Voices from the Past Part 13

Forget!

Another letter has reached me from Aesop. Still in Adelphi, he writes he has been sick with fever.

"My consolation is that I am sick for good reasons. I am sick of men being mistreated. I am sick of injustice.

"As you know, I have been more than a fly on a chariot wheel. I have spoken out publicly and this has raised dust and stones. People stare at me on the streets.

"I am sick of the aristocrats. I am sick of prejudice and ignorance. There must be a better life.

"A free society...this is the most fabulous joke of all time. The ones who rant loudest about it would run the farthest, were it to happen.

"I may have to flee soon, back to Corinth, it seems. These rulers here have friends. They know how to apply pressure.

"Write me, Sappho. I need your sense of the gracious. Beauty foremost-I wish I could think as you think.

"Tell Alcaeus I send him my best, that I miss him..."

I took my letter to Alcaeus and read it aloud in his library.

"I'm afraid it is serious this time," I said.

"It is always serious, when we speak out," said Alcaeus, laying his palms flat on the desk.

"He says it is dangerous for him to come here."

"He must learn restraint!"

"And you, Alcaeus, do you think you have learned restraint?"

There was silence and then he said:

"Those of us who are free must speak, or there will be no freedom, no free men left to restrain those who think in terms of chains."

Sitting in the square the other day, I listened to Alcaeus speaking, excited be- cause he had taken cudgel in hand. Blind though he is, he strikes an imposing figure, even majestic. Leaning on his cane, staring over the townsmen who crowd the forum, he looks a pillar, his head s.h.a.ggy, beard glistening with oil, clothes immaculate.

Something about the day had a timeless quality, as though none of it was old, the exorbitant taxes, the stringent laws, the situation of the veteran-and the sea rolling, the gulls crying, the sun shining.

Pittakos has not shown any noticeable objection. Perhaps he remembers the youthful champion, before the exile. Then, it was not easy to ignore the charges against those in office, the outcries against "drunkards, thieves, b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" Now Pittakos nods and walks on his way, aware that a blind man may be an excellent orator but no longer a soldier.

And recalling the years in exile, I knew how bitter Alcaeus was. If there is less vehemence in his voice than before, there is also greater conviction.

Aegean sh.e.l.ls, beach sh.e.l.ls,

sh.e.l.ls in a woman's hands,

sh.e.l.ls in a child's hands.

Underwater, fish glide

through a sunken ship,

pa.s.sing huge wine jars,

a young Hermes,

sponges...coral...kelp...sharks.

A

lcaeus has taken back his former secretary. I am glad for all our sakes: Alcaeus', Gogu's, mine. I hear they are working hard. Now, when Thasos inquires at my door, I make excuses. They can get along without me.