The Pericles Commission by Gary Corby

Author:Gary Corby
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781616952518
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2010-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

To put it mildly, the atmosphere in our home that night was despondent. Father blamed himself for almost losing a son. He left dinner early and shut himself in his office, to ponder his finances for some way to pay Callias. I was not hopeful and nor, I suspect, was he. Socrates blamed himself for playing silly games underneath the statue, forgetting that Father would be facing the same financial ruin regardless. I was the only one to receive any praise—for pulling Socrates from danger—and that served only to make me more miserable because I was sure the sabotage had been directed at me.

The only one carrying on any semblance of normal life was my practical mother.

“That’s because there’s nothing else I can do to help,” she said, when I asked her. “Your father will work it out; I have every confidence. When we returned to Athens after the Persians sacked it, we’d lost everything and had to start again, and then we had a small baby to care for—you.”

The revelation that Ephialtes had considered exposing Diotima to die as a child had kept niggling at me. Was it really true, or was it something Euterpe had made up to gather sympathy? I couldn’t be sure; I decided to put the matter to rest by asking the one person who could tell me what had really happened.

“It was a close call,” Phaenarete admitted. She was instructing the slaves for their household duties, but I interrupted her to ask the question. “I remember it was an easy birth; Euterpe suffered little compared to most women, for all the fuss she made.” Phaenarete grimaced. I had no trouble imagining the drama Euterpe would have created.

“When it was over I cut the cord and tied it, and put the baby into Euterpe’s arms. Euterpe did whatevery new mother does, check the sex of her child. She saw, but said nothing. As custom required, Ephialtes was called, and when he entered the room Euterpe held up the baby to him, still without saying a word. I remember he just stood there and stared.

“Euterpe said, ‘I present your daughter,’ and she cringed a little.

“Ephialtes was silent for a moment, while he considered. Then he said, ‘Expose the child.’

“Well, Euterpe went into hysterics. You can imagine! I think at that moment, maybe for the first time in her life, she must have developed strong feelings for someone.”

“You didn’t say anything?”

“This happens every time a child is born, and I never say anything. It isn’t my place. The mother has no say either, only the father decides whether to keep the child.

“Euterpe must have been sore and in some pain, but she threw herself on her knees and begged for the child’s life, making all sorts of promises. I won’t go into the details of that conversation! It was torrid, I must say. I was embarrassed to have to listen, but I could hardly walk out.” Phaenarete shuddered.

I said, “Wasn’t she taking a terrible risk, a woman in her position? He might have walked away and simply never returned.

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