The Etruscan

6.

As Dionysius had predicted, the early morning brought a wet squall that pushed us eastward with creaking masts. So violent was the churning of the sea that Dorieus, still suffering from the blow on his head, vomited time and again. Many of Dionysius’ men likewise lay on the deck, clinging to the railing and unable to eat.

The west wind drove westbound merchant ships to shelter, leaving the deserted sea to Dionysius. His luck accompanied him, for when we had reached the straits between Rhodes and the mainland the wind died down. Dawn brought with it a land wind and a veritable fleet of vessels loaded to the gunwales with grain and oil for the Persian navy near Miletus. Their crews greeted us gaily, misled by the Phoenician ship and the Persian emblems which Dionysius displayed.

Presumably Dionysius had little interest in such cargo and merely sought to prove to himself and to his men that he was still waging the Ionian war. We seized the largest of the ships before its crew realized what was happening. When Dionysius learned that the vessels were Greek ships in the service of the Persians he immediately ordered both our penteconters to scuttle them. We had no need of grain or oil, nor could we have transported them.

With oars and sails we headed for Cyprus and on the way surprised a large and richly laden merchant vessel which also carried passengers. As we surrounded it and clambered up its steep sides its crew vainly attempted to ward off our attack. The passengers, recovered from their initial shock, appeared with upraised hands and in various languages promised large ransoms for themselves, their wives and their daughters. But Dionysius as a cautious man had no desire to spare anyone who might identify him or his men in the future. So he felled the male passengers himself with swift blows of his axe and left the women to his men while the ship was being plundered.

“Make haste, my clansmen,” he said. “Although I cannot deny you the joys which only a woman can give, remember that I will kill with my own hands anyone who attempts to conceal a woman on one of our vessels. It would create only bickering and confusion.”

The men pulled at their beards and stared with burning eyes at the weeping women.

Dionysius laughed and added, “Remember also, my gallant warriors, that every joy has its price. Whoever utilizes the short time at our disposal in gratifying childish passions instead of in sensibly collecting loot will lose his share of it.”

So great was the Phocaeans’ greed that only a few chose the women. The rest of us scattered over the vessel, where we found gold and silver in the form of both coins and objects, beautiful pieces of sculpture, women’s jewelry and colored fabrics, even two rolls of purple cloth. We also took care of the spice supply and the wines, as well as the passengers’ possessions.

The easiest way to dispose of the vessel would have been to burn it, since we were incapable of puncturing its heavy, cedar sides. But Dionysius did not wish to betray us through smoke or fire. Instead, we chopped holes in the ship’s bottom and as the vessel began to sink Dionysius roused those of his men who had chosen women instead of loot and then had the throats of the women slit, thus giving them an easy death in compensation for the dishonor they had suffered.

Only Dorieus had not participated in the plundering and raping but had returned to our vessel immediately following the capture. Mikon, who had not taken part in the fighting, had inspected the ship and found an ivory-trimmed medicine case together with physician’s instruments.

When Dionysius censured him for his laziness, Dorieus stated that he fought only armed men, the more skilled the better. But the killing and plundering of unarmed men was beneath his dignity. This explanation satisfied Dionysius, who promised him his share of the loot even though he had not contributed to it.

Having related this much, I have really described our entire voyage, for everything happened in the same manner. The only difference lay in the size and number of the vessels, the time of day, the stiffness of the resistance, the amount of loot, and other matters of secondary importance. We rounded Cyprus on the sea side and sank several ships from Curium and Amathus after having lured them closer with our Persian shields and emblems. But we could not prevent the escape of several fishing boats which had witnessed the attacks. In great urgency Dionysius stamped the deck and cried for a favorable wind to carry us straight toward the Phoenician coast. No one would suspect our appearance on the busiest shipping routes, for pirates had not dared venture into these safest waters of the civilized world for generations.

But the gentle breeze continued to blow toward Cyprus, just as the breeze always blows toward land in the daytime and in the morning from land to sea, unless storms or capricious gales prevail. This has been made possible by the fishermen’s sea gods so that the men may sail out before dawn and return with the day winds.

The wind was not our only obstacle, for a strong current, of which the men from Salamis had warned us, made our oars powerless to carry us in the direction set by Dionysius.

As Dionysius stood on the deck, stamping his feet, rattling shields, and calling for a favorable wind, Mikon came to me.

“Why don’t you summon the wind, Turms?” he suggested. “Do it if only in jest.” He was smiling and there was a familiar wrinkle between his brows.

I cannot explain why I did so, but I raised my arms and summoned the wind thrice, then seven times and finally twelve times in an increasingly loud voice, until my own shouts intoxicated me and I was no longer aware of what happened around me.

When I came to my senses Mikon was holding my head on his arm and pouring wine down my throat, Dorieus was staring at me strangely, and Dionysius looked frightened, as though he didn’t believe what he saw. The sky which shortly before had been cloudless had changed color, and from the west a blue-black mass of clouds was approaching with the speed of a thousand charging black horses. As Dionysius shouted for the sails we heard the thunder of hoofbeats, the sea darkened and frothed, and lightning blazed above us. Then we plunged forward with snapping sails through blinding hail and foam, unable to do anything but follow the wind to avoid being swamped by the house-high waves.

As the lightning flashed and the ship groaned we lay on deck clinging to whatever we could. Then, as the wine which Mikon had given me rose to my head, I stumbled to my feet and, clutching the mast rope, tried to dance on the rolling deck as I had once danced on the road to Delphi. The dance penetrated my limbs and from my throat burst words which I did not understand. Only when the storm began to die down did I drop in exhaustion onto the deck.