“Sleep your head clear before you swear such a pernicious oath,” warned Xenodotos.
But I was intoxicated by wine and bitterness and shouted recklessly, “You, Arsinoe, follow Xenodotos if you want to obtain more security than I can give you. He’ll be able to sell you to some noble Persian. But I suspect that, once behind the grating of a woman’s house, you will begin to yearn more for your freedom than for a life of luxury.”
Arsinoe flung her wine across the room. “You know what I have sacrificed for your sake, Turms. I have even risked my life for you. But I must think of my child. Year by year you have become increasingly stubborn and foul-mouthed and I wonder now what I ever saw in you. Xenodotos is waiting for a west wind to take him to Rhegion, where he will meet Skythes. The wind may turn tomorrow, and that is why you must decide which to choose. I myself have already decided in the name of the goddess.”
When she saw that I was not alarmed by her threat, she became even angrier and screamed, “Let us be separated from each other as of this moment, and don’t dare try to force your way into my bed! I have had enough of your sour face and so abhor your barbarically hard limbs that I could vomit.”
Xenodotos tried to stifle her words but she bit his finger, began to howl from the bottom of her heart and vomited the wine she had drunk. Whereupon she fell asleep, wet from the wine. I carried her to bed and bade Hanna take care of her for I myself was so embittered that I had no desire to sleep in the same room.
Upon my return to the banquet room Xenodotos sat beside me, placed his hand on my knee and said, “I know you for a Greek, Turms, from all Arsinoe has told me. But trust in me. If you are an Ionian refugee and fear the King’s wrath, I can assure you that the Persian does not desire revenge for the sake of revenge. The service that you are offering him will weigh more heavily in the scales than the possible mistakes in your past.”
I did not doubt his words, but how could I disregard the signs that I had received? I tried to explain the matter to him but he became stubborn in his zeal.
After coaxing me a while he warned, “Don’t aggravate me too much, Turms. If you are thinking of the temple at Sardis, don’t be afraid. Your wife was wise in entrusting your fears to me. I even know that you have been guilty of piracy. You are in my hands, Turms. I have only to call for the city guards and you are lost.”
At that moment I hated Arsinoe for wantonly having placed me at the mercy of a stranger so that I would be compelled to abandon my purpose and follow Xenodotos to the East. My long-dormant hatred burst forth like molten rock from a quaking mountain and scorched me until nothing mattered any more.
I thrust Xenodotos’ hand from my knee and said, “I thought you were my friend, but now I know better. Very well, I will call the police and surrender myself to be skinned alive as a pirate by the priests of Carthage. But at the same time let Arsinoe be sold in the market as an escaped temple slave and Misme as the daughter of a slave. I am sure that your reputation will be greatly enhanced in the eyes of the King by such a public disturbance in Panormos.”
I said further, “My omens are clear and indisputable, and the Ephesian Artemis and Aphrodite of Eryx vie with each other in bestowing their favors on me. By hurting me you hurt them, and I warn you of their power. I myself am fulfilling the fate within me which no human power can deflect. I will not follow you to Susa.”
When he realized that my decision was unalterable, Xenodotos tried to placate me and apologized for his threat. He urged me to reconsider the matter after I had slept my head clear. On the following day Arsinoe also suddenly changed and tried by every means at her disposal to weaken me. But I remained resolute and did not touch her. Whereupon she sent Hanna to the temple of the goddess to purchase beauty preparations, secluded herself in her room and then climbed to the roof to dry her hair in the sunshine. She had succeeded in dyeing her hair golden once more, and as she rested on the roof with her hair outspread she was a lovely sight to behold. However, her hair had a new reddish gleam for which she blamed Hanna, claiming that the stupid girl had accepted inferior dyes.
I thought she was senseless to restore her former appearance in Panormos where the curious stared at her from other housetops. But she risked the danger in order to make herself as attractive as possible and thus irresistible to me.
Xenodotos took me to the harbor to show me the trim ship that he had chartered at Rhegion after leaving Skythes there to confer with Anaxilaos. I asked him of Kydippe and learned that, since her marriage to Anaxilaos, she had had several children, drove a pair of mules and kept rabbits in her house. She was famous for her beauty throughout Sicily as well as the Greek cities of Italy, and her father ruled Himera.
Xenodotos’ comfortable ship did not tempt me. Instead, I went to the wooden-pillared Etruscan temple where the salt merchant was praying for a good south wind, and asked whether he would take me with him to the mouth of the Roman river. He was elated to get a man who might prove helpful at the oars and sails but as a merchant concealed his feel ings and declared that I must bring my own provisions and pay for the voyage.
The Etruscan’s prayers were effective to such a degree that a few days later the wind turned west and began to blow briskly. This suited Xenodotos’ plans perfectly and he said to me, “I shall wait until evening for you to recapture your senses, Turms. But at dusk I shall put to sea, for I have been told that that is the most favorable time to sail eastward from Panormos. I implore you to accompany me, for I have given my oath to take with me your wife Arsinoe, her daughter Misme and her servant Hanna.”
I hardened my heart, went to Arsinoe and said, “The moment of parting has arrived, but only because you wish it, not I. I thank you for the years that you have given me and will not remind you of the grief you have caused. I shall remember only the good that we have shared. In addition to the Siccanians’ gift I shall give you the gold coins given to me by Xenodotos and shall retain only enough money to pay for my voyage to Rome. But Hanna you cannot take with you. I know well that in your greediness you would sell her at the first opportune moment, and I want no harm to befall her.”
Arsinoe burst into tears and shouted, “Your heart is like stone! I am too proud to remind you of the sorrow that you have caused me, but it is only natural that you should give me your money. A few gold coins are small compensation indeed for all that I have lost because of you. Nor have you any right to Hanna. I am the one who has raised and taught her, and she even spoiled my hair.”
We argued about Hanna until I produced the golden goblet I had chosen from the Siccanian treasure and gave that also to Arsinoe. I concealed from her only the small golden hand which had more value as an amulet than as money.
Arsinoe weighed the goblet in her hand, glanced at me suspiciously and demanded, “What do you want with that girl and how does her fate concern you?”
Indignantly I exclaimed, “I shall marry her to some good man with her own permission. That much I feel that I owe her because she took care of both your children.”
“Of course I can buy a more skilled slave in Rhegion,” she retorted. “It will be a relief if you take that clumsy girl off my neck, for she has been looking at me malevolently for a long time. Even without her, though, you will have more than enough trouble. Remember my warning when calamity befalls you, Turms.”
Even in my anger I glowed and trembled at her nearness and I did not know how I could live without her. We had spent many days in Panormos during which she had not humbled herself and I had not touched her. She had hoped to bend me to her will by arousing my desire and was greatly disappointed when I did not attempt to put my arms around her even” at our moment of parting. Yet had I done so, I would once again have been in her power, so I controlled myself.