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Alcibiades (The uncited readings in the middle of the play are from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII 70-87, Crawley translation.) Personae Alcibiades Hipponicus Athenian banker Demogenes Athenian administrator Socrates Agatharcus Athenian painter Rizidion country potter, suitor to Alcibiades Taureas Athenian producer of dramas Hipparete daughter of Hipponicus Two Athenian Tax Collectors Anytus rich Athenian, suitor to Alcibiades Elithion Spartan emissary Moros Spartan emissary Nicias Athenian magnate and general Two Athenian Map-drawers Hyperbolus Athenian demagogue of low repute Lamachus Athenian general Agis King of Sparta Queen of Sparta Two Spartan Broth-eaters Gylippus Spartan general Tissaphernes Persian satrap in Asia Minor Antiochus Athenian captain, friend of Alcibiades Kaloneros Athenian second-mate Spartan admiral Panagros Athenian youth Grandfather of Panagros Thrasybulus Athenian demagogue, enemy of Alcibiades Three Athenian generals Courtesan Passersby, Heralds, Aides, Servants, Soldiers, Messengers, etc. Alcibiades sits at a small table with two books on it, downstage left of an otherwise empty stage, gazing out and freely engaging the audience as it enters and settles in. His presence and location in the coming scenes is entirely fluid, but while often 'going in' and 'coming out' of them, with the exception of two noted instances, he will never leave the stage. When ready, he takes up one of the books. Alcibiades Plutarch. “Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans”―you know, it's always puzzled me that, with these lives in front of him, and with the Greek lives―like Greece itself―vastly more interesting than the Roman, Shakespeare always takes up the Roman life, never the Greek. So, we have a Julius Caesar, who does conquer France―that’s a significant achievement, whatever they may say―but otherwise just offers a ―! to the Germans across the Danube as his legions wet themselves in fear, pitches a tent in Brighton, loses out to Antony for the girl and gets killed by his best friend―instead of Alexander, tutored by Aristotle, the culmination of a thousand of years of Greek culture, who, among his other accomplishments, conquers pretty much the entire civilized world. Then, we have no Pericles at all, who some would say perfects democracy―which you'd think would at least gain him a certain notoriety. We have Brutus instead of Dion, Antony instead of Demetrius, and of course Coriolanus, who, miffed by Rome offering him the —! leads a foreign army against it; whose life does produce one moving scene—with his mother—but otherwise just seems a summer blockbuster before its time. Yet we have a Coriolanus―and no Alcibiades. Raised by Pericles, loved by Socrates, the most compelling figure, in the most compelling period, of the most compelling culture the world has ever known—who even the stuffy, moralizing Plutarch is obviously mesmerized by. There's something about us Greeks that baffled Shakespeare, I think. Something about himself maybe. Well. Plutarch. Dryden translation. I hate to seem autocratic, but one mustn't waste one's time with any other. Only Dryden, through some animal sympathy I suppose, captures that exquisite comfort of Plutarch, that sun-sinking-on-the-world-that-never-was, with his feet up in the recroom in the suburbs of history. Listen. (Reading) “It is not perhaps, material to say anything about the beauty of Alcibiades, only that it bloomed with him in all the ages of his life, in his infancy, in his youth, and in his manhood; and in the peculiar character becoming to each of these periods, gave him, in every one of them, a grace and a charm.” (Faint, but rising sound of music and revelry. Always the same.) Well, what do you think? Quite plain really, wouldn't you say? But then― Music and revelry become distinct, then mount to a pitch after Alcibiades goes in. From offstage, as Demogenes and Hipponicus enter. Demogenes That’s true of course! Your generosity is legendary, sir—but in these times, in these times, sir, with the plague and the earthquakes and the cost of war, with Athens desperately in need of every sort of― Hipponicus Not a chance! Alcibiades (To audience) Would you excuse me for a moment? He goes in, approaching Hipponicus. Hipponicus For ten years of war I bore the lion's share, and now―at peace thank God―you come to me for―Alcibiades! He goes to greet Alcibiades. Alcibiades Hipponicus! He flattens him with a blow, then comes out. Music and revelry fade. (Overlapping) Demogenes Sir! Alcibiades (To audience) Forgive me. Demogenes Are you alright, sir? Alcibiades (To audience) Quite out of character. Demogenes Help! Help here! Alcibiades (To audience) It was a dare. Demogenes (To offstage) Socrates! Enter Socrates. Socrates Have you seen Alcibiades about? Demogenes Have I seen him? Socrates I thought I heard music― Demogenes He did this! Socrates What? Demogenes This! Socrates Really. Why? Demogenes I don't know why. (As Hipponicus slowly comes to.) Sir! (To Socrates) You should know if anyone. (To Hipponicus) Sir, are you alright? (To Socrates) You should be ashamed of yourself the way you court his favour. Socrates Who doesn't? Demogenes But you, a philosopher―self-styled!―chasing after him like a runaway whore. Socrates I love him. What should I do? Hipponicus ―the hell was that? Demogenes Alcibiades, sir, he just came up and― Hipponicus He just came up and hit me! He struggles to get up. Demogenes Let me help you, sir! Socrates Did you happen to see which way he― Hipponicus He just came up and― (As Demogenes and Hipponicus exit) Demogenes And hit you, sir, the swine! He's out of control. There we go. Socrates stands still, musing, oblivious. The voices of Hipponicus and Demogenes are heard offstage. Hipponicus (Offstage) He just came up and―I'll sue! Demogenes (Offstage) Absolutely sir, it's gone too far― Hipponicus (Offstage) He's insane! Demogenes (Offstage) No question sir―look out! Socrates continues to muse, oblivious. Then resumes his search. Passerby enters and passes by. Socrates Have you seen Alcibiades about? Passerby No. Exit Passerby. Voice of Agatharcus heard offstage, always. Agatharcus Hello? Hello! Help! Socrates Is that you, Agatharcus? Agatharcus Thank God! Socrates! Socrates Have you seen Alcibiades? Agatharcus Get me out of here! Socrates What's the matter? Agatharcus I'm a prisoner in here. Socrates In Alcibiades' house? What for? Agatharcus To paint it. Socrates To paint it? Agatharcus Yes. Socrates How's it going? Agatharcus What, the painting? Socrates Yes. Agatharcus Well. Socrates Doing a good job? Agatharcus Damn good! Socrates First rate? Agatharcus Absolutely! Socrates (Exiting) Maybe it was a good idea. Agatharcus What? Hello? Alcibiades (To audience) He's a simple tradesman, troubled by beauty. (Music and revelry slowly rises, peaking with Alcibiades' going in.) One day, he sells everything, everything he has, for a hundred staters. (Rizidion enters by Alcibiades, clutching a sack of coins.) He's a suitor. It's an offering. Passerby enters and passes by Rizidion. Rizidion Pardon me, is this the home of Alcibiades? Passerby No. Exit Passerby. Voice of Agatharcus, offstage as before. Agatharcus Hello? Hello! Alcibiades (To audience) His family, his friends, are scandalized. Agatharcus Is someone there? Alcibiades (To audience) First they mock him, then they curse him. Agatharcus Hello! Rizidion (To the voice of Agatharcus) Hello? Alcibiades gradually goes in, approaching Rizidion. Music and revelry gradually peak. Agatharcus Hello! Who are you? Doesn't matter. Listen, go to the police! Tell them I've been locked in here by Alcibiades, and― Rizidion Alcibiades! Agatharcus Yes, and tell them I haven't― Rizidion Is this his house? He suddenly becomes aware of Alcibiades. Agatharcus Of course it's his house, and I’m locked up in it. Now will you go for the police? Oblivious to Agatharcus, Rizidion offers his sack of coins to Alcibiades, who takes it and comes out. Agatharcus Hello! Alcibiades (Coming out) Come to dinner! Rizidion exits. Music and revelry fades quickly to silence. Agatharcus Hello? Alcibiades tosses the sack of coins on the table and goes in. Alcibiades (To offstage) Tell your master I’m here. Voice of Hipponicus is heard offstage. Hipponicus Like hell I will. I’m not afraid of that lisping playboy— Alcibiades throws off his garment and kneels naked before Hipponicus. Alcibiades Beat me! Hipponicus What? Alcibiades Beat me! Hipponicus For God's sake man, put your clothes on! Alcibiades Beat me—or forgive me! Passerby enters and stops to watch. (Overlapping) Hipponicus Stand up! Stand up! Alcibiades I have done you a great wrong, Hipponicus. Hipponicus Come inside at least! Alcibiades Nor is that all, only the worst of it. Hipponicus You're a spectacle! Second Passerby enters and watches. Sound of a crowd forming, reacting. Alcibiades I have been rash, dissolute, depraved. I have disgraced my noble family, my friends, my tribe, my city. But I renounce it all, here, naked before you, I renounce it all. (Crowd exclaims.) Beat me—or forgive me, and I start anew. Crowd approves. Hipponicus What? Yes, now for God’s sake― Alcibiades Your forgiveness. Hipponicus I forgive you, now please― Alcibiades Your forgiveness! Hipponicus Yes! Cheer goes up. Alcibiades And your daughter! Hipponicus What? Alcibiades Proof of your forgiveness! Proof of my resolve! (Crowd approves.) Crown the line of Ajax with the pearl of Hipponicus― (Yea!) or scourge its errant son! (Nay!) Naked as Odysseus, but not as Odysseus untrue, Alcibiades, son of Cleinias, begs you, Hipponicus, for your daughter in marriage. Hipponicus Yes. Great cheer. Alcibiades And ten talents. Hipponicus Yes. Passerby (To neighbour) Ten talents! Alcibiades Twenty! Sudden, breathless pause. Hipponicus Yes! Great cheering. Alcibiades rises, covering himself, embraces Hipponicus, and comes out, leaving Passersby to congratulate Hipponicus amid tumultuous applause. Music and revelry rise. All exit but Alcibiades. Enter Taureas, opposite Alcibiades, as latter is on his way out. Alcibiades Taureas! I hear you've entered a tragedy in competition with mine. Taureas Yes, but of course yours will― Alcibiades flattens him with a blow, and comes out. Music and revelry fade. Taureas remains down. Alcibiades (To audience) Well that was terribly out of character, you must forgive me. But that's just the trouble―the more I'm out of character, the more I'm in somehow. Don't you hate that feeling? (He picks up Plutarch and reads.) “For he had this peculiar talent, that he could at once comply with and really embrace and enter into men's habits and ways of life, and change faster than the chameleon. At Sparta, he was devoted to athletic exercises, was frugal and reserved; in Ionia, luxurious, gay, and indolent; in Thrace, always drinking; in Thessaly, ever on horseback; when in Persia, he exceeded the Persians themselves in magnificence and pomp;” in Toronto, he―just kidding; when was he not in Toronto? But is that chameleon a hypocrite? How can he be? Mustn't he first be something, in order to pretend he's something else? Well inconstant then. But how can he be? Though the more he is himself the more he's different, the more he's different the more he is ever and always himself. I am not a hypocrite, I am a multiculturalist. Son of my city, the world's most multicultural. The first citizen―maybe the only citizen―of that global village soon to come. Well, let it come! (Enter Rizidion, finding and reviving Taureas, who exits.) Because you cannot be a citizen of more than one village. (To Rizidion) Rizidion! Good of you to come. (Calling above and offstage) Agatharcus, our guest has arrived, won't you come down? Agatharcus (Offstage) No! Alcibiades (To Rizidion) Tortured by inspiration. Please, sit down. Sit down. Some wine, and fruit, the figs are delicious. Please. Pause. Rizidion Thank you. Alcibiades For what? you're not eating. Rizidion For having me. They said you never would. Alcibiades May I? (He kisses him.) You must go home, Rizidion. Rizidion What? Alcibiades There's nothing here for you. Rizidion Nothing? Everything is here. Alcibiades Well, as they say, too much of a good thing… Rizidion What do you mean? Alcibiades Where is your home? Rizidion I have no home. Alcibiades Come now, where is it? Rizidion Here. Alcibiades No. One can't choose one's home, thank God. Where's yours, Rizidion? Rizidion Pouthena. Alcibiades Pouthena! I've been there. Rizidion I saw you there. Alcibiades In the summer. It was so cool there. Rizidion Coolest place in all of Attica. Alcibiades Oh, the smell of pine trees and the olives...the mint...the myrrh and thyme on the women...the wine...it was wonderful. Rizidion Yes. Alcibiades We sang skolia...danced into the morning. Rizidion You drank from my cups! I make cups! Alcibiades Yes? Rizidion Yes. Alcibiades Have they repaired the tavern? Rizidion All but the fountain. Alcibiades Quite inexcusable. Rizidion It's a memorial. Alcibiades Well. Your father and mother, are they still alive? Rizidion My father died at Artemisium… Alcibiades So did mine. Rizidion Really? Alcibiades Yes. And your mother? Rizidion She lives with me. Alcibiades Your wife and children, are they well? Rizidion Yes, the boys are strong, good workers. Alcibiades They must miss you. Rizidion They don't understand. I couldn't make them understand. Alcibiades I understand. Rizidion They said you'd just throw me out, like a beggar. Alcibiades No, Rizidion. Rizidion They said I was...I was a disgrace―my own family. But what's the disgrace? Alcibiades I don't know, Rizidion. (He kisses him.) Here, take your money. Go. But come morning, be at the market, at the tax auction. Rizidion What? Alcibiades You'll outbid those swinish collectors. Rizidion What? Outbid them? They bid talents. Talents! I have nothing. Alcibiades Outbid them―or be beaten. Now go. Go! (Exit Rizidon. To audience) She'll die soon, unhappy, but to the end my wife. Enter Hipparete. Sound of a market. Faint, rising sound of music and revelry, peaking with Alcibiades' going in. Hipparete I, Hipparete, daughter of Hipponicus, come before your honour to plead for divorce from Alcibiades, son of Cleinias, whose manners—you all know them—are no longer endurable―above all, his constant company with whores of every kind, every race, every city. I have been an honest wife, not without affection―but I can't bear it anymore― (Alcibiades goes in.) I beg your honour, knowing him as you do, knowing my family, you won't deny me the chance to―what? (Alcibiades throws her over his shoulder and goes to exit.) Let go of me! Your honour! Rizidion enters, clutching his sack of coins. (Overlapping) Alcibiades Rizidion! Hipparete Put me down! Alcibiades Remember… Hipparete Your honour! Alcibiades However high they go… Hipparete Let go of me! Alcibiades You must outbid them! Rizidion But― Alcibiades Good luck! Alcibiades exits with Hipparete, leaving Rizidion alone on stage. Pause. Enter two Tax Collectors, to tax auction in market. Alcibiades re-enters, but is not in. First Tax Collector (To second) I figure we'll collect about a hundred and five in taxes, so a hundred should be safe. Second Tax Collector A hundred? First TC Yeah. Second TC (To crowd) Having reckoned our accounts of last year―a difficult year! what with the resentment over the war taxes, the earthquakes of course, the hard winter―nonetheless, we are prepared to offer the city one hundred talents, which we've no doubt will be― Rizidion A hundred and one! Both TC What? Rizidion A hundred and one! Second TC Who are you? Rizidion A hundred and one! Second TC A hundred and two! Rizidion A hundred and three! Second TC Four! Rizidion Five! Second TC A hundred and ten! First TC (To second) What are you doing? We can't afford to bid that! Second TC (To first) We can't afford not to! This pays for last year's levy, remember? Rizidion A hundred and eleven! Second TC (To Rizidion) Who's your security? Rizidion Security? Second TC (To crowd) We refuse to continue―we refuse to even recognize this preposterous bid―unless he names his security. And if he has none—who’s your security?— Rizidion I...I... Second TC —we demand he be immediately arrested for fraud and—Guards! Arrest this man! Alcibiades (To crowd) Put my name down! I am his security. Both TC What? Rizidion A hundred and eleven! First TC (To second) What do we do? Second TC (To first) Settle! (To Rizidion) Sir! Sir. We have no doubt you’re in earnest and...quite capable of answering for that sum but...do you have any idea how difficult―how nearly impossible it is to collect taxes these days...with the city ravaged by war and the plague and—with so small a margin of profit—why, you'd be lucky just to break even, let alone clear, say, a hundred staters―which we, to spare you that trouble and the risk―the risk!—we offer you here, up front, and we've no doubt― Alcibiades A talent! Second TC A talent! You must be mad! Alcibiades Rizidion! Second TC Wait! This is blackmail! A thousand staters, not an obol more― Alcibiades A talent! Second TC Half a talent! First TC (To second) What! Alcibiades Rizidion! Second TC Alright, alright! A talent! (To first) Give it to him. First TC But that's all our working capital! Second TC Give it to him...now! while he'll take it. First TC hands a sack of coins to Rizidion, dwarfing his own. Both TC exit. Rizidion (To Alcibiades) Thank you. They embrace. Alcibiades Go home Rizidion. Rizidion But— Alcibiades Go home. Exit Rizidion. Alcibiades comes out. (To audience) Alcibiades Here's the plot: I rise, I fall, I rise again, higher, higher, so high that at last Athens―Athens!―would crown me emperor, I fall, I die. And for what? For myself? How? For my people? Who are they? Who aren't they? So of course—and not at all. For what then? (Pause.) For the Canadian way. News! Simultaneously, a Herald enters. Likewise in every instance. Herald Tomorrow in the assembly― Alcibiades Assembly. Herald Supreme democratic body of Athens. Alcibiades Body. Herald Not soul. Alcibiades Stop. (To audience) Hyper-herald. It's the new thing. (To Herald) Return. Herald Tomorrow, in the assembly, two critical matters of state: one, reception of the Spartan emissaries; two, vote for ostracism. Alcibiades Ostracism. Herald Quorum vote by the people of Athens, to exile for ten years a leading citizen thought to have grown dangerous to the state. Alcibiades Dangerous. Herald Enviable. Alcibiades Exit. (Exit Herald. To audience) Five years. Five wearying, wasting years—of peace. And now a wobble. Who can explain it? Suddenly the states round Sparta openly court alliance with us. “Ignore them!” cries Nicias. Spartan actions, hitherto inoffensive, suddenly rankle and insult us. “It's nothing!” cries Nicias. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there's talk of an expedition to Sicily, to conquer Syracuse! a city as large as Athens itself and at the very limits of her world. And not merely Syracuse, but from there, Italy, Carthage, the pillars of Hercules—“Madness!” cries Nicias. The Spartans―no strangers to paranoia―grow restless, anxious. They appeal―to Nicias. But who can explain it? He urges an immediate Spartan embassy to assure Athens―and be assured―that the peace will be upheld. Which embassy has now arrived. Sound of dinner party in progress. Socrates, Demogenes and Anytus enter, with cups. Anytus And I tell you he's coming! Demogenes He's not coming! Anytus He's coming! Demogenes He never comes―and you never stop saying he will. Anytus This time he'll come. Demogenes Oh God―why? Anytus Because tomorrow he faces the ostracism—ten years in exile! Demogenes Good. And—? Anytus And I control the swing vote. He'll come. And I'll offer it—as a gift! Demogenes You're an idiot. Anytus As my gift! Demogenes You, Socrates, and half this godforsaken city. And tomorrow, the other half―the sane half―will get rid of him, and save us all. Anytus It's Nicias who'll be exiled—along with his bird readers. Demogenes Well that’d be fine. The author of the peace, the Peace of Nicias. Anytus He’s like a chain around his ankle. Demogenes Exactly. Anytus He's a god. Demogenes He's a menace. Anytus Invincible in war. Demogenes And on his shield? Cupid with a thunderbolt. Anytus And the Olympics. Remember? The whole world at his feet! Demogenes Trailing his purple robe through the market like a woman. Anytus His voice, his grace. Demogenes Cuts open his ship for a hammock! Anytus His favours to the city. Demogenes Pandering! Anytus His generousity. Demogenes Extravagance! Anytus His beauty, oh... Demogenes Make-up! Anytus And tomorrow he'll be free. And I will free him. Demogenes No, tomorrow we'll be free―you'll just be hung-over. Anytus And tonight he comes. Demogenes He's not coming. Anytus He's coming! Demogenes He's not coming! Enter Servant. Servant He's here. Pause. Faint sound of music and revelry over the party noise. Anytus Show him in! (Servant exits, then re-appears.) Well? Servant He won't come in, sir. Anytus What? Servant He won't come in. Anytus Why not? Servant I don't know, sir. Anytus Well did you ask him? Servant Yes, sir. Anytus What did he say? Servant Cups. Anytus Cups? Servant Cups. Sound of dinner party goes silent, leaving faint sound of music and revelry. Anytus My cups? Servant Gold and silver, sir. Anytus Gold and―? Servant Half. Anytus Half my―well get them! Get them! Servant exits. Sound of metal cups being thrown in a sack. Servant re-appears with sack full of cups. He takes the cup of Anytus. Socrates helps the division by offering his own. Servant exits for door. Music and revelry fades. Anytus (To Demogenes) Now you see? (To the dinner party) You see? He could have taken them all! Uproar. Anytus and Demogenes exit, arguing. Silence. Socrates comes out, Alcibiades goes in to meet him. Alcibiades Socrates! Socrates Is it time? Alcibiades Yes. Socrates And must it be? Alcibiades Yes. Socrates In retrospect of course. Alcibiades Of course. Socrates I must confess, I'd rather not be part of it. Alcibiades You won't be for long. Socrates Of course. Alcibiades And besides, neither of us is part of it. We're not of it at all. We're the alpha and omega, you and I. You the beginning, I the end. Socrates But lovers always? Alcibiades Always. Socrates Goodbye. Alcibiades Goodbye. (Exit Socrates.) Men of Sparta! (Enter Spartan emissaries, Elithion and Moros.) I’ve asked you here because of my family's long and honourable association with your city, and because you’re about to destroy the peace you came here to preserve. In the council today, did you tell Nicias and the others that you came with full authority? Elithion We did. Alcibiades And they welcomed you in this capacity? Elithion Yes. Alcibiades Respectfully. Elithion Yes. Alcibiades Well, that is the council, men of Sparta, as near to your government as our government comes. But tomorrow, you go before the assembly, and the assembly is of the people, and the people are not respectful. The people are the reason you wisely forbid your own citizens to travel. Tell the people that you come with full authority, and they’ll clamour, as usual, for the impossible—which you'll give them, or destroy the peace. But tell them, instead, that your powers are limited and conditional, and just as in the fishmarket―where their minds are formed―so much more limited will be their demands. What is simple and noble in Sparta, is just naivete in the fish-market. Meanwhile, I give you my word, in the name of my father and my father's father, that I will assist you in every way I can. Until tomorrow. He comes out. Elithion Fish-market. Moros Hmph. Spartans exit. Enter Nicias. Alcibiades (To audience) Nicias, alone, afraid, defenseless in his fortress of a house, in anxious consultation with the not-here and not-now, quite doomed to significance, frets away his last hours by the door. He wants out—oh God, he wants out. But it's time. And tomorrow, as if at the end of a huge elastic band, the world will come hurtling back on Nicias, and crush him completely. He dreads the ostracism vote―either way: if it falls on him everything is lost; if not, everything falls on him. What of the signs? the omens? Bad. Good. Good. But the earthquakes, what of those? And talk of an eclipse! News that a man has leapt onto the altar of the twelve gods, turned round, and crushed his genitals with a stone! Enter Two Athenians, one with stick. Sound of a massive crowd forming in the distance. Nicias slowly exits. First Athenian (with stick) Of course it's a boot―the question is what it's kicking. Now look, like I showed the others in the market today, here is Italy (Drawing in the sand)―shaped, as you keenly observed, like a boot―and here is Sicily like a sort of… arrowhead, with Syracuse here, at the base, and with its point aimed straight at Carthage! Second Athenian That's not the plan, to go straight for Carthage. First Ath. Why not? Second Ath. May I? (He takes the stick and draws in the sand) With Syracuse ours, we subjugate the rest of Sicily, and use it as a springboard to raid the coast of Italy. That way we build up our treasury, and then― First Ath. Treasury! Second Ath. Yes, and then strike at Carthage. First Ath. Treasury! Do you have any idea how big the treasury of Syracuse is? Second Ath. Well of course, its― First Ath. Do you know what we saw in Egesta alone? Alcibiades (To audience) Now that was a nice trick. The whole town pools its gold and silver―cups, bowls, trinkets of every kind―then fêtes the Athenian delegation night after night, home after home, moving the treasure with them from house to house. Well who could blame the delegates for coming back with the wildest stories of the wealth of Egesta... Alcibiades and First Athenian And that's just Egesta! First Ath. Think of Syracuse! (Taking back the stick and drawing in the sand) No, no, then we strike straight for Carthage, while she's still reeling from the shock of our arrival. And with her beaten, the whole place, the whole territory’s ours, right to the pillars of Hercules! Then, when we feel like it, we mop up the smaller cities, (Pointing) Utica, Rhegium, Rome, Pisa…. But first we got to get out of Athens. Now come on, I hear the crowd. Exit Two Athenians. Enter Nicias before the assembly. Sound of an intense, unruly crowd of great size. Accompanying Nicias' speech, spirited, programmatic applause. He occasionally consults a written text. Nicias Men of Athens! Men of Athens! The circumstances―extraordinary circumstances―in which this vote is to be taken―with the Spartan emissaries here before us, at my request; with the peace in jeopardy that I more than any have engineered; with the madness of an expedition to Sicily taking hold in the streets―I have asked to address you now, not to plead for myself, but to remind you of the greatness of our way of life, for it is this you would banish in banishing me. Remember, the statesmen, Solon, Themistocles, Pericles, who gave you this democracy and raised this city to an empire, who built the Parthenon, the long walls, Piraeus—who made Athens the glory of all Greece, arguing always, in spite of your displeasure, for what was right―what was right! Remember those statesmen, men of Athens, for it is them you would banish in banishing me. And what was right? What is right? What did they argue for in every case? What raised us to this empire, this glory? Moderation. Reflection. Reason. Remember these, men of Athens, for it is these you would banish in banishing me. Alcibiades (To audience) Okay, it's a hackneyed trope, but you got to feel for the speechwriter. Nicias Banish these, men of Athens, and you will soon have nothing left to protect. You will consign yourself, and the greatness of your city, in all its present danger, to the care of a drunken reveller―yes, that's what he is―a horse-racer, a lover, furnished by nature, birth and training with every advantage this city can provide, and holding them all in utter contempt. He's not a man, he's a fever, which if left unchecked will hurt us more than the plague, since that preyed only on our bodies, but this on our very soul. Banish this, men of Athens, and be strong. Programmatic outburst of applause. Voices of Crowd are heard over the crowd noise offstage. Voices of Crowd He's a menace! Banish him! He's a disgrace! He's a tyrant! Banish him!… Alcibiades (To audience, in the midst of the outburst.) Well, I don't know about you but my mind's made up. Where's my pebble? (Crowd noise peaks, then sudden silence.) Of course, they're right. Sound of a counter-surge in the crowd, with mounting calls for Alcibiades to speak. Nicias suddenly staggers. Nicias Wait! What was that? (Hurrying off) Did you feel that? In the ground! He exits. Sudden silence. Alcibiades (To audience) But there's something larger at stake here, isn’t there. Something they can't see. (Crowd noise resumes. He muses on crowd, as noise and calls for him rise to a pitch, then goes in. To assembly) I remember, at the Olympics, when our fortunes in war had been poor and we were humbled and despised, sitting in that magnificent tent the Ephesians erected for me, drinking Lesbian wine, tasting Chian sacrifice... My victory was unheard of. Unthinkable. They marvelled at me, an Athenian. Why? (A long pause, as he calmly waits for words—a characteristic trait.) Because I was, who I am, completely. No second thought. No hesitation. No regret. And you remember, at Marathon, how the Persians, ten times our size and in defeat, marvelled at you, Athenians. Why? Because you were, who you are, completely. Be who you are, men of Athens, and do as you wish. He comes out. A Herald enters, in official capacity, addressing the assembly. Herald “Is there any man among you who you deem vitally dangerous to the state. If so, who?” Herald exits. Alcibiades (To audience) We'll give them time to vote. Meanwhile, I'll tell you a funny story about the ostracism, which has a long and august history—sadly coming to an end, as I speak, but in its day playing havoc with the lives of some of Athens' greatest men. Among them—maybe the greatest of all—Aristides the Just, who when his time came, and just as here, that great question was put to the people—“Is there any man among you who you deem vitally dangerous to the state?”—found himself handed the pebble of an illiterate, and asked to write the name “Aristides” on it. “Has he done you some injury, or wrong?” he asks the man. “Nope,” he says, “I'm just sick and tired of hearing 'Aristides the Just'!” Well, he writes his own name on the pebble, is thanked, and banished. I understand that on his way out of town he raised his hands and prayed that Athens should never have cause to remember him. Herald re-enters. Herald The vote is cast. The ostracism falls on Hyperbolus. Uproar. Enter Hyperbolus to violent heckling and boos, pelted by missiles from offstage, all of which finally overwhelms him. In the midst of his speech there occurs another tremor, staggering him and adding to the confusion. Hyperbolus My God! Men of Athens! I...I'm honoured! I mean...I protest! I mean...this punishment, most grievous, which I, like Aristides the Just, must bear, as the people have spoken, and I must obey and―what happened! What’d I do? (Exiting) Let history show...I only wish my city will not have cause to remember me… Voice from the Crowd Who? Hyperbolus exits, overcome by uproar and missiles. Sudden silence. Alcibiades (To audience) Pity, it was an amusing practice. Uproar resumes at pitch. Enter Nicias, alarmed as much by the tremors as the crowd. Nicias Men of Athens! Men of Athens! Order! Order! We disgrace ourselves before our guests. Order! I wish—on behalf of the assembly, I wish to gratefully welcome our honoured guests, (Enter Spartan Emissaries) Elithion, son of Koroidos, Moros, son of Apates, who come, on behalf of their city and her allies, that together we may resolve the recent tensions threatening this precious, hard-won peace. Men of Sparta― Alcibiades (Going in) First it would seem wise to ascertain with what powers our honoured guests have come, since it is only by this that we can properly measure our response. Men of Sparta, may I ask, on behalf of the assembly, have you come with full authority? Elithion No. Alcibiades No? Elithion No. Alcibiades Well there it is, men of Athens, the crowning insult. Not merely does she send us straw men, powerless to address our too humble demands, but it is a fact―which Nicias will confirm, as he was their grateful host―that yesterday in council these same men assured us that they did come with full authority―Nicias! Is that not so? Nicias Yes, but― Alcibiades (To crowd) Otherwise, would we have insulted you today by presenting them before you? No. For we know better than to trifle with your just indignation, to take for nothing all the sacrifices that you, and you alone, have made for this stifling, enfeebling peace, this little peace, this peace of Nicias. Have it! those of you who'll have no more—I would not deprive you of it, however much its cost, and yet will cost us. But let us not fondle it like a beggar, grateful that it's come our way, fearful that it may not last, an abject, hesitating, stranger to ourselves. Men of Athens, let this last insult go unrecognized! (Cheers.) Sent back to Sparta whence it came! (Cheers.) I move that the Spartan emissaries be immediately dismissed. (Yea!) I move that the states adjoining Sparta―Argos, Elis, Mantinea—who enjoy the yoke of Spartan peace no more than we, be immediately received into the alliance. (Yea!) I move that preparations be immediately commenced for an expedition to Sicily, to Sicily and beyond. (Yea!) Men of Athens, let us leave the peace of Nicias to Nicias. And let us be, who we are, completely! Uproar. The earthquake hits. Nicias and the Spartans stagger about in terror. Alcibiades is unaffected. Exit Spartans. People begin randomly appearing, staggering about, and exiting, throughout the coming speeches, adding to the commotion. Alcibiades (To audience) Do you feel it? Do you feel it? (Sudden silence, though all but Alcibiades continue to stagger about.) Neither do I. It's the Toronto blessing. Uproar resumes. (Overlapping) Nicias Men of Athens! Alcibiades Things fall apart. Nicias You see? Alcibiades The centre cannot hold. Nicias Are we blind? Alcibiades Now we're cooking. Nicias It is an omen! Alcibiades Why should the centre hold? Nicias It is the gods. Alcibiades Why should there be a centre? Nicias The gods! Alcibiades Except for Nicias. Nicias The gods themselves condemn us. Alcibiades If God's dead he always was. Nicias Renounce this madness! Alcibiades Gods don't die. Nicias This folly! Alcibiades People do. Nicias Go home, men of Athens! Alcibiades No centre, no periphery. Nicias Go home! Go home! Alcibiades Nothing privileged, nothing marginalized. Nicias Sacrifice! Alcibiades Just difference. Nicias Pray! Alcibiades Difference. Nicias Pray! Alcibiades And managing of course. Nicias Pray! Exit Nicias. Uproar continues. People stop randomly appearing. Alcibiades News! Simultaneously, First Herald enters. First Herald The ambassadors have arrived. Alcibiades Show them in. (Exit First Herald.) News! (Enter Second Herald.) Second Herald The Spartans demand an immediate explanation for the disgraceful treatment of their emissaries. Otherwise they will be forced to― Alcibiades News! Exit Second Herald. Enter First Herald. All simultaneously. First Her. Nicias appeals to the assembly to cancel the expedition, pleading lack of funds, mounting dangers at home, and the real possibility that― Alcibiades Denied. First Her. Nicias begs for a postponement, pending his embassy to Sparta to explain the treatment of their emissaries― Alcibiades News! Exit First Herald. Enter Second Herald. Second Her. Argos, Elis and Mantinea have joined the Athenian alliance and offer aid to the Sicilian expedition as long as Alcibiades commands it― Alcibiades News! Exit Second Herald. Enter First Herald. First Her. Nicias has left Sparta in disgrace. Preparations for the expedition are resumed. Alcibiades News! Exit First Herald. Enter Second Herald. Second Her. Nicias informs the assembly that for such an undertaking not to be suicide it would need be the largest expedition in the history of Athens, when she has never had less means to mount one. Of ships alone there would need be at least― Alcibiades Approved. Second Her. Horses then, no less than― Alcibiades Approved. Second Her. Not merely soldiers, in greater numbers than at Marathon, but― Alcibiades Approved. Second Her. Sailors, archers, slingers, engineers… Alcibiades Approved. Second Her. But where is the money? The treasury is all but exhausted― Alcibiades News! Exit Second Herald. Enter First Herald. First Her. Member states continue to abandon the Spartan alliance. Led by Alcibiades, the Argives and Patreans have built long walls to the sea. Alcibiades News! Exit First Herald. Enter Second Herald. Second Her. The Elian and Mantinean contingents have arrived. Alcibiades Welcome them. News! Exit Second Herald. Enter First Herald. First Her. The expedition sails in a month. Alcibiades News! Exit First Herald. Enter Second Herald. Second Her. The expedition sails in a week. Alcibiades News! Exit Second Herald. Enter First Herald. First Her. The expedition sails tomorrow. Exit First Herald. Uproar dies. Silence. Alcibiades (To audience) And then a funny thing happened. I fell. Picture a smooth white pillar of Caryan marble, so high (Head high). On top, the head of a god, Hermes, the herald, and the guide of dead souls. Below it, a penis―depending on one's taste, more or less magnificently engorged. Think of a country mail-box with an erection. Like that, but more prized―and deadly serious―these are in front of the houses of Athens' most powerful―and superstitious. Touch them, in the wrong way, and you risk a capital offense for sacrilege. Yet as the sun rose on that glittering expedition, straining at its cables like a fettered horse, its flags―the colours of a dozen different states―snapping in the morning breeze, and with the city in a state of martial delirium, its nerves screwed to a pitch—news! that in the night, someone has mutilated these pillars, every one, and in every case smashing off―the nose. Must have been a Freudian. Well, every rock unearths its grubs. Threats are made, favours called in, bribes produced, friends betrayed, stories gotten straight―ah! more news! a band of drunken revellers was seen in the same vicinity, mocking the Eleusian Mysteries!―is nothing sacred! Could they be related? the work of one depraved and godless soul? If so, who else? And so, who else? But the expedition must sail. Leave it to us. We'll handle it. Sail! Sail! Men of Athens, I plead, let me face these charges now, here―let me die if found guilty of them. But don't send me off in command of such a force, on such an enterprise, crippled by such a threat, leaving my enemies to assail me undefended―. Pointless of course. Half the city’s mad that I go, the other half that I be gone. You can imagine the rest. The instant the last cable is loosed, my enemies―now unchecked―set about the business of destroying me, with such admirable zeal that no sooner have we landed in Sicily, and I begun the pleasant task of turning Syracuse inside out, than a ship arrives, I am arrested, and sent home to die―leaving the expedition, and all of Athens' feverish hopes, in the hands of Nicias— sent along to restrain me—and Lamachus, a good general, but so contemptibly poor he claims his boots as a military expense. News! Enter Herald simultaneously. Herald Alcibiades has escaped. Alcibiades Heavens! Herald He jumped ship at Thurii, and was last seen heading for Sparta. Exit Herald. Enter Nicias and Lamachus. Nicias Sparta? Lamachus Sparta! Nicias Impossible! Lamachus But what if he is? Nicias They'll never receive him. Lamachus But what if they do? Nicias After what he's done to them? They'll kill him first. Lamachus But what if they don't? Nicias Impossible! Both exit. Alcibiades (Facing empty stage) Sparta. No, really, that's it. In fact (Blackout)―there it is. It's hard to see in the light. (Lights up) See? Light just bounces off it. (Blackout) There it is. The enemy. What do you see? Nothing? No. The absence of things, and what has more presence than that? Think if someone yelled...“Fire!” Think of a widow, an exile, a victim deprived of her rights. Inequality, injustice, intolerance. Sparta. Limitless. Tiny. No inside or out. No here or there. No up or down. Like the centre of the earth. And the walls, where are the walls? Athens has walls, good strong ones; Sparta none, none at all, perfectly open. But try to break into this—or break out―without a light. And the light must be very strong to pierce through it, and when it does (Lights suddenly up)―it hurts. Tremor. Offstage, sound of someone hitting the floor. Enter King Agis in bedclothes. Great alarm. Agis (To offstage) Doulos! Enter Doulos, his servant. Doulos My lord. Agis The priests! (Exit Doulos. Enter the Queen of Sparta. To the queen) Pray. We sleep apart until it's right. Both exit. Alcibiades (To audience) Primitive, but as contraceptives go, quite effective. News! Enter Herald simultaneously. Herald The expedition, having sailed around Sicily in a show of force― Alcibiades Force. Herald Weakness. Alcibiades Return. Herald And retired to Catana for the winter, has defeated the Syracusans in a battle at their gates, established a naval blockade, and begun a siege wall to surround the city. The Syracusans debate an offer of― Alcibiades Exit! (Exit Herald. To audience) Appallingly tentative, but it would work. Enter King Agis and King's Aide. Sound of tense but disciplined gathering. Aide My lord, he must be killed, now. The priests have spoken. He means disaster. Agis But for who? Aide Who but us? Why would he help us? Remember the emissaries. He's only done us harm. Alcibiades goes in, addressing the gathering. Alcibiades My lord, men of Sparta, I have only done you harm, yet you take me in, give me refuge from my enemies. I ally your neighbours against you. You feed me, clothe me, house me like your own. I humiliate your emissaries. You give me this audience. Why? (Pause) And why would I do it, destroy my home? Only if it’s not my home, but stands between me and that place. Aide (To Agis) It's a trick, my lord, kill him. Agis (To Alcibiades) How? Alcibiades My city's like a man. Made of body, heart and soul. His heart's in Sicily. Break it. Agis How? Alcibiades Send a leader. Agis No soldiers? Alcibiades No. Nicias is in command. Send a leader. A Spartan cloak. Agis Gylippus. And the body? Alcibiades The fields of Attica. Waste them. Agis We have. Alcibiades And then you leave. And they grow back. Stay. Make Athens a prison. Fortify Decelea. Agis Decelea. And the soul? Pause. Alcibiades The sea. Agis How? Alcibiades Persia. The Great King. Twice humiliated. Goaded by the colonies in Asia Minor. No fear of you—you’re a land people, who know your place. The Great King will build your navy. Greater than Athens', and unlike hers, inexhaustible. Agis Persia. Alcibiades Give the Great King satisfaction, and take the sea from Athens. She won't trouble you again. Alcibiades comes out. Aide (To Agis) My lord― Agis Do it. He exits, followed by his aide. Alcibiades (To audience) Did you know that Helen, Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships, was not of Troy at all? No. She was a Spartan. The Queen of Sparta. They say Spartan women are the most beautiful in all the world. And why not? Only Nazis will outdo the Spartans in their search for the pure and perfect. Lycurgus―father of the cult―once said, “it's absurd how other cities take such care in breeding their dogs and horses, and none in breeding their people.” And Spartan women―like the men―are bred for beauty. But how unlike ours―the beauty of motion, unfettered by reflection—angelic motion, like in dreams, perfectly compelled, perfectly free; the beauty of action, of music, dance, lovemaking, laughter, virtue, grace in all its forms; of a darkness surpassing light; of the open air, the open air―News! Enter Herald simultaneously. Herald Gylippus has arrived in Sicily. Syracuse is building a counter-wall to cut off the Athenians. Alcibiades Oh oh. Exit Herald. Enter Two Spartans with bowls of broth, staring at Alcibiades, who remains out, just as ever, perfectly at ease. First Spartan Look at him. Second Spartan Head down. First Sp. Arms at his sides. Second Sp. Never says a word. First Sp. Shorter hair. Second Sp. Tougher feet. First Sp. Sleeps outside. Second Sp. Out in the open. First Sp. Rain. Second Sp. Snow. First Sp. Hail. Second Sp. Won't touch food. First Sp. Or wine. Second Sp. Only the broth. First Sp. Just broth. Second Sp. I eat bread. First Sp. Figs. Second Sp. Two pounds a month. First Sp. Fish now and then. Second Sp. Bathes in the river. First Sp. Just the river. Second Sp. Broke through ice yesterday. First Sp. Look at him. Second Sp. Can't beat him in the ring. First Sp. Took Mindarus last week. Second Sp. Mindarus. First Sp. Broke his nose. Second Sp. Seen him dance? First Sp. Sing? Second Sp. Hunt? First Sp. More like us than us. Second Sp. Look at him. First Sp. Spartan nurse. Second Sp. Spartan name. First Sp. Figure. Second Sp. Can't fault the strategy. First Sp. Syracuse is fighting back. Second Sp. King’s marching for Attica. First Sp. Attica's ours. Second Sp. To stay. First Sp. And soon the navy. Second Sp. The navy. First Sp. That should surprise them. Second Sp. Somewhat. Alcibiades (To audience) It's such a colourful speech pattern. Pity only we can be laconic. News! Enter Herald simultaneously. Herald Only yards from completion, and after several attempts to prevent it, the Athenian wall has been outflanked. Lamachus is dead. Nicias is ill. Harassed by cavalry and archers, he retreats into a defensive shell around the ships and supplies. Exit Herald. Enter Queen of Sparta, distracted, uncertain, in a great struggle for selfmastery. Queen Shut the door. The lamps. (Lights down low.) Open a window. She breathes deeply, smelling the air. Sound of distant music. She executes fragments of song, dance, gestures, baffled by resistance, as if they and her body were strangers to herself. Finally, anything but weary, she becomes inert, remaining on stage throughout the following. Alcibiades' attention never strays from her. Enter Nicias, ill, supported by his Aide. Lights remain low, but take on an evening hue. Sound of construction, confused and hurried preparations. Nicias Is the perimeter secure? Aide Yes sir. Nicias The treasury and supplies? Aide Secure. Nicias Losses? Aide Not many, but there is confusion, sir, fear. Nicias Why does Athens not answer my requests to be recalled? Can we trust those messengers. Aide Yes sir. Nicias Take a letter. (Dictating) Men of Athens… once again… and most urgently… I must inform you of our situation… Though successful in our early actions… the arrival of Gylippus has…has tilted the balance… Since outflanking our wall… through superiority of cavalry and archers… he has won over neutral cities… and now threatens our camp… Our ships are rotting from constant service in the blockade… morale is...morale is weakening… winter is coming… there is no relief… I must ask you to consider… consider what the loss of this expedition would mean… at this time… with the enemy occupying Attica… with our city itself under siege― (To Aide) Didn't I tell them this would happen? Aide Yes sir. Nicias (Dictating) Only two courses of action are possible… and each must be executed at once… you must either recall us… or you must send out a second expedition… larger and richer than this one… Aide That would be unlikely, sir. Nicias (Dictating) Moreover… whatever your decision… I must be relieved of duty… as a disease in my kidneys disables my command… You know I do not ask this lightly… as my past services to the city… when in my prime… will attest… Nor need I remind you of the repeated warnings which I― Enter Soldier. Soldier General, we’re under attack! Nicias Where? Soldier Everywhere! Nicias Where! Soldier Sea―land―on all sides! Pause, as Nicias absorbs it, then suddenly: Nicias The supplies! All but Alcibiades and the Queen exit. Enter Herald. Herald A second expedition has been sent, larger and richer than this one, with new generals to join Nicias. Exit Herald. Pause. Alcibiades continues to gaze at the Queen, who remains inert on the darkened stage. Lights fade, very slowly, until her exit. Sound of distant music. Enter First Herald. First Herald The expedition has arrived. Preparations for a decisive attack by night. Exit First Herald. Enter Second Herald. As before. Second Herald At the moment of victory the full moon has been obscured by clouds. The army is confused, breaks, turns, tramples itself in retreat, and is cut down from behind and driven back into camp. Exit Second Herald. Enter First Herald. First Her. The cause is lost. Preparations for immediate retreat by sea. Exit First Herald. Enter Second Herald. Second Her. The moon is in eclipse. Nicias delays retreat until the next full moon. Exit Second Herald. Pause. Very simply, Alcibiades goes in, not far, and the Queen comes to him. They exit together. Pause. Lights up. Enter First Herald. First Her. Gylippus has attacked the ships. The entire fleet has been captured or destroyed. Alcibiades re-enters, picks up the second book on the table, and reads from it. Alcibiades “The removal of the army took place on the second day after the sea- flight. It was a lamentable scene, not merely from the single circumstance that they were retreating after having lost all their ships, their great hopes gone, and themselves and the state in peril; but also in leaving the camp there were things more grievous for every eye and heart to contemplate. The dead lay unburied, and each man as he recognized a friend among them shuddered with grief and horror; while the living whom they were leaving behind, wounded or sick, were to the living far more shocking than the dead, and more to be pitied than those who had perished. These fell to entreating and bewailing until their friends knew not what to do, begging them to take them and loudly calling to each comrade or relative whom they could see, hanging upon the necks of their departing tentfellows, and following as far as they could, and, when their bodily strength failed them, calling again and again upon heaven and shrieking aloud as they were left behind. So that the whole army being filled with tears and distracted after this fashion found it not easy to go, even from an enemy's land, where they had already suffered evils too great for tears and in the unknown future before them, feared to suffer more. Indeed they could only be compared to a starved out town, and that no small one, escaping….” Enter Nicias, very ill, exhorting the retreating columns. Nicias Men of Athens, even as things are we must hope on. Other armies, other men have suffered more and still come out alive. Nor can our fortunes stay poor forever. If we were arrogant in our ambition we have been punished, amply, and must now deserve the pity not the anger of the gods. Do not listen to those who say we have no place to go. We have friends, across the island. And you yourselves are a city wherever you sit down. True our provisions are scarce, but if we march day and night we will be safe in three days. Three days and you will see your home and families again, and we will raise up our city to greatness once more. Men make the city, not walls and ships. You are Athens. Be brave, and she will survive. Exit Nicias. Enter Gylippus in crimson Spartan cloak, with Syracusan Aide. Aide They won't last another day. We've broken them in two and smashed one half. Only Nicias' force is left. They have no food or water―haven't for two days―and offer no resistance to our attacks. Gylippus (Wondering aloud) Where were they going? Enter Athenian Messenger. Messenger A message from Nicias, son of Niceratus. He will pay the full cost of Syracuse's war, exchanging Athenian hostages at one talent each until he has the money, if you will let his army go. Gylippus Where? Messenger Sir? Gylippus No. All but Alcibiades exit. He continues reading from the same book. Alcibiades “As soon as it was day Nicias put his army in motion, pressed, as before, by the Syracusans and their allies, pelted from every side by their missiles, and struck down by their javelins. The Athenians pushed on for the river Assinarus, impelled by the attacks made upon them from every side by a numerous cavalry and a swarm of other arms, fancying that they should breathe more freely if once across the river, and driven also by their exhaustion and craving for water. Once there they rushed in, and all order was at an end, each man wanting to cross first, and the attacks of the enemy making it difficult to cross at all; forced to huddle together, they fell against and trod down one another, some dying immediately upon the javelins, others getting entangled together and stumbling over the baggage, unable to rise again. Meanwhile the opposite bank, which was steep, was lined with Syracusans, who showered missiles down upon the Athenians, most of them drinking greedily and heaped together in disorder in the hollow bed of the river. They also came down and butchered them, especially those in the water, which was thus immediately spoiled, but which they went on drinking just the same, mud and all, bloody as it was, most even fighting to have it. At last, when many dead now lay piled upon one another in the stream, and part of the army had been destroyed at the river, and the few that escaped from thence cut off by the cavalry, Nicias surrendered to Gylippus, whom he trusted more than he did the Syracusans, and told him to do what he liked with him, but to stop the slaughter of the soldiers. Gylippus, after this, immediately gave orders to make prisoners; upon which the rest were brought together alive. Besides this, a large portion were killed outright, the carnage being very great. The rest of the Athenian captives were deposited in the quarries, this seeming the safest way of keeping them; but Nicias was butchered. The prisoners were treated harshly. Crowded in a narrow hole, without a roof to cover them, the heat of the sun and the stifling closeness of the air tormented them during the day, and then the nights, which came on autumnal and cold, made them ill by the violence of the change; besides, as they had to do everything in the same place for want of room, and the bodies of those who had died of their wounds or from the variation in temperature, or from similar causes, were left heaped together one upon another, intolerable stenches arose; while hunger and thirst never ceased to afflict them, each man during eight months having only half a pint of water and a pint of corn given to him daily. In short, no single suffering to be apprehended by men was spared them. This was the greatest Hellenic achievement of any in this war, or, in my opinion, in Hellenic history; at once most glorious to its victors, and most calamitous to the conquered. They were beaten at all points and altogether; all that they suffered was great; they were destroyed, as the saying is, with a total destruction, their fleet, their army, everything was destroyed, and few out of many returned home. Such were the events in Sicily.” Enter the Queen of Sparta, eight months pregnant, carrying a towel. Sound of vibrant music, dancing, competitions, children at play. Alcibiades goes in, as if fresh from a bout of wrestling, and she hands him the towel. Queen He almost had you. Alcibiades Almost. Queen But he had no idea what he was doing. Alcibiades Neither did I! Queen (To her belly) Come Alcibiades, we'll dance for your father… Don't worry, just follow me and look important. She dances. Alcibiades He's a natural. But are you sure he's a he? Queen Completely. Alcibiades How? Queen Otherwise I won't be happy. And I will be happy. So he must be a he, and his name is Alcibiades. Alcibiades Then I predict a short but eventful life. Queen God, it's beautiful. I've never seen the city this way. Alcibiades It’s a great victory. Queen And the king has taken Attica. “Shut the gates on Athens,” they say. Alcibiades He’s a great hero. Queen He’s a great servant. The glory’s yours. Everyone knows it. You’re the greatest hero in our history―isn't that ridiculous? Alcibiades Yes. Queen We go to war to protect ourselves against you and you lead us to victory. We go to war to resist your empire and you give us one. It's ridiculous. Alcibiades Yes. Queen Tomorrow he arrives. Alcibiades Yes. Queen He'll kill you, you know. Alcibiades Yes. Queen But not here. Alcibiades No. Queen After he's sent you away, to fit his navy. Alcibiades Yes. Queen I'll never see you again. Alcibiades No. Queen Goodbye. Alcibiades Goodbye. Queen exits. Alcibiades remains, but is not in. Enter King Agis and his Aide. Aide He's fitted it well, my lord, and done great damage. Reduced some of her colonies. Won over the rest. Cut off her corn. Cut off her money. Agis And now? Aide We blockade her port. Smash the remnants of her fleet. Agis Can she recover? Aide No. Agis Sure? Aide Yes. Agis Kill him. Both exit. Enter Herald. Herald Alcibiades has escaped and sought refuge with Tissaphernes, Persian satrap in Asia Minor. Exit Herald. Sound of exotic animals and faint strains of Persian music. Enter Tissaphernes. Tissaphernes (To Alcibiades) There you are! I've been looking all over for you. Alcibiades (Going in) It is a large park, my lord, and if I may say, exquisite. Tissaphernes The finest in all of Asia Minor. My favourite place. And do you know its name? Alcibiades No, my lord. Tissaphernes Its name is Alcibiades. Alcibiades No. Tissaphernes Yes, I've renamed it. That was my surprise. Alcibiades No. Tissaphernes Yes. It's the least I could do. These days you've spent with me have been so rare, so pleasant. And from now on, whatever happens, whenever I walk here I shall be reminded of them, and of he who made them so delightful. You've been such a pleasant surprise. Alcibiades How so, my lord? Tissaphernes Well, I'd been told that you were perfectly unscrupulous, flattering, treacherous and self-serving. Alcibiades And? Tissaphernes And you are. It's so rare to find someone who lives up to one's expectations. And the damage you've done to Athens―before your recent falling out in Sparta―which I confess I can only see as my personal good fortune―has so pleased the King that I’m envied just for being your host. Alcibiades What would you think if instead of merely crushing Athens and giving Asia Minor back to the King, we gave him Athens, and Sparta, and all of Greece, from the Adriatic to the Hellespont? Tissaphernes What would I think? He's the grandson of Xerxes—I think he'd name Greece after you, and I could retire. Alcibiades It's easily done. Tissaphernes No doubt. Alcibiades Shall I tell you how? Tissaphernes Please do, but take your time, I feel I may enjoy this. Alcibiades I'm afraid it's all too simple. Think of Athens as a fire, rapidly going out. Think of Sparta as the water we extinguish it with. Stoke the fire a little, lessen the water, cast them together―and what is left? Tissaphernes Steam. Alcibiades That a child could blow away. Tissaphernes Well. But is there a fire left to stoke? Alcibiades Just. All that's left of Athens is what makes her great. Leave that to me. Tissaphernes Of course. And the water? Alcibiades Just drain it a little. Tell the King to cut their pay, on some pretext. Tell him to distance himself, hold off his Phoenicians―a force that size would ruin everything. Hold them off, and he will be given―for nothing―what his grandfather, with all his armies, failed to take. Tissaphernes A perfect scheme in all but one, fatal respect. Alcibiades And what is that, my lord? Tissaphernes It would necessitate your leaving me, and that is unthinkable. Alcibiades Of course. Tissaphernes Now, tell me more about the Spartans, their habits are so amusing―do you think I should get some for my zoo? Alcibiades By all means, my lord, they breed well in captivity. Tissaphernes But what about their diet? Alcibiades True, you must be careful. Pork, in blood, with a dash of vinegar. Tissaphernes Heavens. Now, the cages would be uncomfortable. Alcibiades Yes, they must be greatly simplified. Spartans may use only axes and saws in all their building, inside and out―you can imagine their furnishings. Tissaphernes We'll start from scratch. Alcibiades I'm told that when King Leotychides visited Corinth, he stood amazed before some common woodwork, and finally asked, “Do your trees grow this way?” Tissaphernes A Spartan king in Corinth―that would be a sight. The courtesans would eat him alive. Alcibiades Except he has no money. Tissaphernes No money? The king? Alcibiades Technically, of course, he's rich, but when they created the Equals and divided the land, they also exchanged their money, all their gold and silver, for iron bars. Tissaphernes Iron bars? Alcibiades At such a rate that if the king sought a courtesan, he'd get a hernia just carrying the cash. Tissaphernes No wonder they're spending so much of our money. Alcibiades In their currency, the cost of a ship would sink it. Tissaphernes Well, what's it good for—the money I mean? Alcibiades Nothing. Tissaphernes Well? Alcibiades Nothing's precious to them, my lord. Tissaphernes How? Alcibiades No imports, no exports―no trade of any sort. No parasites―beggars, muggers, pimps, pedlars. No theft. No bribes or extortion. No luxuries. No distractions. Nothing. Tissaphernes But isn't it true they encourage their own children to steal. Alcibiades Yes. Tissaphernes Well? Alcibiades Only food, my lord―they starve them, gently. Tissaphernes But why? Alcibiades To make them deft, and brave, self-reliant in the field. Tissaphernes And if they're caught? Alcibiades They're whipped, twice, brutally, once for stealing, and once for getting caught. Tissaphernes And does it work? Alcibiades There is a story―which I believe―of a boy who'd stolen a fox, and rather than let it be seen as it struggled under his cloak, pinned it there until it tore open his stomach and spilled his bowels on the ground. Tissaphernes Charming. And your little boy, will he too learn such useful life-skills? Alcibiades Yes, my lord. Only the king's children are exempt. The rest are taken at six and raised as I’ve described. Tissaphernes And what a description! It's a wonder you allow it. But then―admit it―that affair with the queen, that was a pure indulgence of yours. Alcibiades Not at all, my lord. Tissaphernes Oh God! And what for then? What for? Alcibiades That one day my race should rule over Sparta. Tissaphernes Hah! But he's a bastard. Alcibiades Just so, my lord. Tissaphernes Come now, he cannot rule, not from the throne. Alcibiades Not from the throne, over it. Tissaphernes Then from where? Alcibiades The bastardized soul of his people, my lord. Tissaphernes starts. Pause. Tissaphernes I shall miss you terribly, Alcibiades. Alcibiades My lord is too kind. Tissaphernes Hardly. I shall miss myself when you're gone. I'd almost forgotten. Now, what do you think? Where shall we put the Spartans? (As he exits) I'm inclined to put them near the pavilion, over here―you said they loved to dance... Alcibiades comes out. Enter Antiochus and Kaloneros, both drunk, Antiochus anxiously inspecting the room, which is the admiral's cabin, in the admiral's galley, of the Athenian fleet. Antiochus The hammock, is it aboard? Kaloneros Yes sir. Antiochus But stowed away? Kaloneros Yes sir. Antiochus The wine? Kaloneros Just finished loading. Antiochus Stowed? Kaloneros Yes sir. Antiochus The whores? Kaloneros Ready, sir. Antiochus But not on board. Kaloneros No sir, on the docks. Antiochus And the crew― (Gazing anxiously, hopelessly offstage) God, the crew. Kaloneros They're trying hard, sir, but― Antiochus (To offstage) You! Get up! Someone dress that man! He continues anxiously gazing offstage. Kaloneros Is it true you know the admiral, sir? Antiochus What? Kaloneros The admiral, sir, they say you know him. I was wondering― Antiochus Know him? Better than myself! Kaloneros They say he's changed. Antiochus I know. Kaloneros A lot. Antiochus I know. God help us if― (To offstage) You! Look at you! He rushes offstage. Voice of a Drunken Sailor is heard offstage. Drunken Sailor (Offstage) Sir, I can’t seem to find my―whoa! Sound of a splash and ‘man overboard’. Alcibiades goes in. The voice of Antiochus is heard as he enters. Antiochus (Offstage) Get up! You! Get up! Whose wig is this? I will personally keel- haul any man not standing upright when the admiral arrives. (He enters) Admiral! Alcibiades sternly approaches the two, inspecting the room, inspecting them, and finally smelling them. Alcibiades You're drunk. Antiochus Yes, admiral. Alcibiades (Menacingly) Don't ever, ever―call me that again. He embraces Antiochus. Antiochus Alcibiades! Alcibiades Antiochus! Antiochus (To Kaloneros) I told you he'd never change! (To Alcibiades) Kaloneros, sir, second-mate. Alcibiades Kaloneros! Have you ever seen the Spartan admiral? Kaloneros No sir. Alcibiades Do you know what he looks like? Kaloneros No sir. Alcibiades Something like this. He grossly mimics the Spartan Admiral with a broken nose. Kaloneros Yes sir. Alcibiades Now after we've sunk his fleet and we pull him from the water, I want you to ask him how he broke his nose. Kaloneros Yes sir. How, sir? Alcibiades On my fist. Kaloneros Yes sir. Alcibiades The man is slow as sleep. Kaloneros Yes sir. Alcibiades To business then. The wine supply. Antiochus Indefinite. Alcibiades Even for Athenians? Antiochus If we go down, we all drown drunk. Alcibiades And why wait for that? Kaloneros! (Kaloneros exits for the wine) Antiochus! (Embraces him) Your family? Antiochus Well. Alcibiades Good. Enter Messenger. Messenger Admiral, the Samians wish to congratulate you on your new command, and ask if you would dine in the city tonight. Alcibiades (To Antiochus) Shall we? Antiochus Why not? Alcibiades (To Messenger) Thank them, we will. (Exit Messenger) Our situation. Antiochus You don't know? You're the one who got us into it! Alcibiades Troops. Antiochus Outnumbered three to one―but I hear their mercenaries are deserting for lack of pay. Alcibiades Ships. Antiochus Five to one. Alcibiades Only five? I thought I'd made it ten. No matter, it's still five more than he can sail. Enter Kaloneros with wine. Alcibiades pours for all. Antiochus As soon as news got out that the Phoenicians had turned back―that you were taking command―well all hell's broken loose in the colonies. Everyday new ships arrive―some city revolts―Spartans don't know who to punish next. Alcibiades And Athens? Antiochus They melted the gold in the Parthenon. But they’re building ships like pony carts. They want you to come home―take up full command. Alcibiades What—and fail to exploit our numerical advantage? Nonsense! First we harvest, cull the herd. Prepare the fleet to sail in the morning. Antiochus Where? Alcibiades Does it matter? (Toasting) To Athens! Antiochus and Kaloneros Athens! Alcibiades (To the crew, offstage) To Athens! A great cheer from offstage. Antiochus and Kaloneros exit. Alcibiades comes out. First light, at sea. Sound of a great storm, swiftly abating. Enter Spartan Admiral, in crimson cloak, on the deck of the admiral's galley, Spartan fleet. He is baffled, anything but weary, finally inert. Pause. Enter Admiral's Aide. Aide Admiral. Admiral Bad storm. Aide Lifting fast. Admiral Condition of the fleet? Aide Minor damage. Crews are hungry. Two more ships have disappeared. Admiral Any sign of him? Aide No. Admiral News from Byzantium? Aide Lost. Admiral The treasury? Aide Captured. Admiral Ships? Aide Captured. Admiral News of his intentions? Aide None. They say his own captains don't know. Not before the act. Every ship he meets he seizes. Nothing gets out. Admiral News of his strength? Aide No. Admiral Anything from the scouts? Aide No. Admiral Informers. Aide No. Admiral Nothing. Aide No. Alcibiades (To audience) Do you think this is how the dinosaurs stood, as their blood finally froze? The voice of the Spartan Watch is heard offstage. Watch (Offstage) Admiral! Ships! Admiral Where? Watch (Offstage) Dead ahead, beyond the cape. Admiral Facing? Watch (Offstage) Starboard. Admiral Sails? Watch (Offstage) Half. Admiral He doesn't see us! Full sail! Battle order! (To Aide) Can you see him? Aide Yes, there! He's turning to run. Admiral Full pursuit! Archers ready! Fire! Javelins ready! Aide He's coming about. Admiral Fire! Light arms ready for boarding! Aide Heading straight for us. Admiral Prepare to board! Watch (Offstage) Ships astern! Admiral What? Watch (Offstage) Ships astern! Full sail! The Admiral spins, spins back, is frozen in confusion. Sound of battle cries. Aide Sir! Sir! Admiral Come about! Head for shore! For shore! Deafening sound of collisions and battle. Exit Admiral and Aide. Silence. Enter Spartan Messenger, to the King. Messenger My lord, a message from the fleet. “The ships are gone. The admiral is dead. The men are starving. We don't know what to do.” Exit Messenger. Sound of a great, cheering crowd. Enter Panagros, a young man, leading his Grandfather through the crowd to its front. Panagros reaches the front first, pulls up, and immediately forgets his grandfather, staring out in wonder. His grandfather struggles to join him. Grandfather Excuse me. Excuse me. Damn. Oop, sorry! Excuse me. Ow! Can you see ‘em, Panagros? Ow! Are they there? Excuse m―ouch! Excuse me, I'm trying to—damn! Panagros! Do you see―? (Suddenly coming into the clear and pulling up in amazement) My God! The two stand transfixed as crowd cheers. Panagros Is he there, Grampa? Do you see him? (The Grandfather stands transfixed with wonder) Is that him in the purple, on the first ship there? Is that him? What's he asking? (To the crowd) Hey, what's he want? His―his cousin? He won't―? He won't come in unless he sees his cousin, Grampa. (To the crowd) Where's his cousin? Somebody get his cousin! Wait! Look! He's coming in! A great cheer is heard. Both stare in wonder, following what would be Alcibiades' movement across the stage before them, and then, buffeted by the motion of the crowd, they are carried off. Both exit. Crowd noise drops low, then rises and falls according to the following narration, peaking again with the send-off that concludes it. Alcibiades The last temptation, so they say―not to rule the world, but to be of it. The spectacle of the assembly. Tears, bitter tears for our mistakes―it's not your fault―for all we've lost. And joy, and hope, all but extinguished, suddenly rekindled, fanned to a blaze. A crown of gold. Supreme authority by land and sea. My ships refitted. My crews refreshed. Tomorrow we sail—sail off to win their war!—but wait―today, today is the day of the Eleusian Mysteries―remember? the ones they said I mocked before, on the Night of the Broken Noses, before our last great expedition—to Sicily. For five years, ever since the Spartans have taken Attica, this, her most sacred rite, the daylong procession to Eleusis to celebrate its Mysteries, has been impossible. Unthinkable. But now, with me, they go―with a blind, desperate, perfect faith that somehow they will be safe. The great gates, that for five years have imprisoned them in their own city, are swung open on the Sacred Way, and there before them, the shimmering fields of Attica, their land, their olive groves, their meadows, where for five years not one of them has walked. Up on the hills, on either side of the Sacred Way, like two walls of fire stretching as far as they can see, Spartan shields blazing in the sun. A shudder of fear passes through the crowd. And then—release. The procession moves, silently, like in a dream, and like in a dream, there he stands, on the highest hill, shrouded in his crimson cloak, Agis the King. Out and back, all day, they walk the Sacred Way, until the sun is setting and the great gates swing shut behind them. And there on the hill, like a pillar of blood, Agis the King. We are invincible. Put us out of reach of our envy and spite, of circumstance, of the demagogues and oligarchs, of our own weakness, our doubt and hesitation, our fatal tempers and caprice. Rule us. Rule! (Sudden, quick mounting clamour of cheering crowd, song, music of send-off.) But here's the day. And everything is perfect. Everything is right. We sail off to win their war. We have no money―no matter! Sparta’s rich again with Persian gold―no matter! Lysander, who can sail, commands their fleet―no matter! We are invincible. Everything is right! Everything is right! (Silence. Enter Kaloneros and Sailor, carrying the wrapped body of Antiochus.) And it's true. That's what's remarkable. (Alcibiades goes in, surprising the men.) What happened? Kaloneros Sir! Antiochus, I told him what you said, that you were just gone to Carya for money, that he should do nothing, nothing, till you got back. I told him, sir, I promise, I begged him not to― Alcibiades It's alright. It's alright. What happened? Kaloneros He took the ship, sir―two ships―and he...he sailed against Lysander, against the whole fleet. At first they just ignored us, just laughed, but he kept taunting them, cruising past their bows… Finally Lysander sent out a few ships, not many, but then more of ours came out, and suddenly the whole Spartan fleet was on us. It was chaos, sir, just chaos―I'm sorry. Alcibiades Losses? Kaloneros Not many ships but―the men, sir… Alcibiades Yes? Kaloneros Everyone he captured… Alcibiades Yes? Kaloneros He killed them. Alcibiades All of them? Kaloneros Yes sir. Alcibiades Pay the crews. Exit Kaloneros and Sailor, leaving the body of Antiochus. Alcibiades When I was young, very young, I passed the assembly one day, coming in from the fields, with a pheasant under my cloak. And what a crowd, my God, it seemed like everyone was there, Pericles, Socrates, Thucydides, Sophocles, Phidias―even Euripides. I must have...wandered in somehow. And suddenly this...this huge clamour. (He steps back, gazing about in fearful wonder.) My God...it was for me. (He lets his arms fall open.) The pheasant! flies about, here, there, everybody chasing it, laughing, cheering—and you, Antiochus, you caught it, and brought it to me, and put it in my hands. Don't feel badly. We can only win by losing. And they, they can't lose unless they win. Sound of assembly, in great distemper. Enter Thrasybulus. Alcibiades is out. The body remains on stage. Thrasybulus Men of Athens, I will not remind you of my repeated warnings, but in light of the danger now facing us, I must remind you of the facts. Our fleet, and all our hopes, were entrusted—by your vote—to a man who's shown nothing but contempt for both, who abandoned them to the care of his hand-picked band of whoring drunkards, in order to roam about, from city to city, panhandling and tasting every courtesan from Abydos to Byzantium―but all the while constructing for himself a private fortress in the hills of Thrace, just in case―just in case!―catastrophe should ensue. Well, it has. We’re told that when he bothered to return, and found the fleet defeated, he offered battle to Lysander; but having won such a victory would you have accepted? I will not remind you of all my warnings, only my advice: elect, immediately, three generals―so that the failings of any one will not prove disastrous―and arrest that reckless, self-serving disgrace! Put the fleet, and our safety, in the hands of sober and faithful men, now, before it is too late. Harsh, mechanical applause. Exit Thrasybulus. Alcibiades remains in silence over the body of Antiochus. Enter Herald. Herald Alcibiades has formed a private army in Thrace. So far he has only raided enemy towns, but his intentions are unclear. Exit Herald. Night. Faint light of a campfire. Sound of desultory amusements. Enter three generals, drinking. Alcibiades is out. First General What the hell is Lysander waiting for? Second General God knows, but it's working. Another week of this and I'll surrender out of boredom. First Gen. Are you sure we can't take them by land? Second Gen. Not a chance. First Gen. Day after day, parading in front of him like some ugly whore. Third General His men are tight, though, tight. (Gazing offstage anxiously) Ours are― First Gen. Of course they're tight, they're Spartans. Their idea of relaxation is getting a slave drunk and watching him make an ass of himself. Second Gen. (Mocking Spartan) Now you see? You see that? Never, never do that. Hey, more broth over here! Third Gen. It's as if...as if he's waiting for something... First Gen. He's not waiting for anything. Second Gen. Waiting would be impatient. Sound of horse approaching. First Gen. He's just a coward. Doesn't hesitate to butcher unarmed men, but he'll only fight with drunken screwballs like Antioch— (Alcibiades goes in, wrapped in a great Thracian cloak.) You! How did you get in here? (To offstage) Guards! Arrest this man! Alcibiades That would be unwise. Third General waves off the guards. First Gen. Unwise? Alcibiades Your position is vulnerable. First Gen. Vuln—our position! (To offstage) Guards! Third General waves off the guards. Alcibiades Lysander is...unusual. If you stay here, he'll destroy you. First Gen. Destroy us? Alcibiades Completely. First Gen. How dare you come here and tell us how to fight the war―you, who almost single-handedly lost it! Has no one told you? You're not in command here anymore. (To offstage) Guards! (Third General waves off the guards. To Alcibiades) Your army's in a shed somewhere, sleeping with their horses. Alcibiades He’ll destroy you. First General (Exits. To offstage) What the hell are you doing? That was an order. (Sound of heated discussion offstage.) Third Gen. (To Alcibiades) How? Alcibiades (Coming out) Move up to the coast. Sestos. And control your men. Sound of horse departing. First General re-enters. First Gen. Now get in here and arrest this criminal or I'll―where is he? (Exits, followed by other generals. To offstage) What the hell are you waiting for? Mount up! Go, go, go! Pause. Alcibiades News. Enter Herald. Herald Lysander has caught the army by surprise. The entire fleet has been captured. The army has been routed, most before they ever reached their arms. Three thousand prisoners have been taken. Alcibiades And? Herald Killed. Exit Herald. Alcibiades (To audience) And that was that. It was finally over. Sound of flute music, burning, demolition. Enter Panagros and Grandfather, who gazes about him in despair. Panagros It's not over! Grandfather It’s over! Panagros Not as long as he's alive! Remember after Sicily? How you thought it was over then? Didn't you tell me then it was over? Grandfather It’s over! Panagros It’s not over! They continue debating in silence. Alcibiades (To audience) Within weeks, starving now and with no hope left, Athens surrenders, to Lysander. He hires flute-girls from the city, and as they play, he torches every ship in her harbour, and tears down her walls, stone by stone. Then he calls a council to decide her fate. It is proposed that every Athenian—men, women and children—be sold into slavery, their race extinguished, their city razed to the ground and cleared for sheep pasture—when suddenly, someone starts to sing, the first chorus of Euripides' Electra―a pretty song, quite insignificant―and the Spartans weep, and spare the city. Panagros He's got his own army there in Thrace, doesn't he? Grandfather I heard he left all that. That he was gone. Gone! Panagros No! Grandfather To Phrygia or someplace―to live with a whore. Panagros Impossible! Could he just sit by and let the Spartans take over? Never! Grandfather Look! Look! They've garrisoned the Acropolis. It's over. Panagros And Persia! What about Persia? Isn't he friends with them? Grandfather The government―gone! Replaced by Spartan toadies. Panagros Just yesterday I heard news he was on his way there already, to Persia, with all his army, to take charge of the Phoenician fleet. The Phoenician fleet, Grampa! It's just a matter of time. Any day now, he'll be back. He'll be back! Both exit. Night. Very faint moonlight. Enter a Courtesan. Courtesan (To Alcibiades) Come to bed. Alcibiades I had a funny dream. Courtesan What? Alcibiades That I was dressed like you. Courtesan Like me? Alcibiades Yes, and I was lying in your arms, and you were painting my face, perfuming my neck, my arms… Courtesan You'd make a good courtesan. Alcibiades Thank you. Stay up with me awhile. Courtesan Come to bed. Even whores have to sleep. She exits. Sound of a fire starting. Light of flames. Increasing until they envelop the stage. Alcibiades I wake up choking from the smoke. She's unconscious beside me. I wrap her in her robe and carry her out the back, return for my weapons, wrap my arms, burst through the front door, out into the darkness. (Fire begins to subside) She does what she can the next day. Wraps me in her robe, digs a grave, and lays me down in it, as gently as she can. Lights of fire fade to black.
