A New York Lawyer in the Court of Pericles

by David Schenck

  “No. You know we’re equalizing gender power. The mother has as much right to help choose the name and everything else. It’s in the new laws handed down by the Great God Einstein!”

  “Ok, but now I’m tired. Just gave birth and all. So, do me a favor and pick a nice name for our little darling.” Have I mentioned that she could be sarcastic?

  I was tempted to name her “Hello Central” (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court – it’s worth a read, assuming it was still written. Although I don’t see how it could have been.), and I thought about naming her after my mother (or before my mother), but finally settled on ‘Rose’. It’s just a name that I like.

  It took Melite a few tries to work her mouth around the unfamiliar English syllables, but then she liked it. “It’s exotic. Just like her father!”

  She slept then and I sat in a chair near the bed with little Rose on my chest. Soon Rose was asleep too and I followed her a few minutes later.

  Pretty much anytime I was sitting down and nobody was yammering at me, I fell asleep. I was exhausted. There was so much to do.

  Classes to teach, policy to decide, appeals from court cases to listen to. We had changed a lot of laws. But it’s one thing to change a law and another thing to get that change enforced. The police force helped. They made sure our new laws were enforced at the gross level, but at the smaller level we needed to turn to the court system.

  Athens had a functioning court system, with judges and juries. We’d had to alter their jury system. Their system used huge numbers of jurors, chosen by lot at the time of trial to avoid bribery. So a simple case would have 501 jurors. Well, that was fine, except it was based on the idea that citizens didn’t have to work. The jurors were paid, 3 oblos a day, but the money to pay so many non-productive people came out of slave based profits. Once we eliminated slavery, we needed to reform the jury system.

  Moving to smaller juries, helped put the court system on sounder financial footing, but didn’t do anything to help with entrenched prejudices in the society. Ex-slaves and, to an even greater extent, women found that they had a hard time getting justice through the jury based courts.

  For example, our new laws required education for all girls and women and freedom of choice in marriage and career. Any family that denied equal opportunity to the women and girls in their care was subject to penalties in a court. We set penalty guidelines at an amount approximately equal to the woman’s undivided share of the family’s property. So, for example, in a family of 10 people, found to have denied equal opportunity to a woman member, a court would award her a 1/10 share of all their property.

  The problem was that the courts and juries consistently found against these women and girls or awarded them little or nothing. This was because the people who had the time and interest to serve on juries, were mostly the old citizen class. The ex-slaves were, generally, too busy trying to claim their place in the new economic system. Women, too, were generally less likely to apply for jury service.

  The solution I’d set in place was that the losing side in a court case could appeal directly to me. Bad solution.

  Take this case. A family refused to send their daughter, Galatea, to school. Some of our police learned of her situation from neighbors and intervened. Despite several visits from police, the family continued to keep Galatea cloistered. We still were working on building a public prosecutor’s office, so police officials decided the best way to handle the case was to help Galatea file a civil court case (the Athenian court system didn’t yet distinguish between civil and criminal cases, but I’ll call this a civil case because at this stage, only money penalties applied).

  One of our officers, escorted Galatea to file her suit and returned to escort her to court on the day of the trial.

  At trial, her father, supported (at least publicly) by her mother, openly admitted refusing to educate his daughter. The jury voted in his favor and voted Galatea a punishment of ½ day in the public stocks.

  She appealed to me and I, of course, reversed the decision and awarded her a 1/7 share of the total household wealth.

  But, I couldn’t possibly read and decide all the cases that demanded my attention. So, I organized a corps of judicial review. I hired a literate group to read and decide appeals. I paid them very well and reviewed a random subset of their decisions. Anyone found to be making decisions not in keeping with our new laws, was quickly fired.

  Upon hearing about this new system Socrates cornered me one afternoon as I walked to a meeting. “Robert, my friend! How goes everything?”

  “Socrates! As well as can be expected! And with you?”

  “I am well, as well. Have you got some time to speak with me?”

  “Always for you Socrates! What can I do for you?”

  “I wish to speak with you about democracy.”

  “Oh? So, let’s walk as we talk. I’m due at a meeting soon, but they’ll wait if I’m late.”

  “Thank you. As you know, before you arrived, Athens was a democracy. A flawed one it’s true, but nonetheless a democracy. Would you say that it’s a democracy now?”

  I really hadn’t thought about it before, so I took a few moments to think before I responded. “Well, I think that before I arrived, it would be best to describe Athens as an oligarchy. A big oligarchy to be sure, but so many people were disenfranchised. Slaves and women and non-citizen residents, probably more than 80 percent of the inhabitants had no legal right to participate in the governance of the city.

  “Now, the situation is in many ways the same. We are an oligarchy. A smaller one, but still an oligarchy.”

  “Would you not rather call it a monarchy? It seems that your oligarchy members only try to do what they think you would want.”

  “Well, I can see that. Here is what I think. Democracy works great, if we assume that all the people are more or less of the same range of knowledge. On any given topic some will know more and some less and there might even be the occasional person who is much smarter and much more intelligent than his contemporaries. But still within the same general range. Then, I think a democracy is the best government.”

  “And so, you don’t think that we are in that situation now?”

  “I don’t. What if there was, in a city, one man who had access to more information than his fellow? What if he had access to not just more information, but vastly more? What if the things he knew were more like the knowledge of the gods than of men? Then, should he allow his fellows to out vote him and decide on a wrong course of action just in the name of democracy? Or, should he take the burden of power himself. Should he become, not a king, but a philosopher king? And guide his fellows to wiser courses of action.”

  “Philosopher king, eh? I like that. I might use that in my classes. Well, my friend, at least allow me to give you some advice, although I only have access to the knowledge of men. Perhaps a philosopher king, should consider the trappings of democracy, if not its substance. I think that men allowed to govern themselves in small ways will resist less the more significant controls.”

  “Socrates my friend, I am always the better for having talked with you. Thank you.” And so I decided to introduce some limited democratic forms. Not just for trappings, but also to get the people used to the idea, for when I was no longer around.

  I continued on to my meeting. Tros was waiting for me along with Melite, Eleni and ROSE!!!! My darling ROSE!

  “Tros, bring me up to date. What have our agents found?”

  “Nothing!” screamed Eleni. “Nothing! We’ve got people spread all over the world. Greece, Sicily, Asia Minor, even Persia and they can’t find a damn thing! No sign of Cilo, no sign of Aspasia. Not even a reliable rumor!” She sank back down in her seat.

  “That about sums it up.” Continued Tros.

  “What do you suggest?”

  “I think we should expand the search.” Suggested Melite. “Let’s send people into barbarian lands. North of Sicily, and further west. East of Asia Minor and Persia. Let�
��s send people into Egypt and south into Africa.”

  Tros broke in. “The only problem with expanding the search is the lack of competent agents. I worry that we are having such trouble finding her, because our agents are sloppy. They enter a city and begin asking around for Aspasia and Cilo, who are hiding, and word gets back to Aspasia and they flee before we even know they were there.”

  “Do you even want to find our daughter?!” exploded Eleni. “What the fuck do you suggest? Less people? How can you be so fucking dumb????!!!”

  “Of course I want to find Cilo! There is nothing else I want! But more people isn’t the answer! We’ve got 50 teams out right now, and we can’t find her! More of the same won’t help! Aspasia is too smart. We need to be smarter too.”

  Eleni stood up. “You know what? If you’re so fucking impressed by Aspasia and her smarts, you can fuckin marry her! I’m going to find Cilo my own way!”

  And she walked out.

  “Well,” I said. “That went well. Tros, I have to agree with Melite. Expanding the search seems like the only logical step. How would you handle keeping them quiet?”

  “I know!” He cried, putting his head in his hands. “I just worry that they are doing more harm than good! I can’t explain why we can’t find her. I just wish we could find better people for the search. Careful, discrete people.”

  “I’m sorry Tros. We all miss her. We will get her back. Somehow. You know I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “I know. And thanks. Eleni thinks that because I keep working, I must not care. She doesn’t understand that I NEED to keep working or I’ll go crazy! We don’t know how to help each other. And it’s tearing us up.”

  It was a good thing that Tros benefited from working, because we were about to have a lot more.

  But first, it was time for the City Dionysia. An annual festival in celebration of Dionysius, the god of wine.

  Although we’d introduced the worship of the Great Gods Jack Daniels and Einstein, we hadn’t suppressed the worship of the other gods. So, the festival went on as normal.

  A key feature of the City Dionysia was the Tragedy competition. Three playwrights each produced three tragedies and at the end of the competition, a winner was announced. I didn’t have much time for plays, but when I heard that the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles was going to be produced (for the first time in history!), I couldn’t miss it.

  So, we left little Rose with Koré (she seemed to enjoy caring for Rose) and went to see the play.

  I knew the story, of course. I’d probably read the play in college or something. But I have to admit, I was surprised when I saw it performed. Because the theater was huge and the actors just human size the performance was unlike any play I’ve ever seen. The actors all used masks, so you couldn’t see their facial expressions. And the acting seemed highly stylized. There was very little action on the stage. Mostly people standing around talking and a fair amount of the story took place off-stage and was reported by messengers. Still it was nice to get away.

  As we were walking back to our home, I couldn’t stop thinking about the play. There was something about it.

  In the morning, I asked Isodemos to see if Sophocles would be willing to sell us a copy of the play. I wanted to use it.

  Sophocles was more than happy to sell us a copy of the play (apparently there wasn’t much of a market for plays after the Dionysia), he had it copied out and delivered it the next day. We hired a troupe of actors and began to perform it for students in our schools. I attended several of the performances.

  In case you aren’t familiar with the play, here is the basic story:

  Oedipus’ father is king of Thebes, and he receives an oracle that says if he has a son, that boy will grow up to kill his father (the king) and marry his mother. So, like all reasonable people the king and his wife ignore the oracle until they have a son. Then feeling that it’s too dangerous to keep the boy they decide to kill it. Rather than just kill the baby outright, they come up with a Bondesqe plot. The baby’s heels are pierced and tied with a rope and the baby is (fatal mistake alert) handed over to a shepherd to be exposed on a mountain top.

  Well, like all shepherds in these stories, this one is too kind hearted to expose the baby, and so he delivers the baby to one of his shepherd friends from the other side of the mountain.

  The shepherd from the other side of the mountain takes the baby to the king in his country, Corinth, who, it just so happens, is looking for a baby to take and raise as his own.

  So, the young Oedipus, is raised as a prince, but not in the country where he actually is a prince.

  Anyway, Oedipus grows up and one day at a party someone tells him that the king of Corinth is not his real father. Oedipus, asks the oracle at Delphi who his father is. The oracle, instead of answering his question tells him that he will kill his father and marry his mother.

  Oedipus, who loves his parents like a good son, decides to leave Corinth and never return. So, he travels, but not too far. He travels to the other side of the mountain! Towards Thebes! On his journey, at a place where three roads meet, his path is blocked by a group of men, there is a scuffle and Oedipus ends up killing all the men, except one. The king of Thebes (Oedipus’ father) is among the dead. Score one for the oracle!

  Oedipus then continues on to Thebes, where the city is being terrorized by a monster, the Sphinx. The Sphinx asks everyone who passes a riddle and if they can’t answer it kills them. The riddle is ‘what goes on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon and 3 legs in the evening?’ The answer is ‘a man, who crawls when a baby, then walks as an adult, and finally uses a cane in old age.’ Oedipus answers the riddle and kills the Sphinx and arrives in the city of Thebes as a hero! As luck would have it, Thebes is short one king and they offer the job, complete with a queen (his mother), to Oedipus. He accepts and the oracle is complete.

  Then there is a plague in the city of Thebes, an oracle (they are always causing trouble, I don’t know why anyone consults them) says that the plague is because there is an unpunished murderer in the city. Oedipus swears to find this murderer, stuff happens, shepherds are called, the truth comes out, Oedipus’ mother/wife kills herself and Oedipus blinds himself with some kind of jewelry.

  We had the play performed for the students in a school and then after the play I talked with the students.

  “Hello Everybody! I’m Robert. I hope you enjoyed the performance. I want to ask you for your opinions on something.

  “Here is what I want to know: Of what, if anything, was Oedipus guilty?

  “You in front. What do you think?”

  “Er. Um. Me sir?”

  “Yes, you. It’s ok, just tell us what you think.”

  “Well, he killed his father and married his mother.”

  “Yes he did.”

  “Anyone else? What about you in the second row?”

  “He threatened Tiresias the old blind seer. And you’re supposed to be respectful to old people. So that was pretty bad.”

  “Ok. Anyone else? Anyone think anything different?”

  A young girl in the back caught my eye. “What do you think? What, if anything, was the crime of Oedipus?”

  “Well sir, it seems to me his only crime is being an idiot.”

  The room erupted in shock and laughter.

  “Ok, explain your thoughts.”

  “Well, he’s not really guilty of killing his father, because the old man at the cross roads attacked Oedipus first. And he’s not guilty of marrying his mother, because he didn’t know she was his mother. But he is guilty of overreacting to the news. He should have just said, ‘Well the old man attacked me first, and I had no choice but to kill him. And as for my wife, now that I know she’s my mother, let’s get divorced. And just kept his eyes and kept on being king.”

  “Ok. Very interesting. Thank you all for joining us today.”

  As we left, I told Isodemos to get that girl and put her into a new school I was forming.

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nbsp; We repeated the play hundreds of times, I didn’t attend even a small fraction of them, but eventually we had a school of 60 kids who thought a little differently. They traveled with us and had class at all hours of day or night and I tried to teach them everything I knew.

  Time passed, we moved most administrative work to Megara. Our banks expanded to over 100 cities in the Athenian alliance. We had checking services, savings with interest, small business loans, and easy transfer of money from city to city. Banking made trade easier and travel safer. Now, instead of traders traveling with boxes of coin in order to do business, they could simply buy travelers checks. These checks, made of papyrus, had the bank seal stamped on them and were signed by the traveler on one line and there was a second blank line. Once the traveler arrived at their destination, all they needed to do was present the check to the bank branch and sign it in the presence of a bank employee and receive their money, or they could simply leave the money on deposit until needed.

  As more and more administrative functions were located in Megara, we decided to build a capital building/chief temple. I wanted something truly unique. Something that immediately told visitors that the power of this God was unlike anything else.

  I thought of building a skyscraper. I even had the lab boys (and girls) cast some I-beams and work on some models, but they proved too unstable. The quality of our iron wasn’t high enough to trust for the lives of our people.

  I consulted with some architects, but their ideas were pretty much classical Greek buildings, but more so.

  Then I remembered seeing some photos of monolithic domes. These were concrete domes constructed by covering an inflatable (or maybe just disposable) form with layers of concrete. I thought I could maybe do something like that. We obviously couldn’t do it with an inflatable form, but we could build our form out of sand and later dig out the sand to leave a hollow building.

  I worked with the architects to design a building of interconnected domes, with the main entrance being a giant dome reaching over 50 feet high (with 3 interior stories). It would be unlike anything ever seen.