Tyrant (38 page)

Philistus and the others looked each other in the eye, completely taken by surprise. They all wore such an astonished expression that none of them obviously had been forewarned of his intentions.

‘Who is she?’ asked Philistus.

‘You mean “they”.’

‘“They”? Why they?’

‘Because I will take two wives.’

Leptines burst out laughing, as did some of the others.

Philistus jumped up: ‘What’s to laugh about? I’ve never heard of anything so foolish. What’s the point? If you’ve got such an itch, find another way to scratch it.’

‘You don’t understand. My dual marriage will have symbolic significance . . .’

‘Listen well,’ Philistus interrupted him. ‘Up until now, the people, in one way or another, have followed you. They respect you for your intelligence and determination and for your past as a heroic combatant, but if you start pulling stunts like this they will ridicule you. You’re acting like a character from a comic play!’

Leptines and the others could not contain their laughter.

Dionysius pounded his fist on the table, shouting: ‘That’s enough!’

They all fell silent.

‘If you want to know why I intend to marry two women on the same day, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, I’ll do it anyway, but the first one of you that cracks the slightest hint of an idiotic smile won’t even have the time to be sorry about it. Is that clear?’

Philistus tried to make amends. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about this: it’s a mistake. In any case, I am curious to know why you want to do such a thing.’

Seemingly appeased, Dionysius went on. ‘I will marry two girls: a Sicilian and an Italian, to symbolize my position as chief and leader of both lands. The Sicilian girl will obviously be from Syracuse. I was thinking of Rhegium for the Italian girl, as a gesture of friendship. There must be any number of beautiful virgins from well-to-do families in Rhegium. You, Leptines, will go to ask for my bride’s hand in Syracuse, while you, Philistus, will go to ask for the Italian girl’s hand in Rhegium.’

Leptines raised a finger. ‘Are questions allowed?’

‘If they’re not idiotic.’

‘That depends on your point of view.’

‘Then speak and stop breaking my balls about it.’

‘Let’s imagine that the two brides get along with each other and accept sharing you between them. Just how will you handle it in private? I mean, are you going to build a three-place bed or what? And which one are you going to fuck first, the Italian or . . .’

Dionysius punched him in the face, sending him rolling to the ground. Then he got up and left, slamming the door behind him.

‘I’d say you were looking for that one,’ observed Philistus, helping Leptines to get up.

T
HE
R
HEGINES DISCUSSED
Dionysius’s proposal to marry one of their daughters at length in the Assembly, while Philistus, who had brought the official request, waited patiently.

Opinions differed: some asserted the importance of having such a powerful ally as the tyrant of Syracuse, others thought the proposal too risky precisely because he was a tyrant and adventurer, and because if he fell, he would drag into ruin everyone who had become part of his family. Furthermore, the fate of Naxos and Catane had given a dire example; after all, they were Chalcidic colonies like Rhegium herself, peopled long ago by the inhabitants of the metropolis of Chalcis in Euboea.

Others still were furious over the request, which they judged impudent and shameless, and they proposed sending a prostitute as his fiancee to give him an idea of the consideration they had for him. In the end, the more moderate idea prevailed: to refuse his proposal without insulting him.

Philistus, on his return journey, felt ill at the idea of informing Dionysius of their response, which would certainly fail to make him happy. When he was received, he was relieved to see that Leptines was present as well, a sign that the two brothers had made peace and that the storm had passed.

Dionysius did not seem to react with particular disappointment. He only said: ‘They’ll regret it.’

‘I’m sorry,’ added Philistus.

‘It’s not your fault. I’m sure you did your best . . . Did you mention that I’d be marrying another girl as well?’

‘I had no choice.’

‘No, you didn’t, did you?’

‘Are you so sure you wouldn’t be happy with just one wife? There are lots of other girls who would be pleased to provide you with a little variety in bed . . . you are the most powerful man west of the Ionian Gulf.’

‘That’s not the point. I made a decision and I don’t change my mind once it’s made up, you know that. I want two wives: an Italian and a Syracusan. You’ll be leaving again soon.’

‘Going where?’

‘Locri. What do you say to Locri?’

‘Right: the city of women.’

‘They’ve always been our friends. I’m sure they’ll accept.’

‘I hope so. And if they give me a choice? What type of woman do you prefer?’

‘Blonde, brunette?’ prompted Leptines.

Dionysius lowered his head and thought to himself, ‘Arete . . .’ then raised his eyes to meet Philistus’s with a strange expression. ‘Dark . . . I’d prefer she had dark hair . . .’

‘Nothing else? I’m sure the Locrians will introduce me to their most attractive young women.’

‘High flanks, fine breasts . . .’ said Dionysius. ‘Do I have to tell you everything? No . . . it’s not very important, as long as she’s from a good family and has an adequate dowry.’

‘Naturally,’ nodded Philistus.

‘You’ll leave in exactly twenty days.’

‘Twenty days? Why, what’s happening in twenty days?’

‘What’s happening is that something will be ready . . . come on, I want you to see yourself,’ and they left the room together.

‘A gift? A special present?’ asked Philistus as he followed him down the stairs along with Leptines and the ever-present Aksal.

‘Wait and see.’

Dionysius walked at a quick pace towards the entry to the dockyards, while Philistus tried to guess from Leptines’s expression what on earth he might be meaning to show him in that noisy, smoke-filled place. They reached a dock fenced off by a palisade and guarded by armed men. Two of them opened a gate and had them enter. Philistus stood open-mouthed with astonishment.

‘A quinquereme,’ said Dionysius, smiling and indicating a formidable battle vessel, propped up on bilge blocks in the middle of the shipyard and almost ready for launching.

‘A quinquereme? What does that mean?’ asked Philistus.

‘It means a ship with five modules. Manned by one hundred more oarsmen than a trireme and equipped with a three-ram rostrum made of solid iron and weighing five talents, twice as heavy as any used until now. A beauty, isn’t she? I designed her myself.’

‘It’s the biggest warship ever built anywhere in the world,’ commented Leptines. ‘The
Boubaris
.’

‘She’s the ship that will take you to Locri to fetch my betrothed,’ added Dionysius, walking along the flank of the mighty ship. ‘Imagine the amazement of the people as they see her sail into port, her aplustre and figurehead all decked out in gold and silver, her standards waving in the wind. Imagine how swiftly the news will spread, how the sailors in every port will be talking about her, giving rise to all sorts of rumours about her size and magnificence. And just imagine when you return! I’ve planned everything. As soon as the
Boubaris
is sighted, a chariot with four white horses will depart from the house of my Syracusan fiance´e. At precisely the moment when the girl steps off the ship, here at the dockyards, the other bride will arrive from the opposite side of the square on a resplendent quadriga . . .’

Philistus heaved a long sigh. ‘Nice ceremony, no doubt about it.’

‘But that’s not all!’ added Dionysius, leading his guest to a platform from which he could see the entire dockyards. ‘Look, twenty-nine more galleys like this one, already under construction.’

‘Gods!’ exclaimed Philistus, speechless, letting his eyes roam over the expanse of gigantic hulls around which hundreds of shipwrights, caulkers, carpenters, rope-makers, armourers and blacksmiths scurried.

‘And it’s not finished here,’ continued Dionysius. ‘There are more marvels to see. Follow me.’ He left the platform and headed towards the side wall of the fortress, where they entered through a secondary door that led to one of the two inner courtyards.

Philistus followed him, struggling to keep up as he chatted with Leptines along the way. ‘
Boubaris
. . . what a curious name! Where did he fish that one up?’

‘I was the one who thought of it,’ replied Leptines. ‘When we were boys, we had a duck in the farmyard that was so big and heavy they called her
Boubaris
: heavy-as-an-ox.’

‘A duck!’ said Philistus, shaking his head. ‘A duck . . . my word!’

They entered the courtyard and Philistus was even more bewildered and amazed: three gigantic machines had been assembled in the middle of the yard, each of them surrounded by a dozen busy artillerymen. Some manoeuvred the arm of a winch connected to an enormous bowstring, in order to draw it taut. In response to a curt order, the slider was released and the string loosed a heavy dart of solid iron which struck a ten-inch-thick board with a dull thud, running it through from back to front.

‘We’ve called it “ballista”. If it is aimed at an infantry formation, it can cause a massacre. If it hits the side of a ship, even beneath the waterline, it can sink her from a distance of one hundred feet. And take a look at that.’

He pointed at a machine whose long, flexible wooden arm ended in a spoon which held a weight of perhaps one hundred pounds. A winch system pulled it taut, almost to the breaking point, then loosed it all at once. The weight was hurled at a wall made of large hewn blocks of lava stone and pulverized it. ‘We’ve called this one a “catapult”.’

‘You designed these as well?’ asked Philistus in astonishment.

‘I did,’ replied Dionysius. ‘I’ve been working day and night, first on the plans, then on scale models built by architects, and finally on these working models that you see here. They function perfectly. We’re building fifty of each. Himilco’s rams will seem like toys compared to these!’

‘You’re preparing for war,’ nodded Philistus.

‘That’s right. I’ll finally drive the Carthaginians completely out of Sicily. I’ll gather the survivors of Selinus, Acragas, Himera and Gela under my standard, I’ll muster mercenaries from everywhere and I’ll march all the way to Motya and Panormus.’

‘All this is incredible,’ murmured Philistus, looking over at the mechanisms drawing back the crossbows with a series of sinister creaks.

‘You haven’t seen anything yet,’ said Leptines. ‘If you’re not too tired, we can take a walk through the city; you won’t believe your eyes. The walls have been lengthened by seven stadia to include Epipolae, which has always been our Achilles’ heel. What’s more, we’re building a castle at the top, an impregnable fortress called Euryalus. A line of bastions to make the Athenian Long Walls pale! It will be the most impressive fortified complex ever seen.’

‘Let’s go, then,’ replied Philistus. ‘I still can’t really imagine what you’ve been up to in this city.’

‘Leptines will go with you,’ said Dionysius. ‘I have to remain here for the testing of my machines. I want them perfect when it’s time to line them up at the front.’

They crossed the Ortygia isthmus and proceeded to Achradina, following the line of walls which seemed to be growing before their eyes. Philistus couldn’t believe what he was seeing. In the two months he’d been gone, the length of the walls had nearly tripled, and the city had become a gigantic building yard. Thousands and thousands of stone-cutters, porters, labourers, masons and master-builders were working simultaneously along the entire line.

‘Dionysius has invented a system that works miracles,’ explained Leptines. ‘He divided the entire perimeter into one-hundred-foot sections and has assigned each section to an independent team, led by a building foreman, who is responsible for the execution and the progress of the works. Each team is paid on the basis of the length of the wall section they manage to build, and the faster the wall goes up, the higher the pay. So everyone works to his maximum potential. The slaves have even been promised their freedom, and this has driven them to quite unimaginable feats. They work in shifts, day and night, never stopping, under the supervision of inspectors who are directly accountable to Dionysius, so that their very lives are at stake if he doesn’t find the work satisfactory!’

They walked for nearly an hour before they reached Epipolae and the Euryalus fortress, surrounded by trenches. From there they could take in the whole city in a single glance: the new districts, the long snaking walls, the two harbours and Ortygia.

‘In three months’ time, the entire circle of wall and the fortress will be complete. Syracuse will be impregnable.’

‘I believe it,’ replied Philistus. ‘But all this won’t go unobserved. They’ll find out in Carthage and adopt measures to counter ours.’

‘That’s not said. The Carthaginian quarter here in Syracuse is completely surrounded by mercenaries. No one can enter or exit without permission. We’ll arrest and imprison them on the slightest suspicion. We’ll use torture, if necessary.’