wasn't as good in bed as you expected.' If I laid Aphrodite, she'd complain I wasn't as good in bed as she expected, Sostratos thought, and then, Or would she? She being a goddess, wouldn't she know ahead of time what I was like in bed? He scratched his head. After pondering that for a little while, he said, 'The problem of how much the gods can see of the future is a complicated one, don't you think?' 'What I think is, I haven't got the faintest idea of what you're talking about,' Menedemos answered, and Sostratos realized he'd assumed his cousin could follow along in a conversation he'd had with himself. While he was still feeling foolish, Menedemos went on, 'Let's get back to the boat and see if we've got any passengers looking to go west.' 'All right,' Sostratos said. When they left the temple precinct, he let out a sigh. 'Except for this shrine, Tainaron's about as unholy a place as I've ever seen.' 'It's not Delphi,' Menedemos agreed, 'but we wouldn't pick up mercenaries bound for Italy at Delphi, now would we?' Sostratos could hardly argue with that. What he could do - and what he did - was keep a wary eye out for thieves and cutpurses all the way down to the beach. He credited his eagle eye for their getting to the boat unmolested. A couple of brawny, sun-browned men with scars on their arms and legs and cheeks were talking with Diokles when Sostratos and Menedemos came up. The oarmaster looked very much at home with them: but for the scars, he might have been one of their number himself. 'Here's the skipper and the toikharkhos,' he said. 'They'll tell you everything you need to know.' 'Twelve drakhmai to Syracuse, we heard,' one of the mercenaries said. 'That right?' Sostratos tossed his head. 'Twelve drakhmai to Taras,' he answered. 'I don't know if we'll be putting in at Syracuse at all. There's no way to tell, not till we hear how the war with Carthage is going.' 'Twelve drakhmai to Italy is a lot of money,' the other mercenary grumbled, 'especially when I've got to pay for my own food, too.' 'That's the way things work,' Menedemos said. 'That's the way they've always worked. You don't expect me to change them, do you?' To Sostratos, expecting things to work a certain way because they always had was nothing but foolishness. He started to say so, then shut up with a snap; as far as a dicker with mercenaries went, his cousin had come up with an excellent argument. 'All right, all right,' the second hired soldier said. 'When do you figure you'll sail?' 'We have room for five or six passengers,' Menedemos replied. 'We'll stay till we've got 'em all, or till we decide we're not going to.' 'Well, you've got one, even if you are a thief,' the second mercenary said. 'I'm Philippos.' 'Two,' the other Hellene said. 'My name's Kallikrates son of Eumakhos.' 'I'm the son of Megakles myself,' Philippos added. He pointed out to the Aphrodite.
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