Part 11 (1/2)

”If I am wisest-which I doubt, no matter what the G.o.ds may say-it is because I know how ignorant I am, where other men are ignorant even of that,” Sokrates replied.

Alkibiades' grin grew impudent. ”Other men don't know how ignorant you are?” he suggested slyly. Sokrates laughed. But Alkibiades' grin slipped. ”Ignorant or not, will you walk with me?”

”If you like,” Sokrates said. ”You know I never could resist your beauty.” He imitated the little lisp for which Alkibiades was famous, and sighed like a lover gazing upon his beloved.

”Oh, go howl!” Alkibiades said. ”Even when we slept under the same blanket, we only slept. You did your best to ruin my reputation.”

”I cannot ruin your reputation.” Sokrates' voice grew sharp. ”Only you can do that.”

Alkibiades made a face at him. ”Come along, best one, if you'd be so kind.” They walked away from the Athenian encampment on a winding dirt track that led up towards Aetna. Alkibiades wore a chiton with purple edging and shoes with golden clasps. Sokrates' tunic was threadbare and raggedy; he went barefoot the way he usually did, as if he were a sailor.

The sight of the most and least elegant men in the Athenian expedition walking along together would have been plenty to draw eyes even if the Salaminia Salaminia hadn't just come to Katane. As things were, they had to tramp along for several stadia before shaking off the last of the curious. Sokrates ignored the men who followed hoping to eavesdrop. Alkibiades glowered at them till they finally gave up. hadn't just come to Katane. As things were, they had to tramp along for several stadia before shaking off the last of the curious. Sokrates ignored the men who followed hoping to eavesdrop. Alkibiades glowered at them till they finally gave up.

”Vultures,” he muttered. ”Now I know how Prometheus must have felt.” He put a hand over his liver.

”Is that what you wanted to talk about?” Sokrates asked.

”You know what I want to talk about. You were there when those idiots in gold wreaths summoned me back to Athens,” Alkibiades answered. Sokrates looked over at him, his face showing nothing but gentle interest. Alkibiades snorted. ”And don't pretend you don't, either, if you please. I haven't the time for it.”

”I am only the most ignorant of men-” Sokrates began. Alkibiades cursed him, as vilely as he knew how. Sokrates gave back a mild smile in return. That made Alkibiades curse harder yet. Sokrates went on as if he hadn't spoken: ”So you will will have to tell me what it is you want, I fear.” have to tell me what it is you want, I fear.”

”All right. All right right.” Alkibiades kicked at a pebble. It spun into the brush by the track. ”I'll play your polluted game. What am I supposed to do about the Salaminia Salaminia and the summons?” and the summons?”

”Why, that which is best, of course.”

”Thank you so much, O most n.o.ble one,” Alkibiades snarled. He kicked another pebble, a bigger one this time. ”Oimoi! That hurt!” He hopped a couple of times before hurrying to catch up with Sokrates, who'd never slowed. That hurt!” He hopped a couple of times before hurrying to catch up with Sokrates, who'd never slowed.

Sokrates eyed him with honest perplexity. ”What else can can a man who knows what the good is do but that which is best?” a man who knows what the good is do but that which is best?”

”What is is the good here?” Alkibiades demanded. the good here?” Alkibiades demanded.

”Why ask me, when I am so ignorant?” Sokrates replied. Alkibiades started to kick yet another pebble, thought better of it, and cursed again instead. Sokrates waited till he'd finished, then inquired, ”What do you you think the good is here?” think the good is here?”

”Games,” Alkibiades muttered. He breathed heavily, mastering himself. Then he laughed, and seemed to take himself by surprise. ”I'll pretend I'm an ephebe again, eighteen years old and curious as a puppy. By the G.o.ds, I wish I were. The good here is that which is best for me and that which is best for Athens.”

He paused, waiting to see what Sokrates would say to that. Sokrates, as was his way, asked another question: ”And what will happen if you return to Athens on the Salaminia Salaminia?”

”My enemies there will murder me under form of law,” Alkibiades answered. After another couple of strides, he seemed to remember he was supposed to think of Athens, too. ”And Nikias will find some way to botch this expedition. For one thing, he's a fool. For another, he doesn't want to be here in the first place. He doesn't think we can win. With him him in command, he's likely right.” in command, he's likely right.”

”Is this best for you and best for Athens, then?” Sokrates asked.

Alkibiades gave him a mocking bow. ”It would seem not, O best one,” he answered, as if he were chopping logic in front of Simon the shoemaker's.

”All right, then. What other possibilities exist?” Sokrates asked.

”I could make as if to go back to Athens, then escape somewhere and live my own life,” Alkibiades said. ”That's what I'm thinking of doing now, to tell you the truth.”

”I see,” Sokrates said. ”And is this best for you?”

A wild wolf would have envied Alkibiades' smile. ”I think so. It would give me the chance to avenge myself on all my enemies. And I would, too. Oh, wouldn't I just?”

”I believe you,” Sokrates said, and he did. Alkibiades was a great many things, but no one had ever reckoned him less than able. ”Now, what of Athens if you do this?”

”As for the expedition, the same as in the first case. As for the polis, to the crows with it,” Alkibiades said savagely. ”It is my enemy, and I its.”

”And is this that which is best for Athens, which you said you sought?” Sokrates asked. Yes, Alkibiades would make a formidable enemy.

”A man should do his friends good and his enemies harm,” he said now. ”If the city made me flee her, she would be my enemy, not my friend. Up till now, I have done her as much good as I could. I would do the same in respect to harm.”

A wall lizard stared at Sokrates from a boulder sticking up out of the scrubby brush by the side of the track. He took one step closer to it. It scrambled off the boulder and away. For a moment, he could hear it skittering through dry weeds. Then it must have found a hole, for silence returned. He wondered how it knew to run when something that might be danger approached. But that riddle would have to wait for another time. He gave his attention back to Alkibiades, who was watching him with an expression of wry amus.e.m.e.nt, and asked, ”If you go back with the Salaminia Salaminia to Athens, then, you say, you will suffer?” to Athens, then, you say, you will suffer?”

”That is what I say, yes.” Alkibiades dipped his head in agreement.

”And if you do not accompany the Salaminia Salaminia all the way back to Athens, you say that the polis will be the one to suffer?” all the way back to Athens, you say that the polis will be the one to suffer?”

”Certainly. I say that also,” Alkibiades replied with a wry chuckle. ”See how much I sound like any of the other poor fools you question?”

Sokrates waved away the gibe. ”Do you say that either of these things is best for you and best for Athens?”

Now Alkibiades tossed his head. ”It would seem not, O best one. But what else can I do? The a.s.sembly is back at the city. It voted what it voted. I don't see how I could change its mind unless. ...” His voice trailed away. He suddenly laughed out loud, laughed out loud and sprang forward to kiss Sokrates on the mouth. ”Thank you, my dear! You have given me the answer.”

”Nonsense!” Sokrates pushed him away hard enough to make him stumble back a couple of paces; those stonecutter's shoulders still held a good deal of strength. ”I only ask questions. If you found an answer, it came from inside you.”

”Your questions shone light on it.”

”But it was there all along, or I could not have illuminated it. And as for the kiss, if you lured me out into this barren land to seduce me, I am afraid you will find yourself disappointed despite your beauty.”

”Ah, Sokrates, if you hadn't put in that last I think you would have broken my heart forever.” Alkibiades made as if to kiss the older man again. Sokrates made as if to pick up a rock and clout him with it. Laughing, they turned and walked back toward the Athenians' encampment.

Herakleides threw up shocked hands. ”This is illegal!” he exclaimed.

Nikias wagged a finger in Alkibiades' face. ”This is unprecedented!” he cried. By the way he said it, that was worse than anything merely illegal could ever be.

Alkibiades bowed to each of them in turn. ”Ordering me home when I wasn't in Athens to defend myself is illegal,” he said. ”Recalling a commander in the middle of such an important campaign is unprecedented. We have plenty of Athenians here. Let's see what they they think about it.” think about it.”

He looked across the square in Katane. He'd spoken here to the a.s.sembly of the locals not long before, while Athenian soldiers filtered into the polis and brought it under their control. Now Athenian hoplites and rowers and marines filled the square. They made an a.s.sembly of their own. It probably was illegal. It certainly was unprecedented. Alkibiades didn't care. It just as certainly was his only chance.

He took a couple of steps forward, right to the edge of the speakers' platform. Sokrates was out there somewhere. Alkibiades couldn't pick him out, though. He shrugged. He was on his own anyhow. Sokrates might have given him some of the tools he used, but he he had to use them. He was fighting for had to use them. He was fighting for his his life. life.

”Hear me, men of Athens! Hear me, people people of Athens!” he said. The soldiers and sailors leaned forward, intent on his every word. The people of Athens had sent them forth to Sicily. The idea that they might of Athens!” he said. The soldiers and sailors leaned forward, intent on his every word. The people of Athens had sent them forth to Sicily. The idea that they might be be the people of Athens as well as its representatives here in the west was new to them. They had to believe it. Alkibiades had to make them believe it. If they didn't, he was doomed. the people of Athens as well as its representatives here in the west was new to them. They had to believe it. Alkibiades had to make them believe it. If they didn't, he was doomed.

”Back in the polis, the a.s.sembly there”-he wouldn't call that the people of Athens the people of Athens-”has ordered me home so they can condemn me and kill me without most of my friends-without you you-there to protect me. They say I desecrated the herms in the city. They say I profaned the sacred mysteries of Eleusis. One of their so-called witnesses claims I broke the herms by moonlight, when everyone knows it was done in the last days of the month, when there was no moonlight. These are the sorts of people my enemies produce against me.”

He never said he hadn't mutilated the herms. He never said he hadn't burlesqued the mysteries. He said the witnesses his opponents produced lied-and they did.

He went on, ”Even if I went back to Athens, my enemies' witnesses would say one thing, my few friends and I another. No matter how the jury finally voted, no one would ever be sure of the truth. And so I say to you, men of Athens, people people of Athens, let us not rely on lies and jurymen who can be swayed by lies. Let us rest my fate on the laps of the G.o.ds.” of Athens, let us not rely on lies and jurymen who can be swayed by lies. Let us rest my fate on the laps of the G.o.ds.”