CHAPTER 32: The Broach of Arrogance
Melaina woke late to find Keladeine missing. Instantly, she felt abandoned and longed for Kallias. She left the temple and walked the courtyard grounds alone, but couldn't find Kallias or the young priestess. The weather had turned cold and a group of men recognized her and offered help, but she refused, sinking into depression. She worried about the child, felt it shift inside her, and wondered how she could have talked Kallias into bringing her to desolate Delos.
Finally, she found Keladeine with a strange-looking man, the two shooting arrows into an old tree stump out by a shallow marsh. Keladeine had a quiver stuffed with handmade arrows strapped to her back. Melaina thought her companion looked unmanly, his dress effeminate. Keladeine called him "Colaxais" as he showed her how to sight along the arrow and gauge the elevation of its tip to allow for fall during flight. Lykos and an even larger black dog stood to the side, obediently staying their ground.
Upon seeing Melaina, Keladeine dismissed her teacher, speaking to him in a foreign tongue.
"What an odd fellow. Who is he?" asked Melaina.
"A noble-blooded Scythian of great wealth. He makes his home on the banks of the quiet-flowing but mighty Don River."
"What! A Scythian? Scythians are uncivilized, and have uncouth eating habits."
"Ah, he's not so bad, once you get to know him. Besides, they're not always after pleasures of the flesh."
"I've heard they don't allow the elderly to die of old age, but include them in a sacrifice with their cattle, their human flesh boiled and eaten along with beef."
"Don't believe everything you hear, Melaina. And they are handy. Second to none with the bow. And the gods enjoy their presence. A Scythian's nature attracts them."
The two girls walked to the rush-overgrown marsh marking the shallow, sacred lake, 'the Wheel' as the Delians called it. A small stream flowing from Mt. Kynthos kept the lake brimming with fresh water. On an oasis in the center, a tall date palm grew. Melaina stared across the water at it. She was still dizzy, reeling from her vision the night before.
"Yes," said Keladeine, "Leto spread her arms around that tree while giving birth to Artemis and Apollo."
"Wow!" said Melaina. "What a sacred site." She watched as tuneful, muse-inspired swans swum, lacing the eddying mere where bulrushes hid the far shore and the sun's heat drew mist skyward. Along the western flank, between lake and sea, stood a row of roaring lions, statuesque guardians of the lake.
Melaina spoke with Keladeine of last night's vision, explaining that she'd seen the gods and knew their will concerning the forthcoming battle in Ionia. She didn't know how to speak to the generals about it, yet knew she must. Melaina hadn't seen Kallias since the night before and missed him considerably. She'd come to appreciate a man's presence.
She and Keladeine left the lake and walked up Mt. Kynthos to the temple of Athena. Melaina stopped every few steps to catch her breath. "Gone are the days when I could bound about like a young rabbit. The child takes my strength." But she didn't have to walk the full distance. A small donkey-drawn cart carrying supplies for the temple allowed them aboard.
They said prayers at both Athena's temple and at that of Zeus the father. Keladeine officiated, speaking the words for Melaina. They stepped back outside. From the top of Kynthos they viewed the entire world. The hilltop was formed of broken boulders and curious skull-like formations. Delos itself was a thin sliver of rock, beneath a stark-blue sky, surrounded by sea. Keladeine pointed out the islands of the Cyclades visible from the lofty peak: close-by Reneia and Mykonos, of course, but also Paros and Naxos, twin shores to the south.
Melaina noticed three ships sail around the southern tip of Mykonos and Greek warships immediately intercept them. "Look!" she said.
"Something's happened," said Keladeine. "We must hurry down."
They again sought the cart and descended the hill. As they reached the village, Lykos saw Kallias first and would have attacked except for obedience to Keladeine. "Off, Lykos!" she scolded.
"Lord Kallias," Melaina said, "we've seen three ships accosted off the tip of Mykonos. Do you think they're Persian?"
"No. We've just received the news ourselves. They're Hellenes from Ionia and requesting council. The generals bid me summon you also. Seems I've become your herald. Descendant of the divine herald, as I am, is it any wonder?"
Keladeine returned to the temple of Artemis, and Melaina entered the council chamber with Kallias amid great confusion, everyone excited and shouting at once. "Show them in as soon as they arrive," said Leotychides. "Word from the Aegean's far shore is food for the ears."
The three Samians entered, dressed in full war garb with swords hanging from their belts. The eldest, gray-haired and hump-shouldered, stood in the center of the chamber and spoke, his excited voice echoing in the hall. "We've been sent by all Samians without the knowledge of Xerxes or Theomestor whom the king left as tyrant over our island," he said. "The Persian fleet musters on Samos as we speak, but not for battle. After their defeat at Salamis, low morale affords them little more than the strength to stand watchdog over Ionia. The time is ripe. Liberate us!"
Leotychides spoke. "Your request adds to that we heard yesterday saying the gods also wish us to force the issue in Ionia. But we Spartans serve only our own security. Meddling in the affairs of others is ever a great plague on humanity. Your words are comforting, but demonstrate even less reason to press the attack." With that Leotychides took his seat.
The hump-shoulder Samian leader looked perplexed and waved his arms but was speechless. Finally, he found his voice. "At the mere sight of Hellene sails on the horizon, not only Samos but all Ionia will revolt against Xerxes. The Persians can offer little resistance. You'll reap a great harvest. Although it serves our good, it also serves yours. Xerxes will use Ionia to harass the rest of Hellas far into the future if you permit this continued occupation."
Leotychides rose again. "We haven't the means to attack the lion in its lair. Our ships are badly supplied and ill-prepared for a long siege. When Agamemnon invaded Asia, Hellenes pounded Trojan walls ten long years before they fell."
"Not so this time," said the Samian. "Persian ships are unhandy and no match for yours. Surely you learned that at Salamis. That Hellenes would attempt an assault on Ionia has never entered Persian thought."
"Persians don't think of it, because it's foolish," countered Leotychides.
Xanthippus rose. Melaina could see that the Athenian, though second in command, carried more weight with the men than did Leotychides. "Endless excuses," he said. "Did all brave Spartans die with Leonidas at Thermopylae? We Athenians are by our very nature disposed toward action. Let us not pass up this opportunity. The Ionian is right. All Hellas is at risk so long as Persia holds sway over Ionia."
Leotychides countered. "Athenians are ever eager to voice an insult, yet even Delphi's oracle speaks against action. Did not Apollo dictate that all battles must be fought on Athenian soil? Kallias said as much yesterday."
Kimon had remained quiet, but now jumped to his feet, his voice booming the hall. "You vomit stupidity! We can rot on Delos no longer." He turned to Melaina. "Even our women prod us forward. You filthy cowards! You're fit only for the dung heap."
Leotychides seemed to falter, then said, "We'll have to talk to the Ephors at Sparta before making a decision. I can't risk troops without authority."
The leader of the Samians spoke again. "Never would I have imagined such faintheartedness. Tigranes is the only warrior of any talent among them. Beware the man who has to face him in single combat. But he is only one man. In the name of honor that all Hellas holds sacred!" he shouted. "Save us from slavery. We are men of the same blood as you. Expel the foreigner from our soil."
Leotychides seemed a coward to Melaina. She could see it all slipping away. The generals would indeed stay on Delos and the Aegean remain forever a haunt and refuge for Persian warships. A wave of grief fell upon her, and her hand touched upon the golden Broach of
Arrogance. The symbols on it were chiseled into her mind's eye such that she could see them without the broach before her. Now they burned bright as never before, flames licking the edges of the stylus strokes, the script on fire. The ancient tongue spoke to her, The command of Zeus is ever upon you, his struggle is yours. Great anger emanated from each letter.
Melaina jerked the broach from her cloak, stood, and walked among the generals, holding it up for all to see. "Here!" she shouted, her eyes flashing across theirs in flagrant disregard of feminine custom, recording their astonishment. "This golden broach given to me by the blacksmith at Eleusis was formed using the Telchines' ancient art. The eagle, whose shape it has, is that which gnawed Prometheus' liver, a bane for the god's arrogance when he stole fire and gave it to mortals. This broach warns against that arrogance all mortals inherited with the fire. Xerxes, yea all Persia, is the embodiment of arrogance. He claims to be King of Kings, yet is no more than any Hellene citizen."
Melaina saw Kallias shift uncomfortably in his chair and shake his head, while Leotychides fidgeted and looked about him, not knowing if he should stoop to argue with a woman. He finally spoke, "But consider this, daughter of illustrious Kynegeiros. Realize Delphi's imperative that the struggle for Hellas be fought before a temple of Demeter and on Athenian soil. Kallias tells us this. Yet none of Ionia, Aegean islands or Asia, belongs to Athens."
Melaina turned her eyes directly on him, her brow wrinkled in anger. "No matter that none of it is lawful Athenian soil. The Gods speak of their view of the land, not the idle opinion of mortals. In ancient times, the sons of King Kodrus of Athens by divine decree sailed to Asia and founded Ionia. It will always be Athenian in the heart of Athena and Zeus the father. This wrangling is simply an excuse to escape divine will. In my vision on the way to Epidaurus, the Fates hadn't yet sewn the cloth of our fate. But last night while watching the dancing in the courtyard, I had another vision, and watched as Athena asked, and Zeus chose sides. Divine will now stands with Hellas. Zeus has already decreed Ionia unshackled. You have but to deal the divine blow."
Leotychides' face went blank. Melaina knew she had him in a tight spot. Not only was a woman telling a man to show courage, but she also, by pronouncing the gods' decree, had removed all their excuses.
Since he sat in shameful silence, she spoke again. "The three divine crones, daughters of Nyx, weave the future as we speak. As long as Xerxes has a single Hellene city within his grasp, he'll covet the rest. Xerxes will be defeated. The only question is whether you have the courage to be part of it. Let me tell you this…."
Melaina felt herself jerked backward. Kallias had hold and pulled her, not only from in front of the generals, but also from the chamber and into the fading afternoon sunlight. Once outside he told her, "I've saved you from the very arrogance you speak against. It's not a woman's place to scold generals."
"How else could I cure their blindness?" But even as she spoke in her own defense, guilt overcame her. In her zeal she'd overstepped her bounds, as she was so apt to lately. How could she have progressed so quickly from fear of even speaking to the generals, to ordering them into battle?
"I'll return to see that their wrath goes not too strong against you," said Kallias. "Perhaps they'll impose a mild punishment. You're young and intend good." He walked away.
The Mysteries, A Novel of Ancient Eleusis Page 78