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The Golden Age

Chapter 4: The Assembly

The next morning dawned bright and clear. I woke up early, still holding Antenor in my arms. I didn't move, but lay still, listening to his gentle breathing. Eventually the light became too bright and the others began to wake up, and of course Antenor had been right. Not only did they not mind seeing us together, they were actually pleased, and congratulated us on finally becoming a proper couple. Myron told me later they had guessed quite quickly what we were doing outside, which is why they hadn't bothered to stay up. Antenor got teased about walking funny when we headed off to the wash house, but it was friendly and he took it well.

The day was rapidly growing intensely hot and the sky above us blazed an intense blue as we made our way to the market. This was where the assembly would be held in a few hours and already the people were starting to gather. We claimed a good position in the shady colonnade of the stoa that ran down one side of the market. We were not old enough to vote so we did not have to stand in the market itself, and the slightly raised structure gave a good view of the proceeding. Myron and Nicander went to get some fresh bread while the rest of us held our place, and when they got back we shared it while it was still warm, the smell of it filling the covered space and clearing away the last dregs of sleep.

After eating our fill of bread and grazing on a few olives I had brought with me we sat in contented silence as the marketplace filled up, sipping cool wine from our standard issue wineskins. Many people had travelled from far outside the city to attend such an important meeting and a steady stream of people visited the Great Tree until the base was well watered. Each would take a sniff and either wander off to find some food and drink or a shady place to stand, or would look around, ears alert, searching for a friend or kinsman they had scented.

The assembly was to start at noon, and about an hour before then I spotted my father heading to the tree, talking with Aristides, at that time Likopolis' leading statesman. He was one of the strategoi, or generals, for the year and was to address the assembly. I went to greet them and Antenor came with me. My father introduced us to Aristides, who was a lion, the older brother of Heracles, and shared his brother's imposing physique, his sculpted muscles clearly visible through fur the colour of spun gold. He smiled and shook our hands, saying "Aristarchus! Your father has told me so much about you, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. And it's good to meet you as well Antenor, although we've already met. I don't suppose you remember it, you were just a little cub at the time. Your father and I served against the Epirote pirates and you and your mother were there when our ship returned at the end of the campaign."

"I don't remember you, sir" Antenor replied, "but my father speaks very highly of you. I expect he will be here soon, I know he would be pleased to see you again."

"Excellent, I don't see your father often enough, you and Orestes should come to my next symposium." He looked at us and smiled, his handsome white teeth catching the sunlight "and you should come as well Aristarchus. Your father tells me you two are quite the little lovebirds."

I laughed and put my arm around Antenor's shoulder as I replied "Yes. I'm very lucky."

"Well I'm very happy for you both. Well, better do our duty before it gets too crowded." He and my father went to the tree and Antenor and I joined them as our bladders were pleasantly full with the wine we had been drinking. Our four streams splashed and flowed across the bark of the tree, down into the spreading, gently steaming puddle at the base. Aristides body was magnificent, and as he bent over to take a sniff to see who was already around I breathed in deeply the mingled scents while glancing at his beautiful taut rear. I looked across at Antenor and saw he was also discretely admiring the view. He caught my eye and grinned as he shook the last drops off his cock, quite deliberately splashing a few onto my leg. That was when I noticed he was standing with his feet in the edge of the puddle, his clawed toes half submerged in the golden pool. We bid my father and Aristides goodbye and as we walked back to join the others Antenor left damp pawprints in the dust of the marketplace which quickly dried in the heat of the sun.

By the time the assembly was to start the sun blazed directly above us and the market was packed, the murmuring of the crowd sounding like the dull roar of the ocean on a stormy day. At the moment the sundial indicated noon my father stood upon the raised platform from which the crowd was addressed to call for order.

We citizens of Likopolis are justly proud of the wisdom and stability of our system of government. Day to day affairs are run by a council of thirty officials, including generals, financial officers and others, who are elected annually, normally from among the aristocratic families of the city. The assembly meets every month, and occasionally on an ad hoc basis as on that day, and votes for or against the laws proposed by the council. The assembly elects the officials and has the vote on whether to go to war. The juries for trials are also drawn from the assembly by lot. Our system gives more power to our citizens than that of the Spartans, but does not fall victim to the mob rule the Athenians call democracy. Thus it was that Aristides came to the podium to address the crowd, and put forward the councils recommendation for whether war be declared.

"Citizens of Likopolis" his voice bellowed, his rich baritone drowning out the last of the whispering in the crowd. "By now all of you will have heard the disturbing news from Delphi. The sanctuary of Apollo has been sacked, its sacred treasures carried off to buy mercenaries for the Phocians."

He paused and looked around at the crowd. The tension was palpable, and I could smell the nervousness of the crowd. "We Greeks are happiest among all peoples, blessed by the gods to live in freedom under our own laws, and blessed with the courage to defend that freedom. Now the Phocians have, before all of Greece, desecrated the sanctuary of Apollo. And what have they done this for? To pay for soldiers to subjugate Thebes. Our mother city cries to us for aid, our gods cry to us for vengeance. Do we have the courage to answer? Do we deserve our freedom? Do we deserve to be called Greeks? If so, I, on behalf of the council, call upon you to declare war of Phocis and her allies!" He ended with a great roar, his golden mane flashing like fire in the sun. For a few moments the crowd was silent, and then a great roar of agreement swelled up, crashing over us like a wave. There had been little doubt that war would be declared, the council had been unanimous and no one had come forward to counter the proposal, as was the right of any citizen, but Aristides' speech left no doubt at all. We were going to war.

The rest of the assembly was given over to the issue of how to prosecute the war. In siding with Thebe's against Phocis we were also declaring war on our nearest neighbour, the city of Aeolia. Demarchus, a demagogue and opponent of Aristides proposed himself as leader of an expedition to attack the territory of Aeolia. However their forces outnumbered our own and Aristides proposed to let the Aeolians advance into our territories to allow time for reinforcement to arrive from our ally, the island of Misselia. The debate was close, and Demarchus accused Aristides of cowardice, but he was silenced when Aristides pointed out that his own lands were in the path of any Aeolian invasion. He had as much to lose as any, and more than others, in letting them invade, but it was our best hope for victory.

In the end the vote was close, but Aristides' proposal was adopted. The sun was setting as we walked back to our barracks, the horizon the colour of fire and blood. We all prayed to Zeus that it was not an omen.