The Athenian Murders Read Online Free PDF

a little surprised, since his state of mind the evening before did not seem conducive to the enjoyment of such a pastime, but...'
    'Who told you he had gone hunting?' Heracles interrupted, seizing the head of another fig from among the many poking over the edge of the bowl.
    'Euneos, one of his closest friends. And Antisus, son of Praxinoe.'
    'Both students at the Academy?'
    'Yes.'
    'Fine. Please go on.'
    Diagoras ran his hand over his head (on the shadow on the wall, a creature slithered over the slimy surface of a sphere) and said: 'I wanted to talk to Antisus and Euneos that day. I found them at the gymnasium.'
     
    Hands rising, writhing, playing in a shower of tiny scales; wet, slender arms; multiple laughter, banter interspersed with the sound of water, eyelids tightly closed, heads raised; a shove, and, again, laughter spilling forth. From above, the image brings to mind a flower formed of adolescent bodies, or a single body with several heads; arms like undulating petals; slimy, multiple nakedness caressed by steam; a tongue of water sliding slickly from the mouth of a gargoyle; the flower of flesh moves, gestures sinuously ... A thick breath of steam suddenly clouds our view. 9
     

    9 This strange paragraph, which would seem to be a poetic description of the young men having a shower at the gymnasium, contains, in concise summary and strongly emphasised, almost all the eidetic elements of Chapter Two: 'damp', 'head' and 'undulation', among others. Also noteworthy is the repetition of 'multiple' and the word 'scales', which appeared earlier on. The 'flower of flesh' image is, I believe, simply a metaphor and has nothing to do with the eidesis. (T's N.)
    The vapour clears. We see a small room - a changing room, judging by the collection of tunics and robes hanging on the whitewashed walls - and several young male bodies in varying degrees of undress; one of them lies face down on a couch, quite naked, and avid dark-skinned hands slide over it, slowly massaging the muscles. There is laughter: the young men jest after their shower. The hiss of steam from the cauldrons
    of boiling water diminishes until it ceases. The curtain at the door is drawn back, and the multiple laughter stops. A tall, thin man, with a shiny bald head and neatly trimmed beard, greets the young men, who hasten to answer. The man speaks. They listen, continuing their various activities: dressing, undressing, rubbing their well-formed bodies with cloths, oiling their undulating muscles.
    The man addresses two of the young men in particular -one, pink-cheeked, with thick black hair, is bending down, tying his sandals, while the other is the naked ephebe who is being massaged. His face (we can see it now) is extremely beautiful.
    The room, like the bodies, exudes heat. Then a snake of mist swirls before our eyes, and the vision disappears.
     

    'I asked about Tramachus,' explained Diagoras. 'At first they didn't quite understand what I wanted, though they both admitted that their friend had changed, but they didn't know why. Then Lisilus, another Academy student who happened to be there, made an incredible revelation: for some months, in secret, Tramachus had been seeing a hetaera from Piraeus called Yasintra. 'Perhaps it is she who has changed him, Master,' he added spitefully. Antisus and Euneos reluctantly confirmed the existence of the relationship. I was astounded, and, in some ways, hurt. But I was also relieved: that my pupil should keep from me his shameful visits to a prostitute in the port was indeed worrying, considering his distinguished education, but I reflected that if the problem amounted to nothing more there was no need to worry. I decided to speak to him again, at a more propitious moment, and to discuss reasonably how his spirit had erred.'
     
    Diagoras paused. Heracles Pontor lit a wall lamp, and the shadows of their
    heads multiplied: Heracles' truncated triangles moving, together, on the adobe wall, and Diagoras' circles,