Over the Wine Dark Sea

  'Seems all right to me,' Sostratos said, but then, before Menedemos could get angry, he went on, 'You're the skipper, so it will be however it suits you.' He chivvied the peahen forward and actually succeeded in chasing it into its cage without having to net it first.   That done, he told off several sailors to move the heavy jars of wine back toward the poop deck. He had plenty from whom to choose; with the sail sweeping the Aphrodite along, the oars went unmanned. Even so, the sailors grumbled. 'Aristagoras had slaves lugging these miserable jars,' one of them said, 'and now we've got to do it.'   'If you want to bring your slave along, Leontiskos, he can fetch and carry for you,' Menedemos said sweetly.   'If I had one, I would bring him,' Leontiskos said. But, seeing that his comrades were laughing at him, he settled down and helped do what needed doing.   'That's much better,' Menedemos said when the work was finished. 'My thanks to you all.' It wasn't much better, but he could feel the difference; the Aphrodite responded to the sail and to the steering oars more readily than she had before.   Sostratos ascended to the poop deck and asked, 'Now will you tell me what you plan to do?'   Menedemos considered. 'I'll make you a bargain,' he said at last. 'I will tell you -  if you answer a question of mine first.'   'Go ahead,' Sostratos said. Menedemos noticed that he hadn't promised to answer -  he wanted to hear the question first.   Well, if he won't give, he won't get, Menedemos thought. Picking his words with care, he said, 'Why did you let Aristagoras make you so angry?'   His cousin's face closed like a slamming door. 'Why?' Sostratos echoed. 'Isn't that obvious?' His voice showed nothing, either.   'If it were, I wouldn't ask,' Menedemos told him.   'No?' Sostratos rolled his eyes, as if to call Menedemos an idiot without saying a word. Remembering how frayed his cousin's temper was, Menedemos fought to hold on to his own. When he didn't rise to the bait, Sostratos clicked his tongue between his teeth and said, 'All right, I'll go through it like a mother teaching her little boy to count on his fingers.'   There was another slap, another one Menedemos pretended not to notice. All he said was, 'Thank you.'   Sostratos stared out into the Aegean, as if that were easier than looking at Menedemos. In a voice Menedemos could barely hear, his cousin said, 'That polluted whoremonger told me I'd never make a trader. He told me you were the only reason we made the bargain. He told me I told the truth too much, if you can believe the hubris in that.'   'And he was trying