mocking? Some of each, he thought. Menedemos asked, 'Is that your pal Herodotos again?' 'No, it's in Thoukydides' history,' Sostratos replied. 'A book,' the tavernkeeper said. 'A book. Well, ain't that something? Don't have my letters myself, nor much want 'em, neither, but ain't that something?' 'Ain't that something?' Menedemos echoed wickedly as Sostratos and he headed for a cookshop not far away. 'Oh, shut up,' Sostratos said, which made his cousin laugh out loud. Irked, he went on, 'Natural philosophers say that earthquakes aren't Poseidon's fault at all, that they're as much a natural phenomenon as waves stirred up by wind.' 'I don't know that I can believe that,' Menedemos said. 'What could cause them, if they're natural?' 'No one knows for sure,' Sostratos replied, 'but I've heard people suggest it's the motion of gas through subterranean caverns pushing the ground now this way, now that.' He'd always thought that seemed not only probable but sober and logical to boot. Menedemos, however, took it another way. His whoop of delight made several passing mercenaries whirl to gape at him. 'Earthfarts!' he said. 'Instead of Poseidon Earthshaker, we've got Kyamos Earthfarter. Bow down!' He stuck out his backside. 'No one ever made a bean into a god until you did just now,' Sostratos said severely, resisting the urge to kick the proffered part. 'You complain about the way I think sometimes, but you're more blasphemous than I'd ever be. If you ask me, all that Aristophanes has curdled your wits.' His cousin tossed his head. 'No, and I'll tell you why not. Aristophanes has fun mocking the gods, and so do I. When you say you don't believe, you mean it.' Sostratos grunted. That held more truth than he cared to admit. Instead of admitting it, he said, 'Come on, let's tell this fellow we're looking for passengers.' 'All right.' Menedemos made a very rude noise. 'Earthfarts!' He giggled. Sostratos wished he'd never started talking about the natural causes of earthquakes. To get a measure of revenge - and perhaps expiation as well - he all but dragged Menedemos to Poseidon's temple. Sure enough, there among the offerings stood the statue of Arion astride the dolphin. Sostratos clicked his tongue between his teeth. 'It's not so fine a piece of work as I thought it would be. See how stiff and old-fashioned it looks?' 'Arion jumped into the sea a long time ago,' Menedemos said reasonably. 'You can't expect the statue to look as if the sculptor set it there yesterday.' 'I suppose not,' Sostratos said, 'but even so - ' 'No. But me no buts,' Menedemos said. 'If you laid Aphrodite, you'd complain she
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