The Etruscan by Mika Waltari

the booty on both penteconters, weighted baskets were lowered into the sunken ship from small boats and the best divers among us made their way down the ropes. There in the darkness they filled the baskets with the loot and came up only for air. Shivering with cold and fear they huddled in the boats until Dionysius thrashed them into the water again with his rope. On that day many an unfortunate cursed the diving skill that he had acquired in lonia as a boy.
    Mikon and I were given the task of recording the contents of the sacks and barrels on which Dionysius himself inscribed the numbers until he ran out of them. Finally he was content merely to seal the containers with a golden Persian signet without keeping account of what we wrote.
    “In the name of Hermes,” he declared, “I am plagued by the idea that I may be robbed but even at the risk of that I would rather keep my brain clear than be involved in lists and figures.”
    By evening both penteconters had been emptied. Everyone smiled when Dionysius finally called a halt for the day and gave us permission to return to the hospitality of the Himeran homes.
    But our elation soon gave way to bitter disappointment, for Dionysius ordered each of us in turn to take off his clothes. From the folds of the garments he plucked surprising amounts of jewelry, gold coins and other objects of value. A few had even hidden gold and gems in their hair, and from the mouth of one mumbling rower Dionysius produced a golden fish. The men cried out in dismay at one another’s shocking dishonesty.
    I relinquished a heavy golden chain voluntarily upon seeing what awaited me, and Mikon reached into an armpit for a golden winged lion. Embittered by Dionysius’ greed and disillusioned by our own dishonesty, we began to demand the right to inspect Dionysius’ clothes in return, for we had noticed that he had begun to move with increasing clumsiness and clanking.
    Dionysius flushed. “Who is your commander?” he roared. “Who enabled you to win undying fame at Lade, made you wealthy and brought you safely to this new land? Whom can you trust if not me?”
    So moved was he by his own words that his beard began to quiver and tears came into his eyes. “The cruelty and thanklessness of man! Everyone measures others, even me, by his own corrupted standards.”
    “Close your mouth!” we demanded bitterly. “As our commander you certainly are not the best of us but rather the worst. Indeed we wouldn’t even respect you if you did not try to take advantage of us.”
    Bellowing and laughing, we fell upon him, pushed him to the ground and tore off his clothes. Around his waist, beneath his armpits and between his thighs he had suspended pouches from which we poured forth a stream of coins, jewelry, signets, chains and armbands equaling the collective loot of all the others.
    Seeing the heap, we laughed loudly, pulled him to his feet again and slapped his broad shoulders. “What a commander you are! Truly you are the cleverest of us all and we will never give you up.”
    After prolonged argument it was decided that each would be permitted to retain whatever he had stolen. Only the naked divers complained.
    “Must we do without anything,” they cried, “although we worked the hardest?”
    Dionysius swore at them. “No one is better than anyone else, my greedy ones. Go back and produce whatever you have hidden in the water. If someone is left with empty hands he has only himself to
    blame.”
    The divers blinked at one another and at us and then returned to the shore. They plunged into the water and began rolling aside the stones under its surface. Soon they came up with a wealth of objects, each larger and more valuable than those which we had been able to conceal in our clothes. But we did not begrudge them the loot after their efforts in the darkness of the ship among the octopi, the crabs and the stinging medusae.
    “Let us offer a fair share of our loot to the Himeran gods,” suggested