"No, sir."
"Haven't you had military training?"
"I've had militia drill in Taras. You might say I know enough to don my greaves before my cuirass. If my own city were attacked, I would of course fight to defend it. But I have no ambition to be a mercenary soldier."
"You're probably wise. Anyway, I need your talents here in the Arsenal. But, if not you, whom shall I get?"
"I don't know many of your soldiers, sir. There's only one I know at all welclass="underline" File-leader Segovax."
"The Celt I sent to Carthage with you, eh? A good soldier, albeit too fond of the wineskin. Would a barbarian like that have the needed intelligence?"
"Segovax has always struck me as a man of ready wit, who adapts himself to circumstances and doesn't let his fondness for the grape interfere with business."
"I'll try him, then. Rejoice!"
As the tyrannos walked off, Zopyros said to Archytas: "When do you think my pay will be raised? If I'm to be married soon, I could use the money."
Archytas chuckled. "You'll get it when horses play the flute, I think. Most of us have been nursing Dionysios' promises until we've given up hope."
"You, too?"
"Certainly! I'm supposed to have become a three-drachma man long since, but I'm not. Alexis was complaining about the same thing the other day. Be glad we're not actually in arrears, as his soldiers often are."
Zopyros said: "Speaking of Alexis, it occurs to me that, when his supergalleys are finished, there ought to be some carpenters to be had. How are they coming?"
"I don't know. Let's walk over to the shipyards and see."
The shores of the Great Harbor were lined for more than a league with shipways, most of them roofed over. Zopyros estimated that there were more than two hundred of them. A few ways stood empty, their last ships having recently been launched. Other ways held triremes in various stages of completion. Some were mere keels. Some comprised keels and ribs, like the skeletons of long-dead monsters lying supine. Others had their hull planking, from the forests of Aetna, partly in place.
At the end of the row, on two larger ways, stood the Syrakosia and the Arethousa. The former—the fiver—was the farther advanced.
As Archytas and Zopyros neared the two experimental ships, they came upon Alexis arguing with a workman. When the shipwright saw his visitors, he walked over with—to Zopyros' surprise —a pleasant smile.
"Rejoice!" He spoke loudly, to be heard above the din of saw and adze and hammer. "You've never met my two sweethearts, have you? Let me show you ..."
He guided them about the ships, climbing ladders and dodging among the timbers, all the while explaining his theories of ship construction. Twice, Zopyros hit his head on overhead timbers. When his ears stopped ringing, he asked Alexis:
"When do you expect to finish them?"
"The Syrakosia should be launched in another ten-day, and after that it will be simply a matter of cabins and deck fittings. The other may not be ready for months. Why do you ask?"
Zopyros told of his assignment to make fifty catapults.
"Oh!" said Alexis. "So, naturally, you're hoping to fall heir to the carpenters who have been working on the Syrakosia, eh? Well, I can't promise all of them. I shall need some for the Arethousa, and the other shipwrights will be watching for a chance to snatch them, too. But I think I can get you a few."
"If you'll tell me in advance whom you're letting go, and if I request those men by name, I stand a better chance than if I simply scream 'Men! Men!' to Pyres."
"Fine. I shall be glad to help—provided it doesn't interfere with my own project."
"Tell me, Alexis," said Zopyros, "why is the larger of your ships farther along than the smaller? I should expect the contrary."
"Orders from the big boss. He wants the Syrakosia finished and tested by the end of Maimakterion, to fetch his bride."
"What?" exclaimed Zopyros and Archytas together.
"Hadn't you heard? He's persuaded the Lokrians to give him the daughter of one of their magnates for a wife. He wants to make a spectacle of the occasion by sending his biggest ship. But what will really grind you to sausage is that, to avoid hard feelings, he will at the same time wed a local girl, Aristomachê daughter of Hipparinos."
"Two at once?" said Zopyros in amazement. "Like a Persian king?"
"Absolutely. When one of his cronies muttered something about legality, he said: 'My dear fellow, I, Dionysios, am the law in Syracuse!' He's braver than I. With all my abilities, I don't think I could manage two women at once."
Zopyros said: "He certainly doesn't let a little thing like consistency stand in his way. He harangues us every month on our duty to defend Hellenism, and you can't call bigamy Hellenic."
Archytas said: "Oh, I don't know. The Macedonian kings do it. And wasn't there a Spartan king, a fellow with a long name— you'd know, Zopyros; you've been reading history ..."
"Anaxandrides!" said Zopyros. "Yes, but he took a second wife only because the Overseers insisted, when his first wife bore no children and he wouldn't divorce her."
"Why wouldn't he?" said Alexis.'
"Because he loved her," said Zopyros. Alexis sneered. "Anyway, both wives then produced offspring, and there was the usual struggle for the throne. One of the sons was the famous Dorieus, who stirred things up in these parts a hundred years ago. Is the big boss sending his prize ship out in the middle of winter?"
"Evidently. I wouldn't risk it myself, but he says he'll order her captain to run for harbor every time a blow appears. With reasonable luck, the trip each way shouldn't take more than two days."
Zopyros said: "Well, it's nice to have seen you, Alexis, and thanks a lot. We must get back to work."
As Zopyros and Archytas walked back towards the Arsenal, the former said: "That's funny!"
"What is?"
"Once I thought Alexis my dearest enemy; but here he's as pleasant and helpful as if we'd never had a cross word."
"Well, you've heard of friends who grow apart? I suppose enemies can grow apart, too; one gets out of the habit of thinking about them at all. I'm still glad we needn't work any more with Master Alexis. He's one of those who can he charming—as long as he has his own way. But, if you gainsay him in anything, watch yourself!"
The next day, as Zopyros was eating his lunch in his usual place by the Spring of Arethousa, Segovax appeared in his polished cuirass and crested helm. Scowling, he growled:
"Bad cess to you, Zopyros my lad!"
"Why—what—"
"For ruining the best soldier that ever came out of the Celtic forests!" The scowl changed to a grin. "To be sure, 'twas kindly meant. When himself called me in and asked me to be his catapult officer, I thought: What would my noble ancestors think to see me, not charging into the thick of the fray with sword and spear, but standing ten leagues away and pulling a little handle that sends a dart flying at men who don't look no bigger than mosquitoes? 'Tis ashamed of me they would be. I was all ready to say I would not, for all the golden mountains of Persia. But he talked, and talked, and said as the catapult company got bigger, I'd be a captain and maybe even a colonel. So I got to thinking: If I'm a file leader and get only a private's pay and the rest in promises, as a colonel he's sure to give me a captain's pay and the rest in promises. So I said I would. Still, there's one thing wrong with this colossal plan."