was decorated with lamps, garlands of flowers hung on the walls, and the servants sang songs, everyone was joyful, and food and gifts were given to them, the young husband opened the door, and let his wife go, she laughed and stepped on the carpet in front of the bed. He helped the beauty to undress, got ready for bed himself, and they tried not to be disappointed in the plans of the archon Androtim to get grandchildren. So a few months passed, Kallifen served in the temple of Lato, home souls in her did not like, but soon it was necessary to go on a journey. One day, a week before sailing, Kallifen approached Nearh,
“My husband, I have become unmarried,” she said with a blush on her cheeks,
The young man hugged her and kissed her
“Very good, and I am guilty before you, I will soon leave you,” he said bitterly
– There is no one’s fault, fate, the will of the gods, and I am glad that I met you. Ordinary men are afraid of priestesses, and they could not marry me, she said, shaking her head, “We are happy, what more could you want?” She spread her arms and hugged him and kissed him tightly.
– We have to tell the father and mother,
– Yes, and my parents too, – my wife agreed. – Let’s go, breakfast time.
They came, everyone had already gathered for a meal, and Kallifena said this news to Androtim in his ear, he brightened and exclaimed, raising his hands: “Glory to the gods!” Gorgo asked: “What is the matter?”.
“Then, then,” the archon replied, “Lato didn’t leave us, takes something, but also rewards.”
A week passed in gathering, Nearh turned out to be an impressive pack of good, and he accompanied his father’s goods to Macedonia-oil, saffron, Egyptian flax, and the ship was his father, he had a monthly voyage on the sea, from island to island, right up to Amphipolis. captured by Philip Port on the Strymon River. The ship was well equipped, it was a merchant ship, sailing, and stood in Lato’s harbor. When Nearch and Kallifena were boating on the island of Voulismeni, named after Ulla defender, they saw this vessel. Wife, priestess, but she was a true Cretan girl, and she loved the sea and the ships, and when it was possible, before the pregnancy, she and the young men loved to swim in the sea, then she seemed to Almostarchus almost nude, beautiful, with flowing long curly hair.
So the sad day of farewell came, the Lord’s luggage was carried away by the servants to the ship, and one of them went with him to Macedonia, because it is inappropriate for a noble person to travel alone. All the family accompanied him to the ship, Androtim and Gorgo walked in front, and behind them walked hand under the arm of Kallifen with Nearh, who from time to time looked into his eyes, as if trying to remember better. They walked along a street paved with hewn stone, until the heat descended on the proud, the sun had just risen over the endless sea, and its golden rays illuminated the endless expanses of the kingdom of Poseidon.
“Well, goodbye, son,” said Androtim, hugging him, the goddess chose you, and you have to do what is necessary,
“Come back soon,” Gorgo told her son, crying and swallowing tears, not trying to hide them, just wiping them with a handkerchief, “We will take care of the child,” she repeated, hugging him, and kissing him good-bye.
– Mother, let go of your son, smiling father remarked, -Let him and his wife say goodbye, he does not forever swim away.
“Good luck, I know you will not die there, come back to me soon,” Kallifen told him, also wiping her tears,
“Don’t cry,” Nearhs whispered in her ear, “Everything will be fine, and in a year you will take you to Amphipolis,
She threw red eyes at him, and smiled a little:
“Then, okay, but after a year I won’t be able to, and I stroked my stomach,” it is better in two.
– Here, and agreed, said the delighted young man that his wife stopped crying.
Nearh rose along the gangway on the ship, the servant was already on board, the sinks untied the ropes, and the boat prepared to drag the ship to the raid. The young man saw his father waving his hand, and he wanted something good, and his mother and wife waved their handkerchiefs, in memory about Athena-Elicia, covered with its cover of the Hellenes, as a sign of its protection, and the wilted sea. His ship, “Horse of the Sea”, went to the raid and dismissed the sail, the wind was fair, and drove the ship driven by an experienced pilot, to the north, to the new, unexplored distance, leaving the beloved city astern. The voyage took place in good weather, but Nearh did not immediately get used to the shuttering, at first it was swaying well when the ship dived down, and then climbed the wave upwards, the sailors improperly joked at it, an inexperienced navigator. Soon the helper took him into training, and continued the instructions of Androtim, taught how to keep the ship in different directions of the waves, so that the sea would not hit the side of the ship, how to navigate the ship through the stars at night. Here the young man was simpler, the constellations, their names, his wife forced him to learn when he was studying in the Cave of Idea. The helmsman, he is the captain, bore a name very suitable to him – Navkratios, it was a strong, forty year old man with a small beard, which he wore, just not to shave. The servant of the Nearhs bore a good swim, and he and the sailors were addicted to catching tuna, in which he showed himself to be a master, prepared the bait, and deftly hooked the fish on the hook with a net. The fish was cooked when the ship pestered into the small coves of the Cycladic islands, past which they walked. At sea, there were other ships that went past them, some to Athens, some to Eritrea, and some to Megaras or Byzantines. Soon Skyros appeared, where there is also Mount Olympus, this is the place where the legendary Achilles was hiding and where she found the death of the hero Theseus, and from this island to Euboea stages, some of the initiated believed that this was the island of Scherias, the island of Blessed. Half of the way was covered, and now Navcratios was heading along the coast of Euboea, just in those places where the fleet of Xerxes was plowing the waters of the Aegean Sea. Sometimes the helmsman called Nearh to the helm, he would have breathed, and the young man happily took control of the ship, he liked how every movement of the ship was given, the waves pushed against the side, the rolls from waves to waves, and the salt spray that sometimes but ve was equally sad about mother and father, and about Kallifen, whom he left shortly after the wedding. Day went by, and they went around the coast of Euboea, passed by Halkidiki, and approached the mouth of Strymon. The river was divided into many branches, and an experienced pilot, who boarded the “Horse of the Sea”, skillfully chose the right channel, which led them to the city. The water of the river was very clean, although it was overgrown with a cane, and the current was weak, so it was not hard for sailors to climb up the river bed at oars. The crew of the ship saw the already famous Golden Mountains of Pangeon, which gave fabulous wealth to the Macedonian king Philip. Twenty stages separated them from Amphipolis, and the ship overcame them in an hour. They arrived safely, so Nearh watched the unloading of goods into Androtim’s proxenos warehouses, the sailors worked efficiently, used tackles in the work, hooking nets with the goods, and dropping the harbor to the ground, so the proxenos servants didn’t have to grunt, and the documents were drawn up, and the transaction was completed, and a part of the money remained with the young man, and part of the income of Navcratius had to bring a Cretan father, and in Sast they bought goods in Amphipolis, it was shert, skin, the famous Macedonian honey. In the meantime, Nearh wrote two letters to his father and wife.
“Callifene from Nearch hi.
Beloved wife, I got to Amphipolis well, on the way I saw a lot of interesting things, delivered the goods, and bought what was ordered for my father. You, as a Cretan girl, you know, the magic of the sea. Sorry you are not with me, and it would be even better. Narch.”
“Androtyma from Nearchus. Father, reached Amphipolis in good order, nito did not die, the ship was intact, the goods were handed over to the proxen at an agreed price, and took the goods from him according to the list and agreed price, and send twenty minutes of silver with