Even though the round ship's sail was far bigger than the akatos',and even though the breeze filled it well, the Aphrodite easily pulled away. When Sostratos remarked on that, Menedemos said, 'I should hope so, by the gods. If that pig outsailed us, I think I'd go home and drink hemlock.' 'It still seems strange,' Sostratos said. 'Nothing strange about it,' Menedemos insisted. 'War galleys are faster than we are, because we're beamier than they are. They cut the water like a sharp knife. We cut it like a dull one. And as for that polluted round ship - won't even a dull knife cut water better than a drinking cup?' 'Sokrates couldn't do better, O best one,' Sostratos said. 'I find no flaws in your logic.' 'Thank you very much.' Menedemos looked smug. Sostratos wasn't about to let him get away with that. 'Why do you only think so straight when you've got ships on your mind? Why do you start acting like a madman as soon as you smell perfume?' 'I don't know,' Menedemos answered. 'Well, at least you don't deny it,' Sostratos said. 'Ships aren't women, though,' his cousin said. 'Even if we give them feminine names, they aren't. Most of the time, a ship will do what you want. Oh, you can make a mistake, but you usually know what's what. But with women . . . My dear fellow! You can't know what a woman will do next, for she usually doesn't know herself. So what's the point to logic?' Sostratos stared at him. 'That's the most logical argument for illogic I've ever heard,' he said at last. 'And I thank you again.' Menedemos grinned. He'd won that round, and he knew it. When they got down to the little town of Laos once more the following evening, a ship so like Leptines' was tied up at a quay, Sostratos wondered if the plump merchant skipper had somehow stolen a march on the Aphrodite. But the skipper of this round ship proved to be a scrawny fellow named Xenodokos. He said, 'If you've got more greed than brains, you might want to think about getting down to Rhegion quick as you can.' Sostratos hoped he had more brains than greed. Because of that, a certain amount of horror went through him when he heard Menedemos ask, 'Oh? Why?' 'Because Agathokles of Syracuse has men getting up a fleet of grain ships there,' Xenodokos answered. 'He's going to try and sneak 'em past the Carthaginian fleet so his polis doesn't starve. He'll pay gods only know how many times the going rate, even for a load from a skinny little ship like yours.' 'And what will he pay if the Carthaginians catch us?' Sostratos asked.
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