"I did not mean that. We have considered honest methods of fattening our purses before proceeding to our next stop, and it strikes us that, since some of our scientific ideas seem unknown here, perhaps we could set ourself up as professor like Protagoras ..."
"Well?" said Sokrates in a sharper tone.
"We thought you could advise us how much to charge and where to round up some pupils ..."
"I? I, who for years have been deploring and ridiculing the prostitution of philosophy by these same hucksters? I help you to continue this debasement of the divine faculties? My good men, you have been misinformed ..."
"Excuse us, please," said Bulnes. "Let us consider the proposal as not having been make."
"Of course," continued Sokrates, "not being Athenians, you could not be expected to view these matters according to civilized standards of honor. I suggest you consult Protagoras himself, who is well qualified to advise you in the liming of twigs to catch some of our more credulous birds. And here our paths diverge. Rejoice!"
Off he strode, his paunch bobbing before him.
"I'm afraid he's sore at us," said Bulnes. "But what else could I have done?"
"Dash it all," said Flin. "You shouldn't have gone at him hammer-and-tongs like that. What shall we do now?"
Bulnes shrugged. "Follow his advice and ask Protagoras, I suppose."
Chapter Ten
Protagoras drew himself up to his full height (about that of Flin) and said, "My good men, you ask me to help set you up in competition with myself, and to divide with you the pupils I have attracted — or, I should say, who have at last recognized the worth of my teachings after my many years of neglect? And being, moreover, not even Hellenes, but Barbarians whose Greek I can barely understand? Are you mad? Be off with you! I have no time for lunatics."
A couple of the pupils of Protagoras, looking on, made matters even more painful by jeering.
Bulnes listened to the tirade with eyebrows raised in an expression of mild surprise. When it was over, he tossed the loose end of his himation over his shoulder and said, "Thank you, my dear Protagoras. Even if you cannot fulfill our request, you have give us free a valuable lessons in the greatness of soul to be found in Athens. Come, Philon."
And with a dignity surpassing that of Protagoras he turned his back and started off. This time the laughter was on the other side. -
"Gentlemen!" said a soft voice.
A young man, who had been sitting behind one of the pillars, now spoke to Bulnes. He looked to be about thirty, with a fuzzy young beard and a nervous smile playing around his mouth.
"Something?" said Bulnes.
"Yes, if you — ah — if you really do not mind," said the young man. "I realize of course that I have no right to force myself upon you ..."
"Come to the point, my dear sir," said Bulnes.
"Well — ah — if you will forgive me, I overheard your exchange with Protagoras — not that I would say aught against the great Protagoras — but — ah — I know not how to say it ..."
Bulnes said, "Come, come — begin at the beginning. There are no need to be shy with us."
"That is good of you, but what I am trying to say is that if you are the Tartessian philosophers and are seriously looking for pupils, I — ah — would you consider me? I realize that you are men of importance, but then I have studied under Protagoras and Leukippos, and have spent seven years in Egypt, so you will not find me utterly unworthy of your efforts, I hope."
"Gladly," said Bulnes, masking his joy. "If you would care to come with us back to our inn, we will discuss terms and hours."
"Demokritos!" cried the voice of Protagoras behind them. "By Herakles, where have you been?
Nobody in Athens has seen you. When did you get here?"
"Oh," said the young man. "Truly, I am sorry if I have inconvenienced you, O Protagoras, but I did not wish to burst in on one of your invaluable lectures."
"But why have you not made yourself known to Sokrates or Diogenes or our other colleagues?"
Demokritos dug patterns in the dirt with the toe of his sandal. "I — I could not force myself upon them. They are godlike men of established reputation ..."
"Nonsense! You are as wise as any, however you try to dissemble the fact. What are you doing with these Tartessians?"
"I thought — that is to say — they are offering courses and have kindly consented to enroll me."
"The hawk takes flying lessons from the chicken. Well, strangers, any time you find the Greek language too much for you and wish to share with me the money you will extract from Demokritos, I will consider brushing up your speech. After all, it is I who first classified the parts of speech and formulated the rules of grammar. Meanwhile, rejoice!"
Protagoras went back to his pupils, while Demokritos, beaming, walked away with Bulnes and Flin. The latter said, "We're going to teach Demokritos? Gah!"
"What of it, if he can pay?"
"It's like teaching Newton or Einstein! This modest lad has one of the greatest brains of all time!"
"My dear Wiyem, only last night we learned he's not Demokritos at all, but a modern man impers —"
"Nothing of the sort! Vasil could have found some way of warping time to bring Periklean Greece forward instead of sending us back! One's no more incredible than the other."
"You're an incorrigible rationalizer, Wiyem. Personally, I've never been convinced of either. I think it's all a hoax."
"Oh, no! Not that! Perhaps — d'you know the theory of alternate time streams? We might be in another time stream which follows the same course as our own, but three thousand years later. So this world has only evolved as far as the Periklean Age, whereas our own ..."
"Suit yourself, comrade." Bulnes turned to the Greek. "My colleague and I were discussing what sort of course to give you. Perhaps you would like lectures on Tartessian theories of the shape and motion of the earth?"
"That were most exciting!"
"Or the nature of matter?"
"Better yet!" cried Demokritos, and to the astonishment of Bulnes seized his hand and kissed it. "You gentlemen are much too kind. Perhaps it will interest you to compare your theory with that which I received from my master Leukippos, and to which I have made a few trifling additions of my own."
"What theory is that?"
"I call it the atomic theory, from the 'atoms' or tiny indivisible particles of which we suppose things to be made. It is my notion that whereas some of these atoms are smooth, so that they slide freely past each other as in fluids, others are provided with hooks by which they become entangled in fixed masses, as we see in solids ..."
Later, when Demokritos had departed, Flin said, "Look here, Knut, there's no sense in having both of us hang around the inn while he's here. One's enough for lecturing."
"You mean you'd like to handle it alone?"
"No, no, on the contrary. You lecture while I hunt my wife."
"What? Don't be ridiculous, my friend. I can't speak the language well enough."
"Certainly you can. You know the modern language and have an extraordinary natural aptitude. Part of it must be that Spanish is phonetically similar to Greek."
"Oh, come. I can ask for a loaf of bread, maybe, but a lecture on the solar ..."
Flin rushed on, "You're perfectly competent. All you need is confidence, and you'll never learn to do by yourself while I'm here to translate. We'll run over the talk now, and everything'11 be top-hole."
"What have you in mind?" Against his better judgment Bulnes was disarmed by the flattery of Flin, who was usually readier with complaints and criticisms.
"We'll rough out the first lecture this evening, and tomorrow you'll take care of him while I search for Thalia."