, speaking at a volume just above his normal voice so that the crowd would have to be quiet to hear him. “Those of you who have never been slaves have no idea what that means. It is the same with civil strife. All of you but the very oldest, like myself, have only known a life of peace in Syracuse. There has been no real upheaval for nearly two generations thanks to the wise rule of our late King Hiero, so you don’t know what terror you beckon when you take to the streets as a mob.

  “I approve,” he continued, “of your willingness to take up arms to protect what is yours, but I’m not convinced it’s necessary. The council has decided on a less violent path. They will send representatives to Adranodorus this afternoon. We’ll give him a chance to explain his actions and reveal the intentions of the royal family. If his words show that he still has his eyes on the throne and the kind of tyranny we witnessed under Hieronymus, then I say, yes, gather up your weapons and fight with all that is in you to regain the liberty he would take away.”

  Polyaenus’ words were received well. The crowd accepted the decision of the council. Three representatives went to Ortygia. A meeting took place with Adranodorus. He was given a choice—either give up all claim to the throne or hold out on the island. He told the representatives he would give them his answer the following morning.

  That night as I lay in bed, I could hear voices below me. The garrison captain’s bedchamber was directly beneath mine. Only the thick plank floor separated the rooms. At first I couldn’t understand what I was hearing, but the longer I li
stened the more I could decipher. I gradually realized that it was a woman and a man, Damarata and Adranodorus, in an argument of escalating volume.

  Judging from the three times I had seen Damarata and Adranodorus together, I assumed that Damarata was the real force behind Adranodorus’ quest for the throne. Damarata wanted to be queen, and her voice dominated the argument, which had become so loud that I could pick out entire phrases.

  Adranodorus seemed to think that he should accept the offer from the city council. Damarata argued vehemently against it. “Don’t you see? We’re the ones in control here, not them. With the royal treasury at our disposal, all we need to do is get word to the army in Leontini. We can buy their loyalty. With the army on our side, it would be easy to overpower the council and the handful of officers in command.”

  “But we’ve only got until tomorrow.”

  “Stall them. They can’t get in here. We’ll send a secret envoy to Leontini tomorrow. We could know in three days.”

  “I don’t like it. What if our envoy is poorly received? Should word come back of an attempted bribe, we’ll never leave this tower alive.”

  “You’re a coward, Adranodorus.”

  “No. I have a plan. The real power resides in the people of the city. They may be momentarily swayed by Theodotus and believe that Rome is a better ally. But given the chance, I think I can convince them that supporting a winner is a smarter way to go. If we give in to the council now, I might get that chance later.”

  Damarata was enraged. Her voice came through the floor so clearly she may as well have been standing beside me. “There is only one way,” she announced like it was law, “for a monarch to leave his throne; not on horseback, but dragged feet first!”

  Adranodorus stood his ground. “You may be ready to die, but I’m not. I’ll speak to them in the morning.”

  It surprised me that he had that much backbone.

  CHAPTER 44

  Adranodorus met two representatives from the city council at the island gate shortly after dawn. Ten of his most trusted guards encircled him as he walked with the representatives past the palace to the north end of the agora and the city council chambers. Along the way, bystanders fell in behind him, building in number and displaying open hostility. When Adranodorus reached the council chambers, the magistrates came out of the building one by one, followed by the military officers, Theodotus and Sosis.

  Syracuse was a Greek colony steeped in Greek culture and founded on a long intellectual tradition of democratic thought. The forum was where opinions were voiced and debated in public trial. Sometimes an individual might just want to speak his mind without expecting an outcome. At other times a vote might be taken. Actions could be set in motion right away. It was a raucous and sometimes brutal form of democracy. In Syracuse, the Altar of Concord at the north end of the forum served as the public pedestal for this kind of debate.

  Adranodorus stood at the base of the altar, his guards on either side of him. A huge crowd surrounded them. The magistrates, all in white togas, moved through the crowd to the front so that they stood in a line facing the speaker. Sosis and Theodotus, in decorative armor, were also up front, at one end of the string of council members.

  The buildup for this confrontation had been percolating in the city since the previous afternoon. Some people had been waiting in the forum since dawn. Others had spent the night. Hektor attended; I watched from the tower.

  The crowd was agitated and anxious. A few isolated voices called for Adranodorus’ head. Though he was not hated in the way Hieronymus had been, he was recognized as the strongest voice in the boy’s ear. And it had been a tough year in Syracuse under the young king’s rule.

  Adranodorus was not a fool. He hadn’t risen to power in Syracuse without talents. He was a capable administrator and a fair orator. In the company of his wife, he tended toward deception. He was always working an angle. On his own, however, he had more spine than was otherwise apparent. He had defied Damarata for this one chance to speak to the council and the gathered populace. Knowing that his life depended on his performance, he chose his words carefully. He began with an apology, then proceeded to explain his position with a series of lies.

  “I gathered my family and took refuge on the island not for privacy but for security. Once I saw that swords had been drawn, I feared for the lives of those whom I hold dearest. After the death of Hieronymus, I didn’t know where the bloodshed would end. I worried that other members of the royal family or those in our service would also be murdered for their association with the king and his actions. But when it became clear that the liberators’ intentions were honorable and their interests were in the general good, I had no fear in surrendering myself, my family, and all that I have been entrusted with, because surely we all know Hieronymus has received just punishment for his excesses.”

  Adranodorus looked directly at the two assassins, not ten feet from him. “You, Theodotus and Sosis, have done a great service to our people.” Hektor told me later that you could almost hear his teeth gnash as he spoke the words. “But please understand, your actions were only the first step toward the realization of a noble objective. Our city is still in great danger, and if we don’t immediately address the need for peace, our freedom will have no meaning.

  “Trusting that your motives are pure, and liberty and freedom are your goals, as our great King Hiero would have wished, I want to help you achieve these worthy ideals.” He raised the key to the treasury in his right hand and the key to the island in his left so that everyone could see what they were. Then, with exaggerated deference, he laid the keys at the feet of Polyaenus. “For the good of us all, the city is yours.”

  Even from my vantage point in the tower window, I could hear the crowd’s cheer. Adranodorus had more than pacified the riotous mob—one that had come to see an execution; he had won them over. He returned to the tower and dismissed the soldiers he had brought to the island.

  The next day a general election was held to fill five vacant council seats. As on the day before, but without daggers or swords, the populace gathered at the Altar of Concord to create an independent government run by the people. Adranodorus’ performance the previous day had been so persuasive that he was nominated for the first council position. Themistos won the second. Theodotus, Sosis, and another member of the pro-Roman cadre by the name of Sopater filled the remaining seats. The council was heavily stacked in favor of Rome. Even with the election of Adranodorus and Themistos, there was little doubt that Hieronymus’ alliance with Carthage would be annulled.

  CHAPTER 45

  For two days the kitchen staff had worked overtime to feed twice the usual number of soldiers and prepare special meals for the royal family. When the soldiers left the island and the royal family returned to the palace, no one celebrated more than Hektor.

  “Thank the gods, Adranodorus is gone,” Hektor announced as I entered the kitchen to help with the evening meal. He lifted his cup of wine in my direction and took a drink. “I heard what he said in the forum yesterday. It was a full load of crap.”

  Across the kitchen, Lavinia blended flour for bread. “Imagine if the royal family had stayed for two months instead of two days.”

  Hektor choked on his wine. “Don’t even mention it.”

  “We should just be glad that boy is off the throne.”

  Hektor wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Adranodorus and Damarata would be worse.”

  I approached Lavinia. “Can Eurydice see her child now?” I drew an ellipse in the flour.

  Lavinia slapped my hand away. “More than that I hope.”

  “Does it matter that Hieronymus was the father?”

  “You thinking of crowning an even younger king?” Hektor laughed and tossed down what remained in his cup.

  “I just wonder who knows.”

  Agathe came in from the garden with a basket of thyme. “Only us!” Eurydice was behind her.

  Lavinia didn’t even take the time to dust off
her hands. She embraced Eurydice like a long lost daughter. “Eurydice, how are you?” She held her at arm’s length to look at her. “What are you doing here?”

  “I—I—I had to t—ta—talk to you.”

  Lavinia stepped back from Eurydice. “But how did you get in?”

  “I—I—I came through the g—ga—gate. I—I t—t—told them I w—w—worked in the k—kit—kitchen and that the t—tu—tunnel was fl—fl—flooded.”

  “Of course,” said Lavinia. “They would have seen you working here before.”

  “I w—w—would so—so like to see my son. Lavinia, when c—c—can I see him?”

  “Soon. We can arrange a visit,” said Lavinia.

  “D—d—do you think I—I could ha—have him b—b—back?” Eurydice looked to us for support. “I c—c—could raise him in the sl—slave qua—qua—quarters.” It was half question, half her deepest desire.

  Agathe shook her head. “Not with his bloodline.”

  “B—b—but no one k—kn—knows.”

  For once Lavinia agreed with Agathe. “I don’t think so, Eurydice. The boy is better off in my daughter’s home.”

  Eurydice didn’t want to hear this. She was nearly crying. “I—I—I just want to see him. And I—I—I m—m—must feed him.” She clasped her hands to her breasts which were large with milk. “I—I’m tired of squeezing the m—m—milk out. My ni—ni—nipples hurt.”

  I thought I heard Hektor take a deep breath.

  “If you feed him once, you’ll never let him go,” said Agathe. “You’re better off forgetting him. You can have other children.”