Warriors in Bronze Read Online Free PDF

alien ruler will take the throne, a man of Pelops' line. To make the usurper acceptable his suc­cessor - a suitable heir - must be assured.'
    'And Plis ... my father is —'
    'An imbecile who had to be hidden from the sight and memory of man. Thyestes was still fond of him and pitied his condition. I persuaded my brother to accept him in his house­hold; and then re-cast my ideas. My obvious successor was one of my grandsons, either you or Menelaus, boys just out of infancy. I kept an eye on you both, and made my choice.
    'You are that heir, Agamemnon!'
    I held my head in my hands. An ant crawled over my sandalled foot, and bit; I hardly noticed the sting. 'And the centrepiece,' I said, 'of a horrible and dishonourable design.'
    'You're talking nonsense! Scrub these stupid scruples from your mind! Any expedient, any ruse, every crime in the catalogue justifies the enterprise of kings!'
    'And you propose to wed my mother. Why? I don't under­stand. ...'
    'It looks better,' said Atreus patiently, 'if a man is married to the woman who has borne his heir. Besides, whatever you or anyone else may think, I'm very fond of Aerope.'
    Atreus stood, and patted my cheek. The grim expression faded from his face. He smiled, and said, 'The shock has numbed your brain; you simply aren't thinking straight. I shall send you from Mycenae, and give you time to recover.'
     
Chapter 2
     
    briskly and efficiently Atreus organized the arrangements. He bent the rules a little and obtained the king's permission to grant Heroic status to Diores. A Companion, strictly speaking, cannot become a Hero until he has killed his man in battle: always a difficult feat because unless a charge is broken and he has to fight on foot a chariot driver seldom meets a foeman blade to blade. Although Diores had been a Companion for several years - he drove for a Hero who held an estate near Argos - he had not yet won his greaves.
    The Marshal also persuaded Eurystheus to grant Diores Rhipe, an out-of-the-way demesne in the foothills which owed an annual tribute of three oxen, thirty sheep and a jar of olive oil. When the king called a levy of arms the holder had to provide three spearmen, a scout, his Companion and himself both fully armed and armoured.
    The reason for so paltry a tribute lay in the manor's remote­ness : a factor of little account in olden days before the Goat- men started seriously encroaching. Now they regularly deci­mated Rhipe's flocks. Eurystheus, and King Sthenelus before him, sent warbands to comb the area: after every expedition the troubles stopped for a while and then recurred. The Hero last holding Rhipe had begged the king for a demesne in easier reach of Tiryns or Mycenae. He was not alone; the majority of outlying estates suffered similar depredations.
    The king granted Rhipe to Diores with injunctions to restore the farms and make it pay. Being a reasonable man he recog­nized the dangers and drawbacks and, because the holding had been abandoned for several years, provided breeding stock and seed com, twenty sturdy freemen and a band of male and female slaves. With an eye to my safety Atreus added from his retinue a half-dozen seasoned spearmen who normally worked on his lands. He also gave me some personal slaves and, un­usually, a Scribe: a youthful, serious fellow named Gelon. 'He'll keep Rhipe's accounts,' the Marshal said, 'and teach you the economics of husbandry. Gelon's a clever young man; if you listen to him carefully you may learn a good deal more.'
    I took my concubine Clymene. About a year before I had begun to experience the usual sexual urges. Lightly-clad slave girls serving in the Hall or encountered in palace corridors excited fervid pricklings which resulted, on occasion, in hur­ried secret gropings and fumblings in corners. Someone must have reported these skirmishes to Atreus. I had been allotted a separate room in the squires' wing - a cubby-hole just large enough to accommodate a cot - and a lovely