by J M Alvey
‘Thank you.’ Aristarchos smiled briefly.
The Carians had retreated from Xandyberis’s grave so Aristarchos went forward to make his own offering and pray to the gods below.
Azamis, Sarkuk and Tur came over to me and Zosime. The old man had been weeping but his faded eyes were at peace. He clutched the oil flask and smiled at Zosime. ‘Thank you, dear girl, once again. His family will treasure this gift.’
‘It’s the least I could do.’ She embraced the old man and he kissed her forehead like a grandfather.
I offered my hand to Sarkuk. ‘We’ll tend his grave at every festival until you return.’
‘Until the Panathenaia.’ The Pargasarene clasped my forearm like a warrior.
‘Commend him to Tarhunzas,’ Tur said abruptly. Realising that sounded ungracious, he tried to make amends. ‘As well as to Athena and Dionysos. We will entreat Tarhunzas to watch over you and yours, in our gratitude for all you have done.’
‘Thank you.’ I was willing to accept an unknown god’s blessing in this mutual spirit of goodwill.
Aristarchos completed his obsequies for the dead man and joined us. We walked back to the city where Ambrakis and some other slaves waited by the Dipylon Gate with the Carians’ baggage. They would escort the three men to Piraeus and see them safely aboard their ship. We said our final goodbyes and watched them set off on their long journey home.
‘Shall we find a cup of wine in the agora?’ Aristarchos suggested. ‘I’d like to hear your ideas for your next play.’
‘I’ve nothing much as yet,’ I confessed.
Aristarchos wasn’t troubled. ‘It’s early days. Still, we must make sure that you have enough time to prepare,’ he said as we walked down the Sacred Way back towards the heart of the city. ‘You want to be ready well before you’re called to read for the new year’s magistrates. We cannot allow this work on the Ionians’ behalf to spoil your chances of being awarded another Dionysia chorus.’
I felt Zosime’s fingers entwine with mine. She had no doubt that I would get another chance to compete with a new comedy next year. Aristarchos wouldn’t be my paymaster though if I won that honour. No man, however wealthy, could be expected to bear such an obligation for two years in a row. I could only pray that Apollo would send me another such agreeable patron.
As we reached the agora, I gazed up at the Acropolis, at those ancient ruins and the bright new temples replacing them. I wondered what good fortune and unexpected challenges blessed Athena might send me in the months to come.
Meantime, I knew where to get a fine jugful of wine to wash away any lingering sadness after the Pargasarenes’ departure. We could sit beneath the plane trees in the agora, discussing ideas for comic plays as we watched the Athenian populace pass by.
I turned to Aristarchos. ‘Let me introduce you to a friend of mine called Elpis.’
Acknowledgements
I’ll confess to a fair amount of trepidation about embarking on a project like this after decades away from serious academic study. I owe sincere thanks to Tony Keen, for his initial and ongoing encouragement, and for a very useful reading list in the earliest stages of this venture. I am similarly grateful to Edward James, and to Kari Sperring, for reading the first draft with suitably critical rigour, and assuring me that it passed muster as entertainment as well as found the right touch with historical research.
Through the writing and rewriting, I am indebted to Julia and Philip Cresswell for cups of tea and conversation to sustain me before and after visits to the Bodleian, and to the Ashmolean. Their interest and sustained enthusiasm for Philocles’s adventures were invaluable throughout the Herculean labour of submissions to agents and editors. I’m similarly grateful to Gill Oliver for her unfailing belief that the book would land on the right desk at the right time, especially on those days when my own stamina was flagging.
Sincere thanks go to Sam Copeland, for putting me in touch with Max Edwards, who is now representing Philocles at Mulcahy Associates. I am hugely grateful to Max for bringing fresh eyes and excellent suggestions to the final round of revisions, as well as for his indefatigable determination to find the right editor for this book. He’s certainly succeeded. Craig Lye at Orion is a pleasure to work with, as well as a consummate professional, and his input has improved this book through each successive phase of editing.
Catching up with thirty years of classical scholarship would have been utterly impossible without the ability to search for, and frequently read, the papers and books most directly relevant to this story via the internet. My thanks to all those academics, institutions and publications who now make their research available online through JSTOR and Academia.edu.
Lastly, but by no means least, thank you to my family, near and far, for all their support.
Next in Philocles:
Scorpions in Corinth
Murder with a sting in the tail.
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First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Orion Books, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Canelo
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Copyright © JM Alvey, 2019
The moral right of JM Alvey to be identified as the creator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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ISBN 9781788639705
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Map by Hemesh Alles (c) The Orion Publishing Group 2019. Reprinted by permission.
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