Over the Wine Dark Sea

'Interesting, yes.' Sostratos did his best to sound as detached as the oarmaster. 'It's not as if we didn't know there would be pirates along the way. And we haven't run into this ship yet, whosever it may be.'   'If the gods be kind, we won't, either.' Diokles rubbed the ring with the image of Herakles Alexikakos. But then a scowl darkened his weathered face. 'Of course, if these pirates plunder ships bound for Delos, they don't fear gods or men. Too much of that these days, if anyone cares what I think. Back before so many men called themselves philosophers, most folks respected the gods. They didn't go around stealing from them.'   Sostratos bristled at that. He was about to launch into a spirited defense of philosophy and philosophers when Menedemos called, 'Raise the anchors! Lower the sail! Let's be away -  and everybody keep a sharp eye out for pirates, because there's supposed to be one in the neighborhood.'   'I wonder how many of your rowers brought swords aboard,' Sostratos said to Diokles.   'There'll be some -  don't know how many myself, not offhand,' the keleustes said. 'Everyone'll have a knife. Belaying pins . . . Did your cousin bring his bow?'   'I don't know,' Sostratos answered. 'I'm sorry.'   Diokles made unhappy clucking noises. 'We ought to have at least one aboard. That way, nobody can start shooting at us without us shooting back.' He rubbed the ring again. 'Maybe I'm worrying about the reflection of a bone, like the dog in the fable. The sea is a big place. Maybe we won't have to worry about these pirates at all. I hope we don't.'   As the Aphrodite pulled away from Panormos, Sostratos asked Menedemos, 'Do you have your bow? The keleustes is worried about it.' He was worried about it, too, but didn't care to admit that to his cousin. Menedemos too often made him pay when he showed anything that looked like weakness.   'I've got it,' Menedemos answered. 'I hope it's not the only one aboard. What I wish we had is a dart-thrower at the bow, like the ones Ptolemaios and Antigonos' fives carry. That would make a pirate ship sit up and take notice.' He sighed. 'Of course, we've got nowhere to put it, especially not with the peafowl all over the foredeck, and it'd be heavy enough to ruin the ship's trim. But I still wouldn't mind carrying one, not at times like this.'   The Aphrodite sailed through the channel between Mykonos and Tenos, the larger island to the northwest. Delos, which seemed hardly more than a speck of land, lay to port after the akatos cleared Mykonos. The polis of Delos stood on the island's west side. The white stone of the temples gleamed dazzlingly under a warm spring sun.   Several boats went back and forth between Delos and Rheneia; the channel separating the two islands couldn't have been more than four stadia wide. 'I wonder who's dying,' Sostratos murmured.   'What's that?' Menedemos said.   'I wonder who's dying,' Sostratos repeated. 'Delos is sacred ground, you know -  too sacred to be polluted by death. If somebody's in a bad way there, they take him across the channel to Rheneia to finish the job. They do the same for women in childbirth, too.'   'Childbirth's just