Gore Vidal - Creation

LAST NIGHT GENERAL PERICLES CELEBRATED the third year of my embassy with an evening of music at the house of Aspasia. Like everything else to do with my seldom acknowledged, much less celebrated embassy, the party took place in relative secret, and at the last minute. Shortly before sundown, as I was getting ready for bed, Democritus arrived with the news that the general would like to see me. We hurried across town, our faces hidden by shawls so that the conservatives might not know that the infamous representative of the Great King was conspiring with Pericles to enslave Athens.

Two Scythian policemen stood guard at the head of the laneone cannot call it a streetwhich leads to the house of Aspasia. They asked Democritus our business. He gave them some sort of password, and we were allowed to enter the lane.

I was overheated when we arrived. The summers here are as hot as the winters are cold. In fact, the climate is almost as bad as Susas, if that is possible. But then, I am now uncommonly susceptible to heat, cold. Last night I was drenched with sweat when I arrived at Aspasias house.

Democritus tells me that the interior is very elegant. But how would you know? Despite your great-grandfathers wealth, the house at Abdera where you were brought up is rusticto say the least. Of all the houses hereabouts, only that of Callias seems to me to be both comfortable and splendid. Certainly, I am aware that there are rugs on the marble floors and the braziers burn sweet-smelling wood.

One enters Aspasias house through a long, narrow, low-ceilinged corridor that leads to a small courtyard. At the right of the courtyard there is a porticoed reception hall, a room not much larger than the one we are sitting in now, trying to escape the suns heat.

I knew immediately that I was in the house of a Milesian lady. Expensive perfumes adorned the air, and the musicians played so softly that one was not obliged to listen-to the music. This is a rarity at Athens, where the citizens are so little musical that when they do attend a concert, they strain to hear every note in an effort to figure out why they should be charmed. The Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor are different. They regard music as a complement to conversation, food, even love-making. Music is a part of the air that they breathe, not a mathematical equation to be solved by Pythagoras.

There were a dozen people in the room when we arrived. Democritus tells me that, actually, there were ten guests, as well as a number of slaves from Sardis who played music, served food. I was greeted by Evangelos, Pericles steward. Although this celebrated figure is usually in the country looking after the generals farmsand two legitimate sonsfor the last week he has been in the city celebrating with the rest of Athens the trophy of victory that the assembly had just voted Pericles. Ostensibly, the trophy is being given for the re-conquest of Euboea. Actually, the trophy is for the astute way that Pericles handled the Spartan king last winter when the Spartan army occupied Attica, and the Athenians were huddled behind their long walls.

When the message to surrender arrived from the Spartan headquarters at Eleusis, the assembly was tempted to do just that. After all, the Spartan army is the best in the Greek world. Why resist them? Athens is a sea power, not a land power. But Pericles had no intention of surrendering anything. He arranged a secret meeting with the Spartan king, a wide-eyed adolescent who had never before been out of the Peloponnesus. Aware of the kings youth and inexperience, the suspicious Spartan elders had assigned a special adviser to keep close watch over their boy-king. But, as Pericles later remarked, this sort of Spartan precaution simply doubles the price. The boy-king got three gold talents, to be held for him at Delphi, while the advisera shrewd statesmangot seven gold talents on the spot. Once king and adviser had been paid off, the Spartan army went home. The boy-king was fined an enormous sum by the elders, while the special adviser fled to Sicily, where, presumably, he now enjoys his wealth. My only problem, said Pericles at the party, is how to explain this payment to the assembly.

Aspasias advice was direct. When you submit your accounts, simply say, For necessary expendituresten talents.

I have a hunch that that is exactly what Pericles will do. Certainly, everyone knows that the Spartans were bribed. When I complimented Pericles on how little the peace had cost Athens, his response was somber. I did not buy peace, he said. I bought time.

But my narrative is out of order. Although General Pericles was not in the house when we arrived, Aspasia more than made up for his absence. She has a lovely speaking voice, sings Milesian songs with much delicacy, recites poetry better than anyone else I have ever heard. Of course, I think no language on earth is more beautiful than well-spoken Ionian Greek. Yes, Democritus, it is even more beautiful than Persian.

Ive wanted to meet you from the first day you arrived in Athens. She held my hand in both of hers. She gives the impression that she means every word she says to you.

When I praised her courage in having me to her house, she laughed. Ive always been called a medizer. Personally, I dont care. But there are times when ... The voice trailed off. I cursed my blindness yet again. What I would have given to be able to study that face! Democritus says that Aspasia is small, and somewhat thinner than last winter. The hair is light-brown, and not dyedor so he thinks. You are not yet as expert in these matters as I am, or was.

Aspasia presented a number of men to me. One was Phormio, Pericles right hand in the assembly. Another was a general named Sophocles. Years ago, when he was in his twenties, he wrote a tragedy that won first prize at the festival of Dionysos. Old Aeschylus was so furious at being second to this young upstart that he moved to Sicily, where that sharp-eyed eagle put an end to their rivalry with a well-aimed turtle. I always enjoy thinking about the death of Aeschylus.

Sophocles is something of a scandal here because he lusts, openly, after young men of his own class. For some reason this is taboo at Athens. Although Athenian citizens are encouraged to have affairs with adolescent boys of their own class, once the boy has grown a proper beard, he must give up having sexual relations with other citizens. He is expected to get married and begin a family. Then, his duty done, he is encouraged to find a boy to love in order to continue thewhat?training, I suppose, of a new citizen and soldier. Such customs are not unknown elsewhere, particularly amongst our Aryan cousins, the northern tribes. Even so, I dont entirely understand the powerful taboo against sexual relations between grown men who are also citizens of Athens. Although slaves and foreigners are fair game for those men who like that sort of sexuality, two grown citizens who wish to have an affair must forfeit all rights to public office.

So far, Sophocles has been able to hold office and seduce youthful citizens. But Pericles is deeply annoyed with him. Recently he reprimanded his friend and fellow general. You must set an example, said the commander in chief. Never touch one of your own soldiers. Avert your eyes when they are bathing. But Sophocles continues to scandalize the Athenians. It is said that whenever he pays a call on a friend, the young men of the house are told to hide. Incidentally, since General Pericles has never shown the slightest interest in boys, he is considered to be heartless. This is a very unusual society.

Aspasia led me to a low couch. I sat on the edge while she sat at my feet, like a granddaughter. Wine was brought us. I heard the laughter of girls in the background. If Aspasia does not procure women for Pericles, as his enemies maintain, she certainly manages to attract to her house the most talented of the professional ladies in the city. I have not enjoyed myself so much in years as I did last night. Although such pleasures at my age are not only unseemly but dangerous, I was pleased to be remindedfor the first time since I left Indiahow delightful it is to mix in company intelligent women with men of the first rank. This is something undreamed of in Persia. So, I suppose, one must give the Athenians credit for having invented a new and delightful kind of society.