The Songs of the Kings

He kept his eyes to the ground as he spoke, not venturing to look up. He felt the presence of anguish above him, near and far, in the King and beyond the King, an anguish that rose into the night sky, where the wind had again become clamorous. 'Iphigeneia must be sent for,' he said. 'She must be brought here. You must a

The voice of Odysseus came from behind him. 'An immediate a

Raising his eyes at last, Chasimenos could discern no particular change of expression in his master's face. 'It will save us,' he said. He got up awkwardly from his kneeling position and bowed and went back to his cushion.

'Why not Menelaus?' the King said. 'He has a daughter. It was his wife that was seduced. It was for his sake that I embarked on this expedition, not my own, to redeem the honour of the house of Atreus, to show the people of Troy and the whole world that when a blow is struck against us we will strike back with double force. We have the men, we have the ships, we have the gold. We did not seek this war, but by all the gods...' He broke off and a sound like a groan came from him. 'Menelaus has a daughter,' he said again. 'I must say, brother, I did not expect this from you,' Menelaus said. 'Haven't I got trouble enough? Must I remind you that my Helen is currently in a Trojan dungeon, being violated on an hourly basis? And I've told you before, she wasn't seduced, she was kidnapped.'

A terrible sneer distorted Agamemnon's face. 'Paris bound and gagged her, did he?'

Chasimenos said, 'Menelaus has a daughter, Lord King, but in the first place he is not the Supreme Commander, and so, secondly, he does not bear the responsibility; thirdly, Hermione is only nine years old and so a bit on the young side; fourthly, she is not a priestess of Artemis and so, fifthly, she has not incurred the wrath of Zeus.'

'Bravo, Chasimenos, well said.' Odysseus gazed admiringly at his fellow-advocate. 'You are always very good on the detail.' It was all going much better than could have been expected. Agamemnon was making speeches already, easing his soul with rhetoric, a very good sign. The more speeches the better. Words were what was needed now, words and more words. Words would take the life of Iphigeneia before ever she set out from Mycenae, long before the knife touched her throat; and the words that would kill the daughter, the same words, would swaddle the father, make a warm wrapping for him. He said, 'Whether Helen went willingly or not, it is the same just cause that inspires our arms, the same concern for honour and justice that has brought this great army together, united in the sense of what it means to be Greek, yes, Greek. Our ancestors came from the north under the guidance of Zeus to occupy this land. A common origin, a common language, that is what makes a nation. But this nation does not yet know itself, it turns upon itself in division and strife. This is a nation waiting to be born, and Zeus has chosen you to be the one to give it birth. On the plains of Troy we shall fight under one ba

'It is a high destiny,' Chasimenos said, 'and a heavy burden, but my King is fitted for it, he carries the burden for us all.'

'Burden, there you go, brilliant. The heavy burden of command.' Odysseus felt again that gathering of saliva, threatening to obscure his speech. 'The knowledge that others depend on us, the sense of obligation that comes with high office, what's the word I am looking for?'

'Responsibility.'

'Responsibility, absolutely brilliant. That is the heavy weight that those who are born to high command have to suffer, have to endure.'

'Yes, yes, to endure,' the King said, speaking so low that the others could hardly hear him. 'Responsibility, the burden of command, yes.'

'And you are responsible several times over, which makes the burden even heavier,' Odysseus said.

Agamemnon's head had slumped forward and down, as if under a physical weight. He raised it now to give Odysseus a look in which ferocity mingled with bewilderment. 'How is that?'

'Chasimenos will explain, he is always very good on the detail.'

'Pardon me, Lord King, but you are, firstly, responsible for Iphigeneia's offence, and, secondly, responsible for accepting the responsibility for the conduct of the war when you were already responsible for the aforesaid offence, thereby becoming, thirdly, responsible for the wrath of Zeus, and following upon this, fourthly, responsible for this hostile wind which is destroying the morale of the army.'

'More responsible than that, it is hard to see how any mortal man could be,' Odysseus said. 'Think of the consequences of refusing. You could not serve under another leader, it's probably too late for that anyway. The army would break up, the expedition would be abandoned, you would return to Mycenae with all credibility gone for good, together with the chance to get your hands on all that Trojan gold. As the strongest power, Mycenae would be entitled to the biggest cut. Think of it, the lion's share passing through the Lion Gate. Think of the people who have gathered here, who have put their faith in you. From the Pindus and Pelion they have come, from Aetolia and Locris, from Achaia and Arcadia, from the islands of the Aegean to the shores of Messenia, from the Saronic Gulf to the farthest headlands of the Pelopo

'Odysseus, do you really think my King is going to let these faithful people down?' demanded Chasimenos.

'By the gods, no.' Agamemnon raised his head again and glared about him. 'I will not betray that trust. I have a sacred duty. This is a nation waiting to be born, I am the one chosen by Zeus to bring it forth into the light.'

Thinking the issue decided, Chasimenos sank to his knees once more and lowered his head. 'What god-given wisdom my Lord speaks,' he said.

However, from above there came a deep groan and from behind the sudden voice of Nestor, whom the groan must have startled. 'Is Agamemnon in pain? All this sitting around is bad for the digestion, we should organize a boar-hunt, I remember one boar-hunt I went on, in Laconia, a huge boar, it stood higher than a man, it had already killed half a dozen dogs, I remember it had the giblets of one of them hanging from its right tusk, no, it was the left, no, wait a minute...'

Chasimenos remained kneeling while the aged counsellor was shushed into silence by his sons. Then Agamemnon groaned again, less loudly. 'She is only fourteen,' he said. 'She was always my favourite. And in public, too. If it were in private, for some stain on my honour, in that case, yes, tragedies like that can occur in the best of families. But to have her lifted up in the gown of the victim, through which her limbs can be seen, to make a public display of her before the dregs of humanity we have got here, this bare-arsed scum from Locris and Aetolia, this beastly rabble from Boeotia and Attica, these rapists and butter-eaters from Epirus, these turds from Thessaly who come to take part in a military expedition armed only with hay-forks, is it for this I raised her?'

'These Thessalians are degenerate, into the bargain,' Menelaus said. 'They fuck their own goats, it's a habit they have picked up from the Asians.'