by H A CULLEY
He grinned at his brother who looked faintly revolted.
‘No, I had in mind an epihipparchia of cavalry, two of infantry and one of peltasts as a professional, full time force. At present our citizen army is poorly trained, inflexible and can only carry out a few set piece manoeuvers on the battlefield. From the little I’ve seen since my return, they have difficulty in handling the twelve foot spears and I want them to be able to use the sarissa.’
‘Sarissa?’ It wasn’t a word that Perdiccas was familiar with.
‘Yes, it’s about sixteen feet in length, made of cornel wood, which is tough and resilient to snapping. Admittedly it is quite heavy for a spear, weighing approximately twelve pounds or so but it has a substantial bronze butt-spike that allows it to be anchored into the ground. The weight of the butt spike also serves to balance the spear, making it easier for soldiers to wield. Apart from the extra four feet of reach it gives the hoplite, each rank can present four or five points to the enemy instead of the usual three.’
‘How did you learn about it?’
‘I didn’t. It was an idea of mine that I developed secretly whilst in Thebes, experimenting with different lengths and types of wood. The idea of the heavy butt spike came to me when I saw the Scared Band digging the ends of their shorter sarissas into the ground to resist a charge by cavalry.’
‘The other difference I want to make to our present spears is to the iron point,’ he went on. ‘At the moment the point goes straight through a man, which makes the spear useless until you can pull it out again. I want to try using a broad leaf shaped head which will still kill or incapacitate but which will stick on the internal bones so it can be pulled out again quickly.’
‘My, you have been busy, Philip. Any other ideas?’
‘Yes, the phalanx is vulnerable on the flanks. At present we use the peltasts as skirmishers ahead of the phalanx, which is fine, but they can also protect the flanks if they are trained properly. The same is true of our horsemen. They are kept in reserve normally, but they too should be used to guard the flanks of the phalanx.’
Despite his initial skepticism, Perdiccas was impressed by his younger brother’s ideas but he still saw a major flaw in his proposals.
‘You may well be correct but, as you say, these tactics could only be used by a well-trained army and our citizen levy can’t afford the time that would be required, and we haven’t got the money to pay four thousand full-time soldiers.’
‘We’re not going to. Amphipolis is. It’s another reason we need Parmenion and Orestes.’
‘Amphipolis? You’ve just told me I can’t go off on a punishment raid into Illyria and now you intend to attack a city that Athens has been unable to recover for decades.’ Perdiccas had started to get angry and it showed in his red face.
Philip smiled. ‘Don’t worry. I have no intention of attacking Amphipolis, not yet at any rate. No, Athens is about to try again so I’m going to suggest to the city assembly that we ally ourselves with them to dissuade Athens from besieging the place. One condition of our support will be that they pay us a third of all the gold and silver that they extract from the Pangaion mines.’
‘You’ve got it all worked out haven’t you?’ Perdiccas said bitterly.
Everything Philip had said showed what a brilliant thinker he was and the king was jealous of his intellect. For a moment he thought of denying him the scope to put his ideas into practice, then he felt ashamed of himself. If they worked together, Macedon would thrive. If they became rivals, then Philip was by far the cleverer of the two and Perdiccas knew that he wouldn’t long survive making an enemy of him. He forced himself to smile and nodded.
‘Very well, we’ll do as you suggest. Now you had better go and see if you can use your charm to entice Parmenion to take command of this new army of yours. You might not succeed, though. I’m told that Kharis is young, very pretty and a real firebrand. Parmenion may be too wrapped up trying to tame her to be temped out of her bed.’
‘Parmenion might like making love but he likes making war more,’ Philip grinned.
-o0o-
Parmenion was indeed wrapped up in the arms of Kharis. He was enraptured by his young wife and the weeks that they spent at the house on his estate to the north of Europos were the happiest of his life so far. What made it even more enjoyable was the fact that he and Orestes had been reunited with Kionos and Calisto, who managed the estate. The couple now had three children, the eldest of whom was a girl of fifteen called Myrrine, who Orestes seemed rather captivated by. No-one seemed to think it strange that her suitor was the same age as her father. In fact, Kionos and Calisto were delighted at their friend’s interest in their daughter.
They also had a son who had just started training at the military academy in Europos as an ephebe and a younger boy aged eleven, called Nicias, who hero-worshipped Parmenion and followed him everywhere, which got a little wearying after a while.
Parmenion was no virgin but the hetaerae that he used to frequent, although experienced in the art of love, didn’t have anything like the passion that the inexperienced Kharis brought to their nightly love-making. She was also inventive and Parmenion soon discovered that the rather conventional methods of fornication that he was used to were rather tame compared to some of the ideas that Kharis came up with. He was in love with his wife before their marriage, but he was completely captivated by her after a few nights in bed together; nor did she confine it to the nights. She seduced him into taking her riding to a small lake on the estate so that they could swim and then make love afterwards as the sun dried their bodies.
It was on one of these days that Philip arrived to see Parmenion and Orestes. He found the latter sitting at the feet of a pretty young girl who was reciting poetry. If that wasn’t what he was expecting, when he followed Orestes’ direction to the lake he was even more surprised when he caught sight of the strategos, a man he always thought of as somewhat humourless and formal, lying naked kissing a beautiful young girl in a small clearing in the woods surrounding the peaceful lake.
As he trotted through the last of the trees, leaving his escort a discreet distance away he heard a scream and got another glimpse of the girl - if only of her delightful posterior - as she fled into the bushes clutching her clothes to her breasts.
‘Well Philip, you certainly like to surprise me,’ Parmenion smiled at him, making no attempt to hide his nudity. ‘How are you? I heard you were back from Thebes.’
‘My apologies for interrupting your tryst, Parmenion. I’m well, thank you, but I need to speak to you as soon as you are ready. I’ll go back to the house and wait there.’ He smirked mischievously. ‘I’ll look forward to meeting your wife too. From the brief glimpse I had, you’re a lucky old dog.’
‘Not so much of the old; I’m in my prime I’d have you know.’
The two grinned at one another and Philip looked the strategos up and down. He was now in his mid-thirties but his body was impressively muscular and didn’t display an ounce of fat. It was a physique that a man ten years younger would have been proud of. He turned his horse and, without saying anything else, rode back to house to await Parmenion’s arrival.
The house was typical of those owned by many wealthy Greeks. It consisted of two storeys built around a central courtyard with a well. The upper floor rooms were reached via a staircase from the courtyard and an internal covered walkway. All the windows faced into the courtyard so that, once the gates into the courtyard were locked, the house was secure against wild animals and all but the most determined robbers.
The two main rooms were in the east wing: the andron on the ground floor and the gynaikon above it. The former was a room reserved for the men of the house and was furnished with couches arranged around a central marble table. It was used by men for relaxing, meetings, and symposia: parties that were attended exclusively by males, including older boys who were invited as part of their education. In some parts of Greece these had degenerated into drunken orgies with both hetae
rae and slave boys present to entertain the guests, but in Macedon the original purpose had been retained. These evenings were devoted to music, poetry, lively discussion and sometimes talks given by learned men on their specialised topic.
The gynaikon was the women’s room where they weaved, sewed and gossiped together away from the men. It was where the younger boys and girls spent much of their time too. Family meals were often taken together in the courtyard. The other rooms included the kitchen, workrooms and stores, a bathroom containing a metal tub and a fire pit for heating the water, bedrooms and the slave quarters. The latter was for the household servants; the slaves who worked the estate lived in a separate building where they were locked in at night.
Philip was waiting for Parmenion in the andron with Orestes and started to speak without preamble as soon as they had all poured themselves a goblet of watered wine and had sat down around the central table.
‘My brother has made me Hegemon of Eastern Macedonia and given me permission to build up a small professional army,’ Philip began with little preamble. ‘I’ve brought back a lot of ideas I want to incorporate into it, some which I have learned from Thebes and others I have developed myself. I want to make it the best army in Greece and therefore I want the best strategos to command it.’
Philip wasn’t prone to use flattery, at least he wasn’t before he had left as a hostage at age fourteen, and so Parmenion assumed that he was being honest. He had never thought of himself as being in the same league as Epaminondas, or even Pelopidas, but Philip had known both of them. He now wondered whether he had been too modest about himself in the past. He wasn’t an egotist but his self-esteem had certainly been bolstered by the prince’s statement.
‘You’re asking me to become your strategos, Philip?’
‘Yes, isn’t that what I just said?’
‘I see. And Orestes?’
‘I’d like him to command my cavalry.’
Parmenion glanced at his friend, who smiled and nodded.
‘Very well, we’re delighted to accept.’
‘Good, be ready to leave with me first thing tomorrow.’
‘Er, can we meet you at Charakoma in two weeks’ time? I think we may have a wedding to arrange before Orestes is ready to leave.’
Philip didn’t look too pleased but he agreed and wished Orestes and his bride good fortune.
A fortnight later the pair arrived at Charakoma, having taken a fond farewell of Kionos, Calisto and Nicias six days previously. The young boy had begged to be allowed accompany Parmenion but the latter promised him that he would find a place for him when he was old enough to start his training as an ephebe. He said it to ease their parting, thinking that the boy would quickly get over what appeared to be a bad case of hero-worship. He had no real intention of keeping his promise, but the boy didn’t forget it.
The wedding had taken place a day before they had left and so Orestes and Myrrine spent the first days of their married life on the road, sleeping in a tent most nights. At first they tried to keep the noise of their love-making down but, as Parmenion and Kharis in the text next had no such inhibitions, they soon forgot that every sound could be heard and concentrated on enjoying themselves. Myrrine tried to ignore the grins of their escort the next morning but Orestes grinned back, albeit somewhat sheepishly.
Philip, Parmenion, Orestes and the commander of Philip’s Companions, a Macedonian noble called Amyntor, were seated in the shady courtyard of the house that Philip had taken over in Charakoma and which he was rapidly expanding to become a small palace, as befitted the new hegemon. The Companions patrolled the walkways at first floor level that ran around the courtyard to prevent anyone eavesdropping. These walkways protruded from the inner wall of the house and were protected from sun and rain by the roof which extended from the main house to cover them.
The shade in the courtyard was provided by three trees and a Persian slave boy who Philip had recently purchased. The boy held a large sun shade over that portion of the table that was outside the shelter of the trees. Parmenion looked at the boy curiously. It was common knowledge that he slept with Philip whenever the prince didn’t take a girl to bed with him. The boy was probably about thirteen and had eyelashes darkened by kohl. He was so obviously effeminate that Parmenion just couldn’t see what attraction he held for a macho young man like Philip. The little Persian felt the strategos’ eyes on him and gave him a simpering sideways glance. Parmenion shivered with distaste and turned his attention back to what the prince was saying, although he was familiar with the matter being discussed as he had already talked to Philip about it in private.
‘The question is, will the presence of Parmenion and Orestes in the delegation to Amphipolis be helpful or a hindrance to the negotiations over the mines? They are natives of the city, but they left it nearly twenty years ago to serve Macedon.’
Orestes looked at Parmenion, who nodded, before replying.
‘Both our fathers’ are minor nobles who own land outside the city. I am the youngest of four sons and Parmenion has an elder brother. That’s why we left; there was no real place for us helping to run the estates and we didn’t want to become merchants or priests. Being minor nobles, a career as an artisan wasn’t an option and, in any case, we both wanted to become soldiers. Neither of us were that close to our families and we haven’t been in touch since we left. I doubt if our fathers, if they are still alive, would even recognise us. I never got on with my elder brothers so I doubt that my tenuous connection to my birthplace would be of much help, Philip.’
‘My brother was much older than me so we had nothing in common. My father was always finding fault with me and used to beat me every time he had an excuse to. We don’t have fond memories of each other so, like Orestes, my presence is unlikely to be of much help.’
‘I see.’ Philip sat back in his chair, lost in thought. ‘I don’t want to appear like a supplicant so it boils down to who will be the best negotiator.’ He looked at the other three men. ‘Any suggestions?’
After a minutes silence Philip grew impatient and made his mind up.
‘Right, if it doesn’t sound as if your connection with Amphipolis is going to be helpful, at least it isn’t likely to be detrimental either, Parmenion, so you can lead the delegation. In essence we are inviting them to buy a military alliance and your main job is to convince them that we can protect them from the Athenians. You two can go with him to offer him support. The cost to them is a third of all the gold and silver output from the mines for the next three years. It’s non-negotiable.’
With that, Philip got up and beckoned the Persian boy, who put down the sunshade and scampered after him as he went back inside the house. Orestes looked at Parmenion, who shrugged his shoulders, but secretly he was dismayed at Philip’s omnivorous approach to sex. He had a nasty feeling that it would lead to disaster in due course.
-o0o-
‘A half of all the output from the mines! Philip must be mad.’
The chief magistrate of Amphipolis stared at Parmenion in disbelief and the rest of the city’s assembly weren’t slow in voicing their opposition to the proposal. Parmenion and the other two delegates stood in the middle of the circular marble hall that housed the Amphipolitan Assembly and waited for the uproar to die down.
‘Fine. You will know by now from your own sources that the Athenian fleet is already on its way and this time they are determined to recover your city, and that includes the mines around Mount Pangaion. Don’t think for one moment that, once they had captured them, that they will share the gold and silver with you.’
‘The city has held out against them thrice before. What have we to fear from yet another attempt by Iphicrates?’
‘This time he has a larger fleet and a larger army. You may have heard that Epaminondas was killed by the Spartans at the Battle of Mantinea. Whilst they still defeated the Spartans, Thebes is now in complete disarray and so the Athenians have a free hand to send a large force against you. I have it on good
authority that they are bringing siege towers, lithoboloi and battering rams of the type developed by the Carthaginians. This time they are after a quick resolution and won’t be relying on starving you into submission.’
The news about Iphicrates’ death hadn’t yet reached Amphipolis; indeed Philip had only just heard himself and had immediately sent a fast messenger to inform Parmenion.
‘You’re bluffing!’ one of the other assembly members accused Parmenion. ‘You are a traitor and are now seeking to trick us.’
‘I am no traitor. Amphipolis had no use for me after I had been instrumental in defeating the Athenians near Mount Pangaion eighteen years ago. Ask Zoilus if you don’t believe me. So I was free to choose my own path.’
Another noble got to his feet and, despite the passage of the years, Parmenion still recognized his father, though his hair was now grey and sparse and his face mottled and lined by old age.
‘My son is correct. He is no traitor. He saved Amphipolis that day by his quick thinking; Zoilus may now be dead but he told me so often enough. I believe him when he says that we are in mortal danger of again losing our independence to Athens after forty years.’ He paused and looked directly at his son. ‘However, fifty per cent is too high a price to pay. What is the lowest percentage that Philip will accept, Parmenion?’
His son looked at him and smiled. ‘It seems you know me too well, even after all these years, father. Shall we say a third then?’
After a lot more heated debate the assembly agreed in principle to a treaty of mutual support for five years in exchange for three years’ worth of gold and silver. The details would be worked out by others, including a guard force of Macedonians to be stationed at the mines to ensure that Philip got his full third of the ore, but Parmenion’s work was done. However, whilst Amyntor took the good news back to Philip, both Parmenion and Orestes took the opportunity of taking their wives to meet their families.