"And that concludes today's lecture on rhetoric."
Athenodorus carefully closed his book of notes and looked round at us 1.
"All that remains, therefore, is to set you your homework. Tomorrow, as you know, Marcus Sertorius is putting on a show and I know right enough that even if I did hold a class tomorrow, I should be lecturing to myself. Very well. To give you all a chance to sober up and prepare your speeches we shall meet again in three days' time.
"We will be considering the nature of sight, on which Aristotle has given a masterly exposition in his work on the soul, which I wish you to consult in preparation for our lecture. To encourage you to do this, I shall set themes for your speeches on the subject of light.
"Lord2 Arxes, your theme can be 'The Blessings of Light'. Lord Lucias, you can talk on 'Light Defeating Darkness'. Lord Petroclus, how about 'In Praise of Light'? Lord Alexander, your subject is 'Aurora, Goddess of Dawn'. Lord Gripus, you . . . what is it, Alexander?"
Alexander stood up, a small smile on his face.
"Excuse me, sir. May I have another subject?"
"Wh. . . oh, sorry, Lord Alexander. I forgot your religious scruples. Let me see, how about 'Dawn, the Sailors' Hope'?"
"Thank you, sir."
"Mind you, Lord Alexander, have you ever considered the logic of your position? You claim that you should worship only one god: many philosophers would agree with you that there is only one god, the All-Highest, who alone is worthy of worship. We must, therefore, ask who - or what - are these other gods?"
I groaned silently and exchanged glances with Lucias, who was sitting beside me. When Athenodorus got started on one of his diatribes he tended to close his eyes and forget completely about time. I tried to catch Gripus' eye and signal to him to distract the old philosopher.
"One point of view is," Athenodorus declaimed, "that these gods are, in fact nothing. If this is so, what possible harm can there be in participating in a festival or sacrifice in honour of nothing? How could your wife be jealous of you if you were not visiting another woman?"
Athenodorus opened his eyes and looked down at Alexander as if noticing him for the first time. "Eh, boy?"
"Yes, sir."
"On the other hand," Athenodorus clearly had neither expected nor heard the reply. "On the other hand there are those who say that these gods are angels, daemons, heroes or guardians3. Now, all such powers are under the control of the All-Highest - for otherwise it stands to reason that he cannot be the All-Highest - and what they do must be pleasing to him, otherwise he would remove them. It follows from this that by refusing to pay respect to these guardians you are refusing to pay respect to that which the All-Highest has ordained."
"No, sir."
Alexander's mumbled response seemed to satisfy the expectant pause, for Athenodorus closed his eyes and set off on another tack.
"You need not think, Lord Alexander, that you are in any way offending against this All-Highest god by showing respect to other gods, for Plato tells us that god is unmoved by necessity, he is beyond harm or need. No matter how many gods you worship, none of them can be harmed or offended by your actions4. These are the sure conclusions of science5."
At last I caught Gripus' eye and gestured at him. He grinned back at me and cleared his throat loudly. Athenodorus opened his eyes and glared at the interrupter.
"Yes, Lord Gripus?"
"Sir, please, sir. You were about to assign me my theme."
"Ah," Athenodorus' long tongue ran over his lips. "Yes. Lord Gripus, you can discourse on 'Light and Apollo.' Lord Moschion, . . ."
A minute or two later we were all in the roadway outside the lecture hall. Ever since my beard started to grow6 , I have insisted that Petosirus, my pedagogue 7, waits for me out there. I feel sorry for those boys whose parents still require that they have their pedagogues in the classroom with them. I handed him my tablets and stylus8 and hurried down the street after Lucias and Alexander.
We must look a strange sight to passers-by: I in my chiton9 , Lucias with his left hand tucked inside his usually grubby toga10 and Alexander in the fringed tunic of his race, with its black borders11. The fact is, that we are the only Greens in our class: everyone else, including old Athenodorus, are ardent Blues12, so we have to stick together, as much for our own protection as for friendship.
"What are you both doing now?" I asked my companions.
"I'm going home to read Aristotle," Lucias boasted.
Lucias' father has a small publishing firm among his other interests and I was once allowed to watch as the four slaves wrote to the dictation of a fifth13. I had to keep very quiet in case I distracted them and caused them to make a mistake. He has recently published a small edition of Aristotle's famous book on the 'Ten Categories' and while they remain unsold, Lucias is allowed to read them.
"And you?" I turned to Alexander.
Alexander made a face.
"I have to go back to school to study the Torah, our holy book. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to visit my father in our shop. He's promised to take me down to the market and buy me a girl of my own."
"Of your own?" Lucias sounded impressed. His father may be wealthy, but he isn't renowned for his generosity.
"Of my very own," I asserted.
I didn't tell them the story behind my father's decision. A week ago I was at the baths with my father when one of the hetarae who are always hanging around down there looking for customers passed by. She was stark naked - which isn't unusual, I grant you - but for some reason something extremely embarrassing happened14. My father noticed me trying to cover myself and smiled broadly.
"Well, my boy. After sixteen years15 , at last you're a man. We'll have to see about caring for your needs."
This, and my initiation into the city's official Bacchic Mystery16, was his idea of caring for my needs.
"You're lucky," Lucias said. "When I want it I have to use one of our slaves17 , who are nearly all old and ugly, or beg some money from my father so that I can go up and see Scapha."
"Wouldn't it be cheaper for your father to get you your own girl?" I asked.
"Probably," Lucias shrugged. "The trouble is that the only girl I want is Scapha - and she's not for sale. Temple girls never are. Once they're dedicated to Artemis that's it: they can never be free again."
"What about you, Alexander?" I swung round on our Jewish friend, who was keeping very quiet. "Have you got a girl?"
Alexander shook his head.
"Not even up at the Artemision?" I wanted to know.
"Certainly not!" Alexander sounded shocked. "It would be worshipping a Greek god. That's forbidden."
I sighed. "Your god certainly doesn't like you to have much fun."
"Oh, I don't know." Alexander sounded defensive. "At least I won't pick up some foul disease from a woman who's been with every sailor this side of the Bosphorus."
"Scapha's not like that!" Lucias protested. "She loves me."
"Like she loves everyone else," I teased.
"Lord Arxes," Petosirus spoke from behind, "We had better hurry. You know your father's waiting."
"Oh, ok. See you tomorrow." I quickened my step and drew ahead of my companions.
"You won't see me," Alexander called after me. "I don't go to games."
Jews! I thought as I turned the corner. What a god! I mean, what a god!
1 Livy, in his History of Rome V.xxv, tells us that "Schoolmasters in Falerii used to have charge of their pupils both in and out of school hours and, as in Greece today, one man was entrusted with the care of a number of boys." Return
2 The Greek kurios is translated "lord" but was used much as we might use "sir" or "master", as in "how do you do, sir?" or "young master Thomas", as well as referring to a ruler or a god. Gerald Durrell's fascinating accounts of his childhood on a Greek island show this usage in practice. Return
3 The whole of this argument is taken from Celsus' On The True Doctrine, a work of anti-Christian polemic. He says, "From the beginning of the world, different parts of the earth were allotted to different guardians and, its having been apportioned in this manner, things are done in such a way as pleases the guardians. For this reason it is impious to abandon the customs which have existed in each locality from the beginning." (p. 87) This ancient idea is reflected in Deuteronomy 32:8, 9 "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For Yahweh's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance." Return
4 Or, as Celsus puts it, "Such a god is not jealous for the devotion of particular people; necessity is foreign to his nature and the homage people pay him has to do with their zeal, not his requirements. Understood in this way, there is nothing to prevent these Christians from participating in the public festivals in the spirit of social intercourse and as a sign of their fealty to the state." (p. 117) Return
5 The Greeks made no distinction between the theorisings of the philosophers and their genuine scientific discoveries. Pythagoras, better known to us for his geometry, also taught that the whole universe is founded on music and harmony. Both ideas were equally valid to the Greeks. After all, if a man predicts that there will be an eclipse on a certain date, and there is, then he is likely to be correct when he tells you about the nature of the soul. Many modern Christians fall into the same error: here is a man who can send a rocket to the moon, his conclusions about the origin of the cosmos are therefore to be received, even if they contradict the Bible. Return
6 A beard was regarded as a sign of manhood. Pausanias, in his Guide to Greece repeatedly refers to this. A typical example is in VII.xxiv where he says: "The Aigians have other statues as well, made of bronze: Zeus in his boyhood and even Herakles not old enough to wear a beard, by Ageladas of Argos. They have priests elected by the year and each of these statues lives in the priest's house; in an earlier period the boy with the most beauty was picked out to be priest of Zeus but when the hair began to grow on his face the privilege of beauty passed to another boy." Return
7 The paidagogos was a slave who took the young boy to school and was responsible for his good behaviour. With young children the paidagogos often sat behind the pupil with a rod in his hand, ready to punish any misbehaviour. Although not a teacher, the paidagogos was often well educated himself, the better to help his charge with homework. Obviously, as the child grew up the need for the paidagogos became less, not because misbehaviour was now tolerated but because he had become mature enough to behave himself. He had internalised society's rules and ordered his life by them. In his essay On Listening, Plutarch says, "Bear in mind that for intelligent people the passage from childhood to adulthood is not an abandonment of rules but a change of ruler: instead of someone whose services are hired and bought, they accept in their lives the divine leadership of reason - and it is only those who follow reason who deserve to be regarded as free." (p. 27) Return
8 Papyrus and parchment were far too valuable to be used for school-boys' exercises. Instead people wrote by scratching with a stylus on a wooden tablet coated thinly with beeswax. This could then be smoothed over and re-used. Tablets were used by all classes of society: Suetonius, in his The Twelve Caesars tells of a litigant who became enraged at the way the emperor Claudius was conducting his case. "He hurled a stylus and set of wax tablets in his face, shouting, 'A curse on your stupid, cruel ways!' Claudius' cheek was badly gashed." (p. 195) Return
9 The chiton was a simple, rather full, tunic that hung in loose pleats from the shoulders and was tied with a cord or belt about the waist. Return
10 The toga was a large oval of cloth wrapped around the body over a light tunic. It was the traditional garment of a Roman citizen, though because it was complicated and inconvenient fewer people were wearing it in the time of Paul. Before puberty a boy's toga had a purple border. It was the custom for high class men to keep the left hand - the sinister hand - tucked out of sight in the folds of the toga. As Suetonius says, in his The Twelve Caesars, "Claudius never behaved less formally than at these Picnics, exposing his left hand in plebeian fashion when he distributed prizes, instead of keeping it decently covered by his toga." (p. 199) Return
11 A Jewish garment had fringes in accordance with God's requirement in Numbers 15:37-41. For decoration there was a black right-angle resembling the Greek letter gamma in each of the four corners. Return
12 Chariot races in the stadium were usually between four teams at once and these, for convenience, were given colours: green, blue, white and red. In time these developed into formal associations, rather like football clubs in our modern world, and, like football fans, the public sided with one group or another. For some reason the Reds and the Whites were never very popular, but the Blues and Greens became powerful enough eventually to overthrow emperors. Return
13 As always in the days before freedom of speech was established, publishing could be a risky business. Suetonius, in his The Twelve Caesars records, "Hermogenes of Tarsus died because of some allusions that he had introduced into a historical work and the slaves who acted as his copyists were crucified." (p. 306) Return
14 In his Confessions II.iii St Augustine relates his own experience: "In the meanwhile, during my sixteenth year, the narrow means of my family obliged me to leave school and live idly at home with my parents. The brambles of lust grew high above my head and there was no one to root them out, certainly not my father." (St Augustine's father was a pagan, his mother a Christian.) "One day at the public baths he saw the signs of active virility coming to life in me and this was enough to make him relish the thought of having grand-children. He was happy to tell my mother about it, for his happiness was due to the intoxication which causes the world to forget You, its Creator. . . . If the growth of my passions could not be cut back to the quick, she did not think it right to restrict them to the bounds of married love. This was because she was afraid that the bonds of marriage might be a hindrance to my hopes for the future - not, of course, the hope of the life to come, which she reposed in You, but my hopes of success at my studies." St Augustine embarked on a succession of affairs before settling down with a mistress who bore him a son. Return
15 In The Twelve Caesars Suetonius remarks concerning Augustus, "At sixteen, having now come of age, he was awarded military decorations when Caesar celebrated his African triumph, though he had been too young for overseas service." (p. 57) On the other hand, Greek boys came of age at eighteen, but I am assuming a certain amount of Roman custom in the Roman colony of Corinth. Return
16 Bacchus was the god of vegetation and fruitfulness and therefore a popular and important god; particularly for the aspect of fruitfulness, which meant wine and sex. Every town and city had a number of Bacchic societies (or "mysteries"), some for men only, some for women and others with a mixed membership. Young men usually had their first experience with a woman during their initiation into one or another of the Bacchic mysteries. The women's societies were usually more restrained than those for men: Plutarch, in his essay In Consolation to his Wife remarks, "The point is that Bacchic rites are not the only circumstances which require a decent woman to remain uncorrupted." (p. 367) However Pausanias in his Guide to Greece II.v, describing Sikyon which is near to Corinth, says, "Behind the theatre is a shrine of Dionysos: the god is ivory and gold but the Bacchae with him are white stone. They say these women are holy and raving mad for Dionysos," which would imply that the human imitators copied similar behaviour. Return
17 Ischomachus, one of the characters in Xenophon's The Estate Manager, tells Socrates how he encouraged his wife to avoid cosmetics, dress modestly and keep her body in trim by exercise. The result would be "when there's a decision to be made between her and a servant girl, then because she is less made up and more tastefully dressed, she becomes an object of desire and especially because she is granting her favours willingly, whereas the servant has no choice but to submit. But women who put on airs and sit around are inviting comparison with tarted-up seductresses." (p. 326) It was expected that female slaves would be at the disposal of their owner and his family. Return