bow,' Sostratos remarked. 'From what Father says, they were just starting to mount them on ships when we were little.' 'Yes, I've heard my father say the same thing,' Menedemos agreed. He hadn't been paying the dart-thrower any mind; he'd been looking at the eyes painted on either side of the five's prow. The Aphrodite had them, too, as did almost every ship in the Middle Sea, but these seemed particularly fierce and menacing - not least because, at the moment, they were glaring straight at his ship. One of the men on the war galley's deck cupped his hands in front of his mouth and shouted: 'Heave to!' 'What do we do, skipper?' Diokles asked again. 'What he says,' Menedemos answered, watching seawater foam white over the topmost fin of the five's ram. The green bronze fins had to be a cubit wide; they could smash a hole in the Aphrodite's side that would fill her with water faster than he cared to think about. Even if he were mad enough to try to use his much smaller ram against her timbers, she had extra planking at the waterline to ward against such attacks. 'Oop!' the keleustes shouted, and the akatos' rowers rested at their oars. Up came the five to lie alongside the Aphrodite. Men brailed up the sails to keep the great ship from gliding away to the south. The war galley's deck rose six or seven cubits out of the water; the archers there could shoot down into the akatos' waist, while Menedemos' men could do next to nothing to reply. A fellow in a scarlet-dyed tunic looked the Aphrodite over. By the way he put his hands on his hips, what he saw didn't much impress him. 'What ship is this?' he demanded. 'The Aphrodite, out of Rhodes,' Menedemos said. And then, deliberately mocking, he gave the galley the same sort of once-over her officer had given the akatos. It wasn't so easy for him, because he had to crane his neck upwards to do a proper job of it, but he managed. And, looking up his nose because he couldn't look down it, he asked, 'And what ship are you?' Perhaps taken by surprise, the war galley's officer replied, 'The Eutykhes. General Ptolemaios' ship, out of Kos.' Then he glared at Menedemos, who smiled back. He snapped, 'I don't have to answer your questions, and you do have to answer mine. If you're lucky ' - he played on the meaning of his ship's name - 'you'll be able to.' 'Ask away,' Menedemos said cheerfully. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sostratos looking worried. Sostratos would never have baited the Eutykhes' officer. Because he was rational and sensible, he thought everybody else was, too. Menedemos had a different opinion. Insulting an arrogant ass was often the only way to get him to acknowledge you. Of course, it also had its risks. With a scowl, the officer said, 'You look like a gods-detested pirate to me, is what you look like. Rhodes? Tell me another one. Give me the name of the man you serve and give me your cargo and do it fast, or you'll never get the chance to do anything else.' 'I serve two men: my father Philodemos and Lysistratos, his younger brother,' Menedemos answered, all business now. 'If you don't know of them, ask your crew; someone will.' And, to his relief, one of the marines aboard the Eutykhes came up to the officer. Menedemos couldn't
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