Part 12 (1/2)

”Your plan seems a good one,” replied Callias, ”let me think it over for a few hours. Anyhow you shall have my company as far as Thasus, if you will accept it.”

Meanwhile the _Skylark_ was making headway gaily through the well-sheltered waters that lie between Euboea and the mainland of Greece. When the shelter ceased the wind had fallen, s.h.i.+fting at the same time to the south-west. Nearly two hundred miles had yet to be traversed before Thasus could be sighted, and this was accomplished without accident or delay. The time of year was later than a Greek seaman commonly chose for a voyage of any duration, for it was the latter end of October, and the ninth of November was the extreme limit of the sailing season.[43] Hippocles, however, was more venturesome in this way than most of his contemporaries, and his confidence was rewarded by a most pleasant and prosperous voyage. So blue were the cloudless skies, so deep the answering color of the seas, that it was only when the travellers saw the sunset tints on the forest-clad ridge of Thasus--”the a.s.s's back-bone laden with wood,” as it was called--that they remembered that summer had long since given place to autumn.

Two days were spent in a visit to the vineyard which Hippocles had come to inspect, and then Callias, who had soon concluded to follow his friend's advice, resumed his voyage. The course of the _Skylark_ was now south-easterly. The voyage had all the interest of novelty for him, for he had never before visited these waters. When the _Skylark_ started at early dawn there was a mist which contracted the horizon. As this cleared away under the increasing power of the sun the striking peak of Samothrace became visible in the distance. All day its bold outlines became more and more clearly defined. On the following morning--for the good s.h.i.+p pursued her course all night--it had been left behind, but another height, not less striking in appearance, and even more interesting in its a.s.sociations, the snow-capped Ida, at whose feet lay the world-famed Trojan plains, took its place. As evening fell the _Skylark_ was brought to land at the western end of the h.e.l.lespont, the rapid current of which could be better encountered by the rowers when they had been refreshed by a night's rest. Progress was now somewhat slow; and it was on the afternoon of the fourth day after the start from Thasus that the cliffs of Bisanthe and the northern sh.o.r.e of the Propontis came in sight. This was our hero's destination, for it was here that Alcibiades, after quitting Athens in the previous year, had fixed his abode.

FOOTNOTES:

[42] The Eupatridae were the old aristocracy of Athens. Under the early const.i.tution they were the ruling castae, and they always retained the monopoly of certain religious offices.

[43] ”The seas are closed,” says Vegetius in his treatise _De Re Militari_, ”from the ninth of November to the tenth of March.”

CHAPTER XIII.

ALCIBIADES.

The sun was just setting when the _Skylark_ cast anchor about two hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e and opposite the castle with which the loftiest point of the cliffs was crowned. The signal flag which the captain ran up to his mast-head was answered by another from the castle, and in a few minutes a boat was seen to start from a little quay which had been built out into the sea at the foot of the cliff. Callias had written a letter to Alcibiades in which he briefly described himself and his errand, and Hippocles, though modestly depreciating the value of any thing that he could say, had also written, at the young man's request, a letter of introduction. These doc.u.ments were handed over to the officer in charge of the boat, and conveyed by him to the castle. After a very short delay the boat returned again, this time in the charge of an officer of obviously higher rank. This higher personage mounted the side of the _Skylark_, and after giving a courteous greeting to Callias, delivered to him an invitation from Alcibiades to make his castle his home for as long a period as he might find it convenient to stay there, explaining at the same time that his master would have come in person to welcome his guest, if he had not been detained by business of importance with a neighboring chief. The young Athenian's baggage--for he had been liberally fitted out by the thoughtful and generous care of Hippocles--was transferred to the boat, and in a few minutes more he had set his foot on the landing-place.

He had been speculating as he neared the sh.o.r.e, about the way in which the castle was to be approached. An observer looking from the sea might have thought that there was no way of getting to it except by scaling the almost perpendicular base of the cliff. Once landed on the quay, however, the traveller discovered that a pa.s.sage had been cut through the cliff. This pa.s.sage, which could be closed at its lower end by a ma.s.sive door, was something like a winding staircase. It was somewhat stifling and dark, though light and air were occasionally admitted by holes bored to the outer surface of the rock. Its upper end opened in to a courtyard round which the castle was built. The approach from the sea was, it will have been seen, sufficiently secure. On that side indeed the castle of Bisanthe was absolutely impregnable. From the land, it was, to say the least, safely defensible. It was approached by one narrow ridge, so formed that a few resolute men could hold it against a numerous body of a.s.sailants. The walls were lofty and ma.s.sive, and so constructed that a galling fire of missiles could be kept up on either flank of an attacking force.

Callias was escorted to his chamber by a young Thracian slave, who informed him in broken speech that a bath room in which he would find hot and cold water was at his service, and further that his master hoped to have the pleasure of his company at supper in an hour's time. The chamber, it may be said, was furnished with a clepsydra, or water-clock, marked with divisions.[44]

Callias awaited his introduction to his host with no little curiosity.

Alcibiades was, as has been said, a kinsman of his own, and he had heard of him--what Athenian, indeed, had not,--but he had never happened to see him. Callias' father had been an aristocrat of the old-fas.h.i.+oned type, and had so strongly disapproved of his cousin's reckless and extravagant behavior that he had broken off all intercourse with him, and had been particularly careful that his son should never come in contact with him. Callias was about fourteen when Alcibiades left Athens in command (along with two colleagues) of the Sicilian expedition. The absence thus begun lasted about eight years. For the first half of this time he was an exile; for the second half in command of the fleets and armies of Athens, but still postponing his return to his native city.

Then came his brief visit, lasting it would seem, only a few days,[45]

and at that time Callias, as it happened, had been absent in foreign service. He was now in what was or should have been, the prime of life, having just completed his forty-fourth year, but the dissipation of his youth and early manhood and the anxieties of his later years had left their mark upon him, and he looked older than his age. Yet there were traces of the brilliant beauty that in earlier days had helped to make him the spoiled darling of Athens. The wrinkles had begun to gather about his eyes, but they were still singularly l.u.s.trous, and could either flash with anger, or melt with tenderness. His temples were hollow and his cheeks had somewhat fallen in; but his complexion was almost as brilliant as ever, while the abundant auburn curls that fell cl.u.s.tering about his neck had scarcely a streak of gray in them.

His greeting to his guest was more than courteous. It was affectionate, exactly such as was fitting from an older to a younger relative. Indeed then, as ever afterward during their acquaintance, Callias was greatly struck by the perfection of his manners. It seemed impossible that the stories told of his haughty insolence by which in former years he had made himself one of the best-hated men in Athens could possibly be true.

Supper was announced shortly after Callias had been ushered into the chamber. Alcibiades took his guest by the hand, led him into the dining-room, and a.s.signed him a place next to himself. Some other guests were present. Two of these were officers in the military force which Alcibiades maintained in his stronghold; the third was an aged man, who had been his tutor many years, and for whom he retained an affection that was honorable to both master and pupil. The fourth was the Thracian chief with whom Alcibiades had been engaged when the _Skylark_ arrived.

The meal was simple. The chief feature was one of the huge turbot for which the Euxine was famous.

”That would have cost a fortune in the fish market at Athens,” said the host pointing to the dish, ”even if it could have been procured at all.

Here a fisherman thinks himself well paid for such a monster by three, or at the most, four _drachmae_.”[46]

A piece of venison and a platter of quails were the other dishes. The second course consisted of a maize pudding and some sweet-meats.

During the repast the conversation turned speedily on local matters, and was carried on (but not till after a courteous apology had been offered to the young Athenian) in the b.a.s.t.a.r.d Greek largely mixed with Thracian words, in which the chief was accustomed to express himself. The meal ended, a handsome silver cup was handed by the major-domo, a venerable looking man, who made the comfort of his master and his most honored guests his special care. Alcibiades took it and poured out a few drops upon the table, uttering as he did so, the words: ”To Athene the Champion.” This was equivalent to the loyal toasts of an English banquet. He then took a very moderate draught, the wine being unmixed, in obedience to the rule which demanded that all wine used in religious ceremonies--and this libation was such a ceremony--should be pure.[47]

He then tipped the cup to each guest in turn. All were equally moderate, for it was not the custom, even for a Greek drunkard, it may be said, to drink his wine unmixed. But when the cup came to the Thracian chief he drank a deep draught as if the liquor had been liberally diluted.

Callias who had never been at table with a Thracian before, watched the man with amazement. He saw that while the other guests were supplied with the usual mixtures of wine and water the chief remained steadfast in his devotion to the undiluted liquid, and that he emptied his cup at a draught, and that the cup itself was of an unusual capacity. Nor did the drinker seem affected by these extraordinary potations, except that his voice became louder, and his manner more boastful. At last, however, and that without a moment's notice, he rolled over senseless on his back. So sudden was the change that it suggested the idea of a fit.

”Is he ill?” he whispered in some alarm, to his neighbor.

”Ill? not a whit. It is the way in which he always finishes his evenings. His slaves will carry him to bed, and he will awake to-morrow morning without the suspicion of a headache. Bacchus, I verily believe, has a special favor for these fellows, and, truly, they do wors.h.i.+p him with a most admirable earnestness.”

The Thracian's collapse was the signal for breaking up the party.