{"id":996,"date":"2019-12-28T01:57:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-28T01:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/curiosi\/?p=996"},"modified":"2020-02-01T15:52:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T15:52:41","slug":"allen-seaby-leon-of-massalia-chapter-15-a-holiday-from-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/curiosi\/allen-seaby-leon-of-massalia-chapter-15-a-holiday-from-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Allen Seaby, Leon of Massalia, Chapter 15: A Holiday from Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026 A sacred dell,
\nShut in with olive, vine and laurel,
\nWhere throbs the nightingale.
\nSophokles, Oedipus at Kolonos<\/em> 16-18<\/p>\n

One morning Leon was leaning against a pillar in the courtyard watching the swallows feed their young in the nests under the roof. Thalia appeared with a garland of roses and held up the flowers to Leon, inviting him to smell them. \u201cIt is Aphrodite\u2019s day,\u201d she said, \u201cand I am going to lay a votive offering before her altar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh!\u201d remarked Leon, \u201cI should like to see that statue again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d returned Thalia, \u201cyou can come now. It will mean I shall not need to have our slave Erinna take me. She never allows me to do anything fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon nodded and she ran off with glee to the women\u2019s quarter, returning almost immediately with her roses and a basket of fruit. \u201cThis,\u201d she said, holding up the basket, \u201cisn\u2019t an offering. Mother says I need not hurry back and she thought we might be hungry. Ready Leon?\u201d<\/p>\n

They walked through the Agora, passed under the Akropolis, made for the unfinished temple of Zeus and, going through a gateway in the wall, found themselves in a park-like garden. In a retired corner, shaded by acacias was the shrine of Aphrodite. Within it was Alkamenes\u2019 statue of her, one of the most beautiful in Athens, people said. She was represented with her hand to her hair, inserting a flower in her hair-band. The dainty movement of the wrists was much admired.<\/p>\n

Thalia laid her garland on the steps of the shrine and the two knelt for a moment.<\/p>\n

As Leon rose, the statue\u2019s face caught his eye and he was suddenly reminded of Eugenia\u2019s face, of her soft features and ringleted hair. The vision faded immediately, but as Leon stood there he knew now that her image had dwelt at the back of his mind ever since their parting.<\/p>\n

He felt a gentle tug at his tunic and, returning to the present, asked Thalia what she wanted to do next.<\/p>\n

\u201cShall we sit on that bank,\u201d suggested the child, \u201cand eat some fruit?\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon agreed and they took their seats under the almond trees, still robed in rosy pink blossom.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen to the cicadas,\u201d said Thalia, \u201cthis is the first time I have heard them this season. The warm weather has brought them out. How nice to be in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t got very far into the country,\u201d returned Leon. \u201cBut let\u2019s play a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d agreed Thalia ecstatically. \u201cWhat game?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll each count the animals and birds we notice, and the one who sees the most wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFlowers as well,\u201d interjected Thalia, as she held up a poppy she had picked. \u201cOne\u201d, she counted. \u201cTwo\u201d, she added, pointing to a tree, \u201cthere\u2019s a cicada\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will certainly win at this rate,\u201d laughed Leon. \u201cAh! queen wasp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know it\u2019s a queen?\u201d asked Thalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the worker wasps aren\u2019t born yet. Two to me,\u201d pointing up to a nightingale which was singing in the tree. They could hear another answering in a nearby grove. \u201cLook, there\u2019s the first one\u2019s mate on the ground. She\u2019s got a leaf in her bill for building a nest. Keep still. She may come close. You can see the rusty red of her tail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bird came near and to the child\u2019s delight hopped right over her foot and then disappeared in the thicket.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that tapping?\u201d Leon said, \u201cThat\u2019s a woodpecker. Can you see him running up the tree like a mouse? Three to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thalia rose. \u201cIf we sit here, you\u2019ll keep finding birds, and I shall lose. Let\u2019s go to the little stream.\u201d<\/p>\n

They reached the brink and a loud rapid \u201cKoax! Koax! Koax! arose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that sound?\u201d exclaimed Leon, looking round.<\/p>\n

Thalia laughed. \u201cYou are<\/em> funny. Don\u2019t you know frogs when you hear them? they\u2019re mine. Three to me. We\u2019re equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrogs!\u201d Leon stood in surprise for a moment, then burst out laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see anything to laugh at,\u201d said Thalia, \u201calthough frogs certainly make an odd noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it makes sense,\u201d returned Leon. \u201cYour great poet, Aristophanes, wrote a comedy called the \u201cFrogs\u201d, and I could never understand, when I read it at home, how he could make a chorus out of frogs. The frogs in the west don\u2019t make nearly as much noise as yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAristophanes!\u201d said Thalia. \u201cI know him, for he often passes our house. He likes to stroll in the Agora and watch what\u2019s going on. Our game can wait a little while I paddle in the stream.\u201d<\/p>\n

She removed her sandals. \u201cOuch! These stones hurt. But how nice and cool the water is. Look at the little fishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon reclined while Thalia wriggled her feet until they were hidden in sand and shingle. Then she moved along the bank. There was a flash of blue. \u201cWhat was that?\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cIt came out of this hole in the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA kingfisher. You can have it, as you saw it first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thalia sat on the bank alongside Leon, wriggling her toes in the sunshine, then replaced her sandals and the two moved on.<\/p>\n

Leon stopped before a little fir tree and pointed to a branch, its needles missing and covered with a cobweb-like sheath. \u201cInside that silken purse are some little caterpillars. A moth laid the eggs from which these creatures came. At home we call it the pine-branch moth. I will show you something very curious about these caterpillars.\u201d He opened the cobwebby bag and took out several of the squirming creatures. Then, looking round, he found a wide-mouthed jar, its foot broken off. With Thalia\u2019s help, he stuck it upright in the turf. He placed the caterpillars on the rim so that all faced in the same direction. \u201cWatch\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The first caterpillar began to move and the others followed. Presently they reached the point from which they had started their journey, but, unheeding, went on and in a while had again encircled the rim.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow funny!\u201d exclaimed Thalia, \u201cSurely they won\u2019t be silly enough to go round a third time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But they did and Leon said they would traverse the same track for days until they dropped off.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go and pick some flowers,\u201d he said, \u201cand return later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before them the ground was golden with the asphodel, as it would be round the graves on the other side of the city, but Thalia knew better than to pick the \u201cflower of death\u201d. She soon tired of gathering flowers so they turned back to the pot. However, as they approached the urn, they saw two small birds busy on it. They flew away with the grubs in their beaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoor caterpillars\u201d, said Thalia.<\/p>\n

Later, they stopped to watch a hoopoe on a stone, its blotched crest ever opening and closing. They both saw the bird at the same time so it could not be added to either\u2019s count, and Thalia said it didn\u2019t matter as she had forgotten how many hers came to. They laughed at the bird\u2019s cry, \u201cop, op, op, op; op, op, op, oi\u201d, and Leon said that Aristophanes had described the sound just like that in the \u201cBirds\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard about that play,\u201d said Thalia, \u201cfrom my uncle who was there. He said the chorus were dressed like birds with their arms made up like wings. It must have looked very funny. Now it must be time to go back to the inn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

To read chapter sixteen click on this picture.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026 A sacred dell, Shut in with olive, vine and laurel, Where throbs the nightingale. 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