Over the Wine Dark Sea

  As Menedemos had said, some of the rowers went into Samos to roister. The rest dozed on their benches. Some of them snored. Others, probably even more uncomfortable than Sostratos, talked in low voices so as not to disturb their shipmates. Sostratos tried to eavesdrop on them till he finally fell asleep.   He woke once in the middle of the night, pissed into the water of the harbor, and fell asleep again almost at once. The next time he woke, it was daybreak. Menedemos was already sitting up, an almost wolfishly intent look on his face. He dipped his head to Sostratos. 'A lot to do today,' he said. 'We won't make Khios in one day from here, not rowing all the way. A good two-day pull. Since we didn't pass the night at sea coming to Samos, I intend to do that, to give the men a taste of what it's like.'   'Whatever seems good to you,' Sostratos agreed. 'Our fathers trust you to command the ship. I haven't seen anything that makes me think they're wrong.' Saying that didn't come easy to him; Menedemos often wore on his nerves. But his cousin did know what to do with the Aphrodite and how to lead her crew. However much Sostratos might have wanted to deny that, he couldn't.   Menedemos jumped to his feet. He paused just long enough to ease himself over the akatos' side. Then, still naked, he shouted the sailors awake. They yawned and grunted and rubbed their eyes, much less enthusiastic about facing the new day than he was.   He laughed at them. 'We're heading toward the finest wine in the world, and you whipworthy catamites complain? I thought I'd signed up a crew of real men.' His scorn lashed them to their feet and into action. Sostratos wondered how they would have acted had he exhorted them like that. Actually, he didn't wonder. He knew. They would have flung him into the Aegean. Had they been feeling kindly, they might have fished him out again afterwards.   He had his own morning duties to attend to. He gave the peafowl barley and water for their breakfast. The birds ate with good appetite. He'd seen they ate better in harbor than while the Aphrodite moved across the open sea. That was nothing remarkable. A lot of people went off their feed on the open sea, too.   'How many men are we missing, Diokles?' Menedemos asked.   'Not a one, captain, if you can believe it.' The keleustes shook his head in amazement. 'I wonder about these fellows, I truly do. You're hardly a man at all if you can't go out and make a night of it.'   'They want the Khian, too,' Menedemos said. 'Even a sailor can afford it when he buys it where they make it.'   Sostratos said, 'The dealers won't be so generous as the tavernkeepers will. They'll be selling their best, not the cheap stuff you get in taverns, and they'll squeeze us till our eyes pop.'   Menedemos grinned at him. 'That's why you're along. You're not supposed to let them squeeze us.'   'Ha,' Sostratos said. 'Ha, ha.' He brought out the syllables just like that, as if they were dialogue in a comedy. 'I can't keep them from squeezing us, and you'd better know it. With a little luck, I can keep them from squeezing us quite so much.'   'All right.' Menedemos dipped his head. He seemed in a good mood this morning, likely because the Aphrodite wouldn't have to sit in the harbor while Diokles hunted down men who gave more thought to roistering than to how they earned the money