“Certainly: ‘she will bear a son who is stronger than his father.’ But who it will be, and when he will be born, he does not say. Now I believe that Zeus already lies in extremis.”
Again the warning voice of Pericles was heard. “The gods of the State! Hush, friends! Cleon is listening!”
“I, on the other hand,” broke in Alcibiades, “believe that Athens is near her end. While we have been celebrating the victory of Salamis, the Spartans have risen and devastated the north. Megaris, Locris, Boeotia, and Phocis are already on her side.”
“What you say is well known,” answered Pericles deprecatingly, “but at present there is a truce, and we have three hundred ships at sea. Do you think, Socrates, that there is danger?”
“I cannot mix in the affairs of State; but if Athens is in danger, I will take up shield and lance as before.”
“When you saved my life at Potidaea,” added Alcibiades.
“No, the danger is not there,” interrupted Euripides—“not in Sparta, but here at home. The demagogues have stirred up the marsh, and therefore we have the pestilence in the Agora, and the pestilence in the Piraeus.”
“That in Piraeus is the worse of the two,” said Protagoras; “don’t you think so, Alcibiades?”
“Yes, for there are my best girls. My flute-players, who are to perform at supper this evening, live by the harbour. But, by Hercules, no one here fears death, I suppose?”
“No one fears, and no one wishes it,” answered Socrates; “but if you have other girls, that would increase our pleasure.”