by H A CULLEY
As night was approaching, Lysis decided that there was nothing he could do until the morning. He built a fire and settled down for the night after eating a meal of gruel and olives. However, worried as he was about Iphitos, he didn’t sleep for more than an hour or two in total and he was glad when dawn came.
It was pure chance that Lysis saw the footprints in the soil on the path leading up to the temple. He had, of course seen it before but he knew it had been built ages ago to a deity who was no longer worshipped in Macedon. He would have pressed on towards the nearest farm had he not seen the foot prints. They were obviously recent or they would have been obliterated by the wind and the rain. Who else might have made his way up that path except a boy desperate for help? He turned into the path and, leading the other two horses, he rode up it as fast as he could.
Iphitos had fallen asleep where he lay. At least the old temple gave him some shelter during the night but he awoke stiff, cold and exhausted. Without food inside him to provide energy the cold had resulted in hypothermia and his core temperature had dropped. His body had started to shut down and, had he stayed there very much longer, death would have been inevitable.
Lysis gave a little cry of alarm when he saw Iphitos’ body slumped in corner of the temple. He only paused to grab his water skin before running to the boy’s side. He thanked the gods that there was a faint heartbeat and he prised open the boy’s lips so that he could trickle some water into his mouth. Although he was unconscious, Lysis gag reflex worked and he swallowed the water. After repeating the exercise several times he realised that he needed to get the boy’s body warm.
He quickly gathered some dry leaves and some twigs before striking his steel against a flint. After several frantic attempts he produced a few sparks which ignited some of the dry leaves. Once he had a reasonable blaze going and he piled more and more wood onto it.
With the fire going, he took the two goat hair blankets that were tied to their saddles and wrapped himself and the boy in them. There was nothing sexual in his action; he just knew that Iphitos’ body wasn’t producing any significant heat so the blankets on their own would be useless. He needed Lysis’ body heat to warm him up, in addition to the fire.
An hour later Iphitos started to come round and Lysis hastily extracted himself from the blankets. He built the fire up again and felt the boy’s forehead and hands. They were a lot warmer. If he wasn’t yet fully recovered, he was a long way towards being back to normal. An hour later the boy woke up and Lysis fed him some broth. He seemed unaware of his surroundings at first and accepted Lysis’ presence without surprise. Then he fell asleep again.
They stayed at the temple for the rest of the day and that night. The only time that Lysis left Iphitos’ side was to fetch more firewood and to make them both some more broth using the pulses, oats and dried meat that they carried with them. He had hobbled the horses outside to graze during the day but he brought them inside the temple at night. Not only would they be warmer but he had heard the cry of wolf pack hunting close by several times during the evening.
When Lysis awoke the next morning it was to find Iphitos standing over him with a drawn dagger.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Saving your life, what else?’ he responded calmly. ‘You were near death from cold and hunger when I found you.’
‘Oh.’ He seemed nonplussed by Lysis’ answer at first. ‘Well, I wouldn’t have been in that state if you hadn’t abandoned me.’
Even to his own ears that sounded a trifle petulant.
‘I know and I’ll never forgive myself for leaving you. I was humiliated and ashamed of my crass attempt to kiss you. I totally lost control of myself when you hugged me like that. I’m sorry.’
‘I know that many Greeks like boys and youths that way, but it’s not the way I’ve been brought up and I’m afraid I find the idea abhorrent.’
‘You’re not alone in that. Parmenion shares your views and deplores the way that King Philip behaves. Though I don’t think that all Illyrians share your distaste for male relationships. Enough of your fellow Illyrian hostages have shared the king’s bed at any rate.’
‘That’s not because they like it. They do it to curry his favour and wheedle gifts out of him. They’re whores and I despise them for it.’
‘I’m not like Philip. He takes bed partners purely for sexual pleasure; there’s no love involved. I’m not sure he cares for anyone except himself. In any case, the only person I’ve fallen in love with before you was a girl.’
‘I’m flattered that you love me, Lysis, but it must remain platonic. I like you, despite your abandonment of me, but I only want to make love to a girl; in fact one girl in particular but, like yours, she is married to another by now.’
They stayed at the temple for another day until Iphitos had fully recovered and then they set out once more for Ainos . By the time that they eventually arrived there Philip had concluded a treaty with Cersobleptes and Amadocus . They agreed to provide him with a chiliarchy of peltasts for the next ten years, pay a hefty fine and each would provide thirty sons of Thracian chieftains as hostages. In addition he retained Abdera as a Macedonian city but returned Ainos to Thrace. He also took Meda of Odessa as a wife to cement his new relationship with Thrace.
Lysis said a reluctant farewell to Iphitos and the boy seemed just as sorry to part from him. They had become good friends after their initial problems. Lysis returned to Philip’s service as one of the king’s companions and was relieved to find that the slight delay in accomplishing his mission was of no import. Iphitos’ services as a spy hadn’t been required after all. Unfortunately, it also meant that Iphitos no longer had a role.
He eventually decided to go and see Parmenion, but he had no position for him, so he sent him to Demetrius who had. He was finding his dual role as head of logistics and chief engineer demanding, especially as he was also in charge of all the siege equipment. He had little real interest in anything other than administration so he welcomed Iphitos with open arms. Officially he was his aide on that side of things; in practice Demetrius had effectively put him in charge of the engineers and the artillery; it was a tremendous opportunity for an ephebe who had only just turned sixteen.
Both Philip and Parmenion were glad to be returning to Pella; Philip to annoy his wife, Olympia, by flaunting Meda in front of her, and Parmenion because Kharis was near her due date for the birth of their second child, who had been conceived just before he embarked on the Illyrian campaign.
With his northern and eastern frontiers secured, Philip now started thinking about the Sacred War that was raging near his western boundary.
Chapter Five – The Sacred War Escalates
354 BC
Iphitos was enjoying himself in Pella. Like all senior officers, Demetrius had a large house where his family lived, but which also served as his headquarters. Iphitos had the luxury of his own bed chamber, even if it was little more than a closet. The scribes and other administrators shared a large room next to him. As he could hear their snoring faintly through the dividing wall, he was thankful that he didn’t have to sleep in the same room with them.
Demetrius had two children, a girl of fifteen and a boy of thirteen. Although the daughter, Alexa, was very pretty, Iphitos didn’t desire her. He kept comparing her to Chloe who, being that much older, was sophisticated and experienced in the ways of the world. By comparison Alexa was gauche and naïve. Of course, it didn’t stop the girl becoming infatuated with the handsome young Illyrian.
Her brother, Chronos, also fell for Iphitos, but in a rather different way. He had developed a bad case of hero worship. The boy was about to become an ephebe and join the military academy and he couldn’t get enough of the older boy’s stories of what it was like to be a soldier. Not that Iphitos was a braggart and he never mentioned his espionage in Potidaea, but even simple stories about being on campaign when he was an aide enthralled the younger boy.
Alexa was never allowed to be alone with Ip
hitos, either Chronos or their mother being present whenever they were together, so she never had the opportunity to confess her love for him. Perhaps that was as well as Iphitos would have felt uncomfortable had she done so. He also liked Chronos and, if he was honest, he was flattered by the younger boy’s admiration.
He wasn’t certain that he wanted to be involved with the artillery and the engineers at first but, the more he familiarised himself with them, the more interested he became. Philip had a dozen lithoboloi, each served by a crew of ten under the command of a phylearch. There was no overall commander of the artillery, the senior phylearch acting in that capacity. However as the months wore on and Iphitos became more knowledgeable about the use and capacity of the weapons, the older man was happy to concede overall leadership of the sixty men to the sixteen year old aide.
Engineering really meant erecting bridges, building fortifications and constructing special requirements, such as the mound outside Potidaea so that the lithoboloi could fire down at the wall blocking the entrance to the city. There were no specialist engineers, just a man who had trained as an architect who was given men, usually from the lightly armed spearmen, as labourers for each task. He was elderly now and wanted to retire but Demetrius couldn’t do without him.
Over the months that the army spent back in Pella he taught Iphitos all about construction. He found that the boy had a gift for mechanics and was a quick learner. For his part Iphitos soon realised that using men who knew nothing about engineering and who had to be taught what to do every time was inefficient in terms of both time and effort. He decided that what he needed was a small team of officers who could help him to supervise the labourers.
Chronos’ fascination with the older boy extended beyond the family home and the boy followed him around like a puppy. Consequently he listened to everything that was explained to Iphitos and became equally interested in engineering in particular. He had studied mathematics with his pedagogue and so at first he was ahead of Iphitos in understanding the principles of construction. He agreed with him that a corps of engineering supervisors was a good idea and managed to persuade his father that what Iphitos was saying made sense. Unfortunately, Demetrius had no soldiers of his own; all his staff were civilians, be they scribes, cart drivers or supply clerks. He therefore took both boys with him to meet Parmenion.
He went to the private entrance, rather than the one used by those on military business. He had had no intention of waiting all day to see Parmenion, especially as rumour had it that the strategos had been celebrating the birth of his second son, Nicanor , the previous night and he would probably be nursing a pounding hangover. When they were shown into the atrium they were met by the seven year old Philotas , Parmenion’s eldest son.
‘Greetings sirs. It is good to see you again Demetrius. My mother is still in bed recovering and my father is in a foul humour, refusing to see anyone. May I help you?’
Demetrius and Iphitos smiled at the small boy whilst Chronos frowned, thinking him precocious.
‘No, it is your father we need to see, Philotas . Perhaps you could tell him that I called on him with my son and my aide? We need to discuss an idea for improving the army with him when he is ready to receive us.’
Before the boy could reply a rough looking Parmenion walked into the atrium with a pitcher of water in his hand from which he took a long drink.
‘Oh, it’s you Demetrius, old friend. Have you come to congratulate me? If so, you should have been here last night, then you’d feel as rough as I do.’
He smiled and pulled Demetrius into an embrace.
‘Not quite sobered up then, Parmenion?’ he responded with a grin, disengaging himself from the bear-like hug. ‘You know my son, Chronos. This is...’
‘Iphitos; yes, I sent him to you if you remember. How are you my boy?’
‘Well thank you, strategos. I’m grateful for sending me to Demetrius. I’ve discovered a real interest in engineering.’
‘Oh, you want to talk seriously? Very well, go into my office. I must go and bathe to clear my head; I won’t be long. Philotas , go and find Kleandros, would you, and ask him to entertain our guests in the meantime, and get the servants to bring them some refreshments.’
Philotas took them through a room filled with scribes and officers waiting to see the strategos and into the inner sanctum. The officers gave Demetrius and his young companions a dirty look as they were shown into the office whilst they were left to kick their heels.
Fifteen minutes later Parmenion joined them and invited them all to sit on the bench by the window. He came and sat in a chair, rather than behind his desk.
‘Now, what’s this idea of yours Demetrius and why have you brought these youngsters with you?’
‘Well, as you know only too well, mainly because I keep telling you, I have quite enough to do looking after the administration and the logistics of your army. I therefore appointed Iphitos to help me specifically with the artillery and the engineering aspects of the job. He quickly took charge of the artillery and the phylearchs now look to him as their commander, but that’s not why we’ve come,’ he added hastily, seeing impatience in Parmenion’s expression.
‘Well, why are you here?’
‘Because the architect who manages all engineering projects is now sixty and wants to spend his remaining years with his grandchildren. He has been grooming Iphitos to take over from him and Cronus has been understudying him. My son is particularly adept at the necessary calculations. I’ll hand over to Iphitos to explain what he wants to do once he’s the chief engineer.’
‘Strategos, at the moment your chief, and only, engineer has to train a new set of labourers for every engineering task. Many of these are repetitive, such as the erection of bridges or fortifications, the digging of pits to trap enemy cavalry and so on. He then has to rush around supervising the work, often getting men to undo what they have done and showing them how to do it properly. This is a waste of time and effort and the men’s morale suffers. They become truculent and don’t work hard, or as hard as they might.’
‘Yes, I understand what you are saying Iphitos, but what’s your solution? I can’t afford to devote men to engineering tasks alone; they’d sit around doing nothing most of the time.’
‘Yes, of course. But if you give me a few officers who I could train as engineers they could supervise each group of labourers and get the work done correctly the first time.’
‘Hmmm, I see. How many would you need?’
‘Perhaps twenty, no more. They could also accompany the scouts to select overnight camping grounds. At the moment these are selected by the scouts and sometimes you decide the site isn’t suitable and you have had to move everyone just as they are starting to settle in. The engineers could be trained to find sites which have a plentiful supply of water, are easily defended and have grazing nearby for the horses.’
Parmenion gave the youth a considered look and thought for several minutes. Finally he nodded.
‘Very well, we’ll try your idea. I think it has some merit. I’ll mention it to the king but I think he’ll agree. What rank should these engineer officers be given to ensure that they are listened to, how would you find suitable men and what rank should I give you as my chief engineer and artilleryman?’
‘Me? I thought that I could remain as Demetrius’ aide.’
Parmenion shook his head.
‘No, you can’t be an assistant to an epihipparchos if we are to do this, you’ll become a commander in your own right, and an important one. Besides Demetrius doesn’t want to retain the responsibility for overseeing you, so you can’t go running to him for authority to do something.’
‘Oh, well. The men in charge of each lithobolos crew are phylearchs so I’ll need to be senior to them, I suppose. I hadn’t thought about the engineering officers but they would need to be at least phylearchs, though that might not be senior enough. Lochagos or iliarch is too senior for men with no permanent command, perhaps they could be tetrarc
hs?’ He was referring to the rank held by cavalry troop commanders.
‘Good. That makes sense to me, but we’ll have to say what the king says. I think that your rank should be lochagos, or perhaps iliarch if your engineers are to be given cavalry ranks. That should give you sufficient authority.’
‘But I’m only sixteen. Normally I’d be an ephebe still under training.’
‘Shall I find someone older to put your ideas into practice then?’
‘What, no. I’m sorry, strategos. What I meant to say is thank you, I think that would be about right.’
Parmenion grinned and then winced as a bolt of pain shot through his head. He took another drink of water and then reminded Iphitos that he had only answered two of the questions he had been asked.
‘Well, can I suggest that, if the king approves, you speak to your senior officers to see if they think that they have anyone suitable who might be interested?’
Parmenion nodded, then turned to his old friend.
‘Two more things, Demetrius, Iphitos will need his own aide and I was wondering, given his mathematical prowess, whether you might be prepared to allow Chronos to forego his ephebe training and serve in that role?’
Chronos could hardly contain his delight and grinned broadly, punching Iphitos’ arm lightly, when he father agreed.
‘However, I think you’ll need to teach your new aide to be more respectful,’ Parmenion added, frowning at the familiarity between the two.
Parmenion raised the idea privately with Philip first, who was non-committal, but he did ask to see Iphitos. Of course, he knew the boy from his brief time in the School of Pages and from his mission to spy out the city of Potidaea. He particularly remembered him because he had been struck by how good looking he was. However, Philip had a nose for those boys and young men who would be willing bed partners and he knew instinctively that Iphitos didn’t fall into that category.