.â
âTheseus,â he corrected me at once.
âExactly. Thatâs why I wanted to ask you alone.â
âWell, what? Itâs a good Theseus, it meets the needs, itâs beautiful and weâve rescued it. Atticus didnât blink.â
âBut why not say itâs David? Why do we have to keep Christ out? Whatâs the necessity? The reason I mentioned that I thought you were a monk was because I thought you were a Dominican, but still you prayed to Athene.â
âI was having a bad moment when I prayed to be here. The church refused to hear my arguments and then I was imprisoned in France.â
âYou prayed to Athene when you were imprisoned by the Inquisition?â
âWith very good results,â he said, smiling and spreading his hands.
âYes, fine, but my point is that many people have reconciled Plato with Christ. Ficino did.â Only a sliver of the sun was left, but the sea and sky still blazed. Why would he have been wearing a monkâs habit if he were not a monk? Did they have fancy dress parties in the Renaissance? Could I possibly ask?
âI myself did,â he said, proudly. âI reconciled Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Platonism and Zoroastrianism. I learned Arabic and Hebrew. I was so proud of myself. But donât you see, we were doing it starting from a belief that Christianity was true. If instead itâs the Greek Gods who are true, if we have immortal souls that go down into Hades and on to Lethe and new life, then what price salvation? They can mix from the other side, we could say that Plato was really talking about God. But from this side, well, we canât say that when Jesus said heâd be in his fatherâs house that he was really talking about Zeus, now can we?â
âI do see that,â I said. âBut itâs not as if it does any harm, even if itâs not true. Itâs a lovely story, about good people. Itâs not ⦠contaminated. I donât see why we have to exclude it so entirely that we have to say the David is Theseus.â
Ikaros lay back, propped on his elbow. âChristianity is harmful to the Republic because it offers a different and incorrect truth. We want them to discover the Truth, the real Truth that a philosopher can glimpse. Thatâs important. We donât want to clutter it up with irrelevancies. Christianity would just get in their way. So no Madonnas and no crucifixions.â
âBut David is all right as long as we say itâs Theseus?â
âWhy not? What harm could that do? Iâd bring a Madonna and say itâs Isis, but Ficino thinks thatâs going too far.â
âI wish I could see the Madonnas again. Botticelliâs Madonnas, that is. I only saw them once. I was going to buy an engraving, but I spent all my money on books. Still, we have the new ones.â
âWe do. Athene in the Judgement of Paris looks a little like you.â He moved closer and put his arm around me. âThe real trouble with Christianity is that the morality can do so much harm.â
âI didnât offer you Christian morality, but Plato on love,â I said, standing up. I wasnât afraid that he would attack me, although I was aware that he was strong and could easily have overpowered me if he had wanted to. What frightened me was the thought that if he persisted, and especially if he persisted in touching me, I would give in to him. âCome on, letâs go back if you canât exercise temperance.â
âBut you are a poor little Christian virgin, not somebody holding out for agape,â he said, not moving.
I was furious. âHow could you possibly know?â I asked.
He laughed, silhouetted against a sky of violet and rose. âOh sit down. I canât talk to you when youâre hovering over me like that. Iâll concede that I could be wrong. But I doubt it.â
âNobody will ever say yes to you if
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