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right moment.’
    ‘No, it’s not that. I’m afraid I won’t make a good impression on your friends. I am trying to react, but it feels as though I’m just struggling to keep my head above water so I won’t drown. I won’t be good company.’
    ‘You can’t stay here alone in the dark; it would only be worse for you. Wait for me downstairs, I’ll dress and be with you in a moment.’
    Arete went down the stairs and waited in the little patio, listening to the sounds of the evening: the carts clattering over the cobblestones, the cadenced step of the patrols making their first rounds, the voices of mothers calling their children home. She had just wiped away her tears when she heard Dionysius’s footsteps on the stairs.
    ‘Tellias was a friend of my father’s,’ Dionysius began to explain, ‘and when my father died in the great war against Athens, he took our family under his wing. I’ve always been his favourite. They’ve never had children of their own, you see, and I think he would have liked a boy. He’s one of the richest men of the city, as I told you, and since this is probably the richest city in the world, you can guess what that means. The wealthy are usually swine who think only of getting fatter. Not Tellias; he’s as rich as Croesus and as fat as a pig, but he’s both wise and generous, an extraordinary man. Just think, once he was just standing under the portico of his house, watching a storm, when a Geloan cavalry squad rode by. Those poor lads were soaking wet, chilled to the bone, and he invited them all in to drink and warm themselves. Can you believe it? An entire squad of horsemen! He had them sit down and gave dry clothes to everyone, and as much to eat and drink as they wanted, until the weather had changed and they could set off again.
    ‘Another time the city sent him to Rhegium with a legation, and the Rhegines invited him to speak at the theatre. But when he opened his mouth, with that scratchy, silly voice he has, small and plump as he is, someone started laughing and before you knew it, the whole theatre followed suit. The whole place was rocking with laughter.
    ‘So what do you think he did? Got angry? Flew into a rage?
    Not at all. He waited until they had finished, then said: “Laugh all you like; I’m not handsome, nor imposing, and I certainly don’t have a commanding voice. But, you see, that’s how it is where I come from: they send the handsome, vigorous, eloquent ambassadors to important cities, and the little fat ones with the funny voices like me to worthless places like this.” No one felt like laughing after that!’
    Arete laughed despite herself, amused. ‘I’d like to meet him.’
    ‘You will. He’s a charming host, even with the ladies. Wait to speak until he’s spoken to you, though, and after I’ve introduced you, take your leave and go to the women’s quarters. I’ll have you called when it’s time to leave.’
    They had reached the entrance to Tellias’s home: a portico with a wooden door that led to a house with whitewashed walls, framed by creeping rose bushes on both sides which gave off a sweet fragrance in the evening air. A servant had them enter and took them to the atrium, where Tellias came to receive them.
    ‘Dionysius, my boy! I’ve been so anxious since I learned that you’d set off with just fifty men to face the entire Carthaginian army!’
    ‘Well, at least you still feel like joking,’ replied Dionysius. ‘If you had seen what I’d seen, you’d have lost your taste for it.’
    Tellias gestured for both of them to come in. ‘Do not scold me, son, I just meant to say that you were mad to set off with just a handful of men in such a dangerous situation.’
    ‘At least I was able to help the survivors. We escorted them along a safer route and kept them off the more frequented roads where they could have met with trouble.’
    ‘You are a headstrong young lad, but I must admit you’re always right in the end. It’s