holds a tattered manuscript.

Mytilene, Lesbos

S

uddenly, he stood in front of me, in my library, dressed in black, beard soiled, deep wrinkles underneath his eyes.

“Alcaeus, I didn’t hear you and Thasos.”

“Exekias let us in. Are you working?”

“No...sit down.”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

He leaned on Thasos: I felt that he hadn’t been sober very long; he leaned forward, almost stumbling.