The Gates Of Troy (32 page)

‘Shut up!’ called a voice.

‘Sit down, Thersites!’ cried another.

But the hunchback was not to be deterred. ‘All this talk of war! If Agamemnon and Menelaus want to fight the Trojans, then let them! And they can take that great yob Ajax with them.’

Ajax stood, his face flushed and his bunched fists shaking with anger, but Agamemnon signalled for him to resume his seat.

‘What need do the rest of us have for war?’ Thersites continued, scratching the tufts of hair on his cone-shaped head as if confused. ‘What do we care for Troy? Don’t we have our own homes and families to protect?’ At this there was a rumble of agreement from some of the benches. ‘And what will our reward be if we go? Have you asked yourselves how the plunder will be shared? Then let me tell you – the richest pickings to the Atreides brothers, and the scraps for the rest of us!’

‘Silence, you deformed fool!’ Agamemnon shouted, jumping to his feet, his cool facade suddenly and shockingly broken. ‘This is a council of kings, not of commoners, and if you can’t hold your tongue in front of your superiors then I’ll have it cut out and fed to my dogs.
Do you understand
?’

Thersites’s whole body quaked before Agamemnon’s unexpected rage, and his vulture-like eye twitched in fear as he shrank back down among his Aetolian countrymen.

Agamemnon now waved Odysseus back to his chair and walked out into the middle of the arena. He had regained much of his usual composure, but Eperitus felt there was still a darkness about his face that hinted at his ruffled emotions.

‘Fellow Greeks!’ he said, his voice calm once more. ‘Have we not already heard from my brother how he was thrown out of Troy like a beggar, and from Odysseus of how the Trojans have been preparing to bring war to our shores – news even to my ears? Are we not here today because a Greek queen has been abducted from her bed by a Trojan prince? These things alone are enough to
demand
war, and yet there remain voices of dissent. I don’t talk of the protests of one ignorant man, but of the nods and the mumbled agreements that accompanied them. Why, then, should you leave your homes to fight a distant foe, beyond the reasons I have already stated? Let me tell you.

‘First, no Greek state has made war on another since the Epigoni laid waste to Thebes ten years ago. As a result, our industries thrive, our merchants sell Greek goods all over the known world, our people are well fed and peace reigns. But such peace brings its own problems, as I said it would when I first proposed a raid against Troy a decade ago. We pay our armies to do nothing, and they in turn are restless. They want war – what warrior doesn’t thirst for the very thing that defines him? And they want plunder, the true wages of a fighting man. So should we return to the old days of fighting each other – brother against brother, father against son?’

‘No!’ a chorus of voices shouted.

‘No, of course we shouldn’t. And then there’s the problem of resources. Every king here knows the pressures of running a state – the constant calls for more copper to make our bronze, more timber to build our homes and our ships, more wool for textiles, more this, that and everything else. But above all?’

‘More slaves!’ Diomedes called out, firmly.

‘After all,’ Agamemnon continued, ‘who spins the yarn, or turns the clay, or mines the silver, or tills the field, or mills the grain, or nurses the babies? Slaves, of course, the beating heart of our agriculture, our industry, even our domestic life. Slaves are the one true product of war. We can buy slaves from Asia, but the constant demand and the high cost are crippling. A war would solve that problem, for a few years at least. Mycenaean merchants tell me that Troy is a rich city – filled with gold, bronze, copper, wool, horses, livestock, timber, spices and, above all, people. If you make war with me against Troy, you and your armies can all have your fill of the plunder. And whatever that fool Thersites might say, I won’t deprive an army of their rights.’

A great cheer rose up from the benches and many stood and applauded the king of Mycenae, or shook their fists triumphantly above their heads as if the hulls of their ships had already been filled with the loot of a ransacked Troy.

‘But I said all this before – ten years ago in Sparta – and no one would listen. The riches of Troy were on offer to us then, but only a handful of you were prepared to leave the safety of your palaces for the promise of glory on foreign soil. Even you, Ajax, though your mighty voice calls for war now – even you said it was impossible to unite the Greeks and raid Ilium. So I come to my final reason why you should leave your families, your homes and your kingdoms to fight a bitter war in a distant place. Stand up, Menelaus.’

The Spartan king, who had been watching the faces of the council as they reacted to the rhetoric of Agamemnon, looked up in surprise. Slowly, he rose to his feet.

‘My brother’s wife has been taken from him,’ Agamemnon continued, walking to where Menelaus stood. ‘He trusted a foreign prince with the most beautiful woman in Greece – you’ve all seen her – while he went off to Crete. The kingdom of Sparta was only his because he married the daughter of its former king. Now that she’s been taken from under his very nose, he has allowed his own authority to be brought into question.’

As the last word left his lips, Agamemnon struck his brother across the face with the back of his hand. Menelaus reeled backwards, as much with shock as with the force of the blow, and stared at Agamemnon with surprise and a burning rage. His nostrils flared and his lips curled back from his teeth, but he said nothing. The crowded kings and nobles, staring down from the tiered benches, fell silent.

‘Fortunately for him,’ Agamemnon continued, turning to face the council, ‘a sacred oath was taken to protect Helen and her husband from any who would try to come between them.
You
took that oath! That’s why you’ve come here to Aulis, because not one of you would dare to offend the gods before whom you gave your word. So, as I very much doubt the honour of Greece, the threat of Troy and the prospect of plunder are enough to ensure your support for war, I call upon you to honour the oath you swore. Stand, damn it, and put your hands on your hearts if you mean to sail with us. Or if you haven’t the guts to fight but would rather face the persecution of the gods, then leave now – through those ancient stones that mark the sacred nature of this place – so that we can all look upon your shame as you go!’

The first to stand were Diomedes and Eperitus, followed more slowly by Odysseus. Ajax and his companions were next, and after them the entire assembly. Not one man – not even Thersites – left the spot where they were standing, and only Calchas, the Trojan renegade, remained seated, covering his face with his hood and looking down at his sandalled feet.

Suddenly, Ajax stepped forward and punched the air.

‘Death to Troy!’ he bellowed, and his voice carried out across the harbour so that the few sailors craned their necks towards the hilltops.

‘Death to Troy!’ echoed the combined voices of the council.

They were not exuberant, as if a great victory had been won and they stood over the piled corpses of their foes. Instead, they were hard and determined. As the ringing echoes of their war cry died away over the straits and between the stony hillsides, Nestor stepped forward and indicated for the grim-faced kings, including Agamemnon, to sit.

‘We are equals,’ he began, his voice strong and smooth despite his great age. ‘We are kings of
Greece
, not slaves like the vassals of Asia who stoop down before Priam. We go to war against Troy as free men, honouring our sacred duty. And yet all armies must have leaders.’

‘That’s clever,’ Odysseus whispered to Eperitus. ‘I could learn something from this old dog.’

‘An army without a leader is a disorganized rabble. A strong gust of wind could blow it away. But an army that chooses its own leader is greater than any. The different elements retain their freedom and individuality, without subjugating themselves to a tyrant.
We
must choose a leader, if we’re to attack Troy as a coherent force.’

‘You’re the best tactician amongst us, Nestor,’ called a voice from the benches. ‘You lead us.’

‘Aye, you lead us!’ echoed other voices.

‘Not me,’ the king of Pylos replied, shaking his head and smiling. ‘I’m too old.’

‘Agamemnon should lead us.’

Every eye turned to Odysseus.

‘Who has brought the greatest force of men and ships?’ he said, standing and turning once more to face the assembly. ‘Who first proposed war against Troy, when we were too busy worrying about our own palaces? Not one of us had the foresight to see that one day Troy would threaten us. Only Agamemnon did. I say
he
should lead us.’

Agamemnon watched from his high-backed chair and said nothing, but his expressionless eyes were fixed intently upon the king of Ithaca.

‘I agree,’ said Diomedes, rising to his feet. ‘Agamemnon to lead!’

‘Me, too,’ Menelaus said, his face still red where his brother had struck him.

‘And me,’ smiled Nestor. ‘Agamemnon should lead. Does anyone oppose?’

Thersites stood and raised another accusing finger, but was pulled back down before he could speak. One by one the other kings and leaders of the Greek armies nodded their consent, some with more enthusiasm than others.

‘So be it,’ Nestor announced, snapping his fingers at a slave who stood behind the chairs of the Atreides brothers. The slave ran over and handed the old man a tall item wrapped in purple cloth. ‘Agamemnon, you are elected king over the Greek army, for the duration of the war against Troy. Free men chose you, and their choice will be bound upon them by an oath. But first, stand and receive the symbol of your power.’

With a flourish, Nestor tore the cloth away to reveal a golden staff, beset with jewels that gleamed in the twilight and topped by a silver bird in flight. It was as tall as the old king and was a work of great skill, greater than anything most of the council had ever set their eyes upon, whether commoner, noble or king.

‘You know this sceptre well, Agamemnon,’ Nestor announced. ‘It was made by Hephaistos for Zeus, the king of the gods. He gave it to Hermes, who then gave it to your grandfather, Pelops. Pelops passed it down to your father, Atreus, and you would have seen it many times in his hand. As he was dying he entrusted it to your uncle, Thysetes. It was your father’s wish that this rod of empire be given to you when you had reached the heights of greatness you were destined for. Come, receive that which is yours.’

Agamemnon stood and crossed the arena to where Nestor was waiting. He stretched out his hand to take the sceptre, but Nestor withheld it from his grasping fingers.

‘This sceptre represents immense power, Agamemnon. You must use it with wisdom and humility; crush your enemies, but listen to counsel when it is given and never forget to honour the gods.’

He offered the golden staff to the Mycenaean king, now king of all the Greeks, who snatched it from his hand and stared at it with adoration and amazement. He turned it around and around, loving the way its jewels sparkled like the stars on a winter night, enjoying the feel of the cold metal in his palm and revelling in the sense of power that it gave him.

Nestor signalled to the waiting slaves, who rushed to refill the kraters of the kings.

‘Stand now and swear your loyalty to Agamemnon, whom the gods have guided you to choose as your leader,’ Nestor commanded, raising his own cup and pouring a libation. ‘Oh, Father Zeus, and all you Olympians, bear witness to this oath that we freely give, to submit to the leadership of Agamemnon until the lovely Helen is restored to her husband and her kidnap avenged in Trojan blood. If any here disobey the commands of the properly elected king of the Greeks, then punish their iniquity and bring dishonour on their name so that they will bear the shame for eternity.’

‘And let no man here return to his homeland until our mission is complete,’ Agamemnon added. ‘And as a symbol of his commitment, let each man vow not to cut his hair until Troy lies in ruins and my brother’s wife is back in his arms again. So be it!’

‘
So be it
!’

Agamemnon drained his cup and was followed by the members of the council, who then retook their seats.

‘So,’ said Little Ajax, looking crossly from Agamemnon to the rows of faces on either side of him. ‘When do we sail? When am I going to get a chance to kill some Trojans? That’s all I want to know.’

‘That isn’t a decision to be taken here and now,’ Agamemnon replied. ‘We need to consider the information Menelaus and Odysseus have brought back with them before settling on a course of action.’

‘We can’t tarry here much longer,’ said Menestheus, the Athenian king. ‘The men are getting restless. There’ve already been several raids on nearby islands, where this fleet or that have thought they’d found Ilium. Unless we’re careful they’ll be attacking each other before long.’

Eperitus suddenly rose to his feet, no longer able to hold back the question that had been nagging at him since he first arrived in the amphitheatre.

‘I may be speaking out of ignorance,’ he began as every eye turned upon him, ‘and I hope you’ll forgive me, my lords, as I only arrived back from Troy today, but how can this expedition think of setting off without Peleus’s son, Achilles? I’d heard the oath was binding on him, too, though Patroclus took it on his behalf, yet no one here has even mentioned his name. Isn’t it true his mother, Thetis, dipped him by his ankle in the River Styx to make him invulnerable? And that he can beat any man in battle, hunting, sport or debate? As I see it, we can’t afford to start for Troy without him.’

‘We have no choice, Eperitus,’ Diomedes responded. ‘There isn’t a man here who wouldn’t want to fight alongside a warrior of Achilles’s reputation, but he hasn’t responded to any of our summonses.’

‘The problem is that no one knows where he is,’ Nestor took up. ‘Thetis had a vision of his death at Troy, so I’ve heard, and has hidden him so he can’t be persuaded to join the expedition. But we can’t wait forever, and unless he turns up soon we will have to trust to our own strengths to defeat the Trojans.’