As he made his slow way up the pier, he managed a grin and said, 'Look at me. I'm the last part of the answer to the Sphinx's riddle.' 'Heh!' one of the sailors said. 'That riddle's not so much. We see any of those scoundrels who set on you, skipper, we'll leave 'em on all fours even if they aren't babies.' The other men with Menedemos dipped their heads. They all wore knives. They all had their right hands on their hilts - no, all but Didymos, who was lefthanded. He had a righthanded twin who was also a sailor, though not on the Aphrodite. Menedemos saw none of the ruffians on the way back to the house where he and Sostratos were staying. Someone he didn't recognize was standing not far from the door when he and his escort came round the corner, but that fellow turned and walked off before Menedemos could find out what, if anything, he had in mind. He brought the sailors in for a cup of wine. Sostratos, who was still muttering over the counting board, looked up in surprise. 'What's all this in aid of?' he asked. Trying to keep his tone light, Menedemos answered, 'I had a little trouble coming back from the ropemaker's.' 'Did you?' Sostratos raised an eyebrow, a characteristic gesture. He pointed to the sailors. 'Looks as though you had more than a little.' 'Well, maybe,' Menedemos allowed. He told the story in a few bald words, leaving out any mention of either Gylippos or Phyllis. 'I'm glad you're all right,' his cousin said when he finished. What Sostratos' eyes said was, I told you so. So he had, and he'd been right, too. That didn't make Menedemos any happier to be on the receiving end of his glare. Menedemos took a cup of wine for himself, too, and mixed very little water with it. It didn't make his ankle feel much better - only time would do that - but it made him feel better. He gave the sailors a drakhma apiece (which made Sostratos mutter afresh) and sent them back to the Aphrodite. Later, when he and Sostratos were both sitting in the house's cramped little andron, his cousin said, 'You're lucky you're still breathing, you know.' 'That thought did cross my mind, yes,' Menedemos admitted. 'Then why did you do it?' Sostratos asked. 'Why did I do what? Run? Because I wanted to keep on breathing, that's why,' Menedemos answered. Sostratos let out an irritated snort. 'Do you take me for a fool? You know perfectly well what I meant. Why did you go to Phyllis the second time? The first one doesn't count; you didn't know she wasn't a slave till afterwards.' 'Thank you so much,' Menedemos said. Sostratos snorted again, and glowered so fiercely that Menedemos felt he had to answer him. He did his best: 'Why? Because I felt like it, and it was fun, and I thought I could get away with it.'
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