Don't be an idiot (a story about a boy and a cat crossing paths in Classical Athens)

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Lying on the ground, in the mud

Grass between my fingers

Heart beating pain

No courage to pull out the blade.

Contemplating my destiny patiently

The caring touch of rain on the earth

What an ancient and sacred ground

Eons and eons, layer over layer

Different colors of soil, different textures

Iron, bone, and void

Roots spreading beneath, into another world.

To the mystical powers of Gaia, the giantess, and her children

To Hecate, the goddess sorceress

The earthly Hermes, who accompanies the souls to the Underworld

I'll drink to my future king and queen, Hades and Persephone.

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Who's there?

Or where.

A crossroad in the woods

A thick blanket of salty mist hovers everywhere like a disease.

Wild dogs' barks break the eerie silence.

What kind of dark nymphs lurk on travelers,

What kind of sick illusion the children of the Night will play now?

A torch! Shh... Someone's approaching from a distance, let their purpose appear.

Who's there?

It's not one torch but three, held by three figures, female forms walking side by side.

Oh, the great protector of crossroads and travelers!

Bowing, I see closely the rocky path and decide to go forward

I hear the sound of water, and instantly, deep inside I know what I must do, I should meet the boatman.

Ahead there's a man holding a walking stick leading the group.

All walking, with a still sense of time until we finally got there, at the edge. 

More people await their ride.

But no one's making conversation.

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Traveling through my memories, an odd sense, time confused. I let myself go, and I stop resisting.

There I am, as a teenage boy, accompanying my father to the Agora. We come from Erchia, and we are from the clan of Aigeis, one of the famous ten clans of Athens. Going to the Agora always was of great joy to my father despite the travel time, we would go there once in a while to find it busy, crowded, and lively. Men are casually walking, greeting, gathering, and shouting. There are some other people running errands in a rush. He used to say that it was the place to be, meet, and socialize to get information on what is going on, and seemed to value it rather highly.

“Son, one day you will be a citizen, you must learn to be responsible and care about public matters”

"But, why?"

"It's our city, only an idiot cares for himself alone. If something happens to our city, would it not affect the people living in it, our family included?"

I nodded, and he touched his gray beard with a serious look, which years later finally understood, was a concern about the future.

I was curious about his expression for a moment, and then my attention diverted to the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, it was a cat with fur like red ceramics, pale paws, and light green eyes. I followed the creature up the hill to his hideout, a small corner outside the yard of the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis hill.

Where had he come from? Perhaps he had run away from a ship at the Piraeus harbor and followed the flow of people and smells of food, finding the way to the city. Or perhaps, started some farm up from Thebes, smuggled himself in a merchant's carriage, and made his way in the Long Walls, which was another stop of his adventurous travels. I was fascinated by what its story could be, such a mystery. 

I kept going to Agora with my father and finding chances to feed the cat and play near the hill, which was like our observatory, and starting point for exploring different streets and corners of the city. I had a stick from an olive tree and he seemed so fond of chasing the yet-green olives. One day, I was thinking about what would be an appropriate name for him, and finally, I found the one: Planet. It means "he, who wanders", which seemed perfect. I was overjoyed, and since that day, Planet and I had become best friends. 

He was yet a kitten when I first found him, but as I was growing up, he was growing as well. He became an adult cat. Soon, I was of age to vote at the city gatherings.

Things had changed a lot. My father was weak and sick, and I was considered the man of the house, responsible for participating in the city gatherings, managing our property and resources, and taking care of my elderly mother and my two younger sisters. 

As if these were not enough, a war was going on, and I had to carry out my military duty as a citizen. Bad timing, but who knows what Fates have in store in any case. I was not good at fighting, I knew as a youngster when I tried my hand at sports. Again and again, it was proven it was not my gift, and I was fine with it. I just liked to watch theater performances of great stories, listen to philosophers rant with no end about what is a virtuous way to live, and spend my time carefree on sunny days laying under the shadow of a fig tree. Was that too much to ask? I am an Athenian, I am not a Spartan warrior, neither had I ever wanted to meet one for that matter. They didn't appreciate the arts and were incredibly rude and direct, or so I heard.

I wanted to go back to my carefree times, as those thoughts were crossing my mind with Planet by my side. He was the symbol of my most innocent times. He seemed tense as if he was feeling the god of war himself approaching our beloved city. It was in the air, the screams, the smoke, the smell of blood.

I wished to get away from it all. But I had responsibilities to my family and duty to my city. I petted Planet and decided to walk with him a round of the city before I head to battle. It is like he felt that I was not coming back, I did not want to think about it though. I felt like an imposter, with the armor hanging on my body, such an unfamiliar feeling, pulling me closer to mother earth.

"Alright, off you go!", I showed him a way out of the city, but he was just sitting there, staring at me.

"Go on, then! Go, save yourself, my dear friend, you are the only one who is free to go, do it for the both of us"

As if Planet really listened, he nodded with his eyes wide open, and escaped through the opening, moving with grace and elegance. As I admired him for the last time, I held my weapons next to me and headed to the designated meeting place I was supposed to present myself. To escape the moment, I kept daydreaming about the next travels and adventures of my friend, who would be running away, going towards the countryside.

According to the stories I heard when I was growing up, the oracle said, "The wooden walls will be your redemption". That divination was perhaps three generations ago. What was that even supposed to mean? Well, to many it meant the obvious, to stay in the fortress-like protection of the Acropolis. Others thought it was suicide, as our resources would run out and we would turn against each other. They preferred going to the ships, our fleet being strong and skilled. This is how we won the sea battle at Salamis against Xerxes and the Persian navy. But now, against the Spartans, would it work again? Which wooden walls this time?

It didn't matter much, as we were being defeated at all fronts, and slaughtered by the opposing side.

They told us, "Don't be an idiot, let's fight, and we shall win, we are worthy of winning", politicians and generals seemed sure. Alcibiades was not to be trusted from start, and many like him made plenty of promises.

In this war, I didn't see any winners, only weary souls, mourning mothers, sick, and dead bodies.

"Don't be an idiot, glory awaits", Aries whispered to the ears of the soldiers with a greedy grin. Then, there was only blood.

Maybe the only redemption for this costly foolishness of mortal men will be in the wooden walls of graves, I discovered as I was arriving at the crowded gates of the Underworld.

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