Over the Wine Dark Sea

  'Plenty of pirates in those waters,' Sostratos observed.   'Plenty of pirates everywhere these days,' Menedemos said. 'We've been over this before.' But Sostratos wasn't really arguing, not as he'd argued against stopping at Cape Tainaron. His tone was more that of a man pointing out the risks of doing business. Menedemos added, 'Since we'll be sailing north once we pass between Italy and Sicily, maybe we'll find more of these redheaded women you like.'   As he'd thought it would, that made his cousin splutter. 'Don't talk to me of women, considering what you've been up to,' Sostratos said. 'We'd better be ready to sail at a moment's notice, in case Gylippos finds out for certain.'   'We are,' Menedemos said complacently, always pleased to be one step ahead. 'I've let Diokles know, so he always has men ready to pull the crew out of the dives. They can't do so much drinking and wenching on a drakhma and a half a day as they could when they had back pay coming to them, either.'   'True,' Sostratos said. 'Probably just as well, too. Men who roister like that often die young.'   'And men who don't roister like that also often die young, don't they?' Menedemos said with his most innocent smile. Sostratos gave him a sour look in return. Menedemos clapped his cousin on the back. 'I'm going out for a while.'   'Not to Gylippos', I hope,' Sostratos exclaimed.   'No, no. I need to see a ropemaker. Diokles found some frayed lines on the ship, and I want to take care of that,' Menedemos answered.   'He's a solid man, Diokles,' Sostratos said. 'He'd make a good captain, and I'd tell my father the same thing.'   'We could do worse if we didn't have an owner aboard,' Menedemos agreed. He headed for the door. 'See you later. I shouldn't be too long.'   'All right,' Sostratos replied in absent tones. He was already flicking beads up and down again. He paid as much attention to the counting board as he did to his precious books. When they engrossed him, Zeus might hurl a thunderbolt a cubit away without his noticing.   Amused at his cousin's foibles, Menedemos hurried off toward the ropemaker's shop. It lay close to the lagoon whose splendid harbor gave Taras its reason for being, not far from the shipsheds of the Tarentine navy -  and not far from the Aphrodite herself.   And the haggle with the ropemaker turned out to be easier than Menedemos had expected. Cordage here cost only a little more than half as much as it did at Rhodes. The Tarentines made most of their rope from hemp rather than linen, but that didn't bother Menedemos; the two were of comparable strength and weight. He left the shop well pleased with himself.   He was so well pleased with himself, in fact, that he didn't notice the four men following him quite so soon as he should have. They weren't doing anything in particular to keep him from noticing them. They came down the street after him shoulder to shoulder, and people walking in the other direction got out of their way in a hurry.