‘All this have I been thinking of, too,’ said Alkibiades, ‘since we have been following that state trireme. No, Alkibiades shall not be carried like a fly caught by a spider to its hole, there to be executed at his captors’ will. Life is pleasant, and we have yet a greater name to make. We shall put in at Thurii, I expect. I have friends there a little pledged to me for favours I have done them. If they will help us to avoid the old fool Kryptos, will you share your fortunes, come what will, with me?’ ‘Indeed we will,’ they said in graver tones than they were used to speak in. ‘It may mean fighting to the death,’ said Alkibiades. ‘In fighting we would gladly die for you,’ said Agrestides, with something of emotion on his rugged face. ‘What fate were nobler? And how delightful to enrage those hounds at Athens!’ muttered Kolyphôn. ‘Keep with me, then, when we land at Thurii. We shall most likely dine at the house of my friend Eumanthes; he is much indebted to me. That is his great house more than half-way up the hill to the west there, almost hidden in the olive-grove. His slaves must still be getting in the vintage, one of the best in Italy. When we have dined, and you hear me say the word “Athanatos,” go out one by one, and wait for me at the shrine of Dionysos, which you will find at the right-hand side, at the end of his garden, further up the mountain. Now, no more of this! Remember, “Athanatos.”’ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XIV ‘Laudo manentem; si celeres quatit Pennas, resigno quæ; dedit ... ... probamque Pauperiem sine dote quæro.’ HORATIUS: _Od._, iii. 29. ‘I sing her praises should she stay, But an she shake her lightsome wings, I give her back the things she gave, And seek an upright life in poverty.’ IT was early in the afternoon of September the twenty-fifth by our reckoning when the _Eros_, following the _Salaminia_, got up to Thurii, an Athenian colony near the site of the old-renowned soft Sybaris. The fallen strategos landed with his friends. Kryptos, approaching, told the ex-general he proposed staying there that night, and starting again early next morning. Alkibiades bowed, saying it was his part to receive orders now, not to give them. The people of Thurii, most of whom had come upon the wharf to see the two great Athenian vessels, were indeed surprised when they recognised the well-known face of Alkibiades. He had lately called there, when, at the head of his division of the fleet, he was on his way to Rhegion. Eumanthes quickly heard the news, and came down at once to welcome his friend and benefactor, and invited him and his companions to his country house, and begged they would make it theirs as long as they might stay at Thurii.