The war between brothers
I don´t know how long I was unconscious, lying on a strawmat in the hut of the good soul who had safed my life, had transported me back to his lodgings and was now looking after me. He awakened me twice a day and twice a night, helped me to get my underbody up, held me up with one hand fixing me with both hands behind me back and flooding some well meant. Then he opened my mouth with his hands and poured the warm spicy broth between my teeth.
In the first nights I often waked up out of a nightmare crying, sweating and shivering all over the body. Often, as I remember, I was in the dark cavern again, kneeling before the worst of all my tormentors, not seeing him because I was turning my ass towards him and my ankles hurt being set upon a bench and I felt how his his hand penetrated me, and in front of me another tormentor hold up my head and said: “Do you want him to continue. What else do you have to tell us.” As I had nothing else to say, the hand slipped into me and all my inner parts suffered and I stuck on my tongue not to cry out loud. Then the tormentor sighed, said matter-of-factly: “He doesn't want to, we will have to use the hot candle.” And the other one pulled his hand out of my ass went to a table, lighted a torch and I felt its heat as he went towards me, wiped the hot scorching flame und me over my belly and said, I'll have to stick this burning torch into his hole, by Zeus, he won't say anything. I felt the heat between my sighs, felt how the flame burnt my lips and felt the sour smelling hand of me other tormentor who spreaded my lips so that I could not cry. I nearly choked and it burnt terribly on my ass, but then I awoke. As I said shivering, sweating, crying. An he always woke up, came to my bed, took me up. Stroked my skin on the shoulders and the back till I was quiet again. Never did he touch me on my sexual parts and I was glad because I would not have withstood it. But I fell gradually in love with him He was nice and beautiful. Firs I gave him a kiss but was too weak to do more, trying to get up I even fell while I stepped forward to kiss him. He took me up again, carried me my bedstead again, I fell down on the bed. I shuddered. I felt cold and so weak. I had not even managed to reach his mouth with my tongue. What had they done with me. Now, that I was in a quiet place again, I felt every blow, every sexual harassment they had done to me again, I couldn't even think to touch anybody again. My savior was so nice, he felt my aversions, he never touched me on any other point also I certainly behaved like somebody who would do it. I am not sure he liked me, but I did love him. God in heaven. How did I regret not having told it to him, in all the years which have passed since. If I think what he endured later because he had saved me. But it remained at this small, furtive trying to give him a kiss.
I lived on, healed from my physical pains and from my psychological shock and did not realize what happened around me in the country while l was still in a torpor.
Finally some wanderer, a eremite who was living penitence for the sins which had incited that Zeus had let all our country be devastated. The sins of our forebear, in fact my grand, grand father of whom it was said that he had cooked his own son and presented him as dish to the Gods Apollo and Zeus to show them that he were freer on moral issues, had not to follow these ridiculous rules that the new Spring God in attendance could no longer be sacrificed and eaten up had not to be kept by him be in there were now being inflicted upon us. Everything had worsened to the worst situation. My father thought that I was dead and had no real incitation to warrior on. He had lost a lot of the territory and was now being kept entangled, between to two rival armies, together with the remaining faithful followers on top of the highest Plateau in the Middle of the Peloponnesus in a part of the infertile eastern mountains of the centered part of the country. Nearly all the territory was occupied by the military associates of my uncle. There was a rumor going about that my father had not much force, arms and provision to to subsist for long. But he fought fiercely and withhold to their grip. Accordingly to the eremite he even was presumed to win the internal war and the holy men was so zealous he made himself on the way to join forces with the regular army of my father. But then suddenly a whole band of barbarians from the north invaded the territory. They had heard that our country thrived and that know with the internal war it would not be difficult to plunder the land. My father's army was in their way and was being pressed from behind by my uncle's army and was completely annihilated by the barbarians. Only a few remained and had now no possibility to fight against the rebels of the priests and my uncle. They were scattered around the country hiding while the barbarians had put up their quarter in the south on the shores of Lakedaemonia. Now I was by full strength again, I knew were my real place was. My helper tried to dissuade me, and finally we parted because he did not want to leave his homeland. I was now nearly in full sanity again. I had to get up, and rejoin my fathers headquarters to assure me that I was all well again and that his chief inducement to fight for our reasons was again here and usable.
Lots of water had gone down the nilus, our main stream, since I had been taken prisoner by me fathers main enemies. My father had had nobody else to confide in and sought he was now being alone. Long ago he had decreed the Tyrannei. With his small army he centered on taking up some quarrels with his enemies Long ago he had taken all the reins to the country in his own hands and had tolerated no longer different opinions between the aristocracy and the clergy of our country. The whole country was a battlefield, the peasants poor again, everywhere there were battles going on. Finally the union between the priests and my uncle tore apart. My uncle was the officially accepted King by our neighbours. Everything had gotten bad. Four different factions were now battling on the grounds of my motherland.
So I went along again, took up the help of my savior and he brought me on different paths wounding their ways down to the center highlands of the country, the Arcadia. The roads were unsure, I traveled by night I hid me during the daytime. I had put on the clothes of the beggars. But I was still not in full form, I was very slow and lost my way and landed in Lakedaemonia. I realized I was there when I heard loud cries in a completely ununderstandable language. One night I literally walked into their camp were to were waiting for better weather to get to the sea again. In fact I was running away from a lion who thought I would be a nice prey, I took refuge in this camp and was taken prisoner at once. When they realized I was native and not of their blood, they tied at a stick and I would have been burnt alive, hadn't the son of the chief taken a liking in me. He took me to his tent and made me the court as it seem that these barbarian folks didn't bother whether there were to men or a man and a woman who loved themselves. I took to him, it being my last chance for survival. And soon he began to realize that I was of a noble cast of the primitive land. I was summoned to their chief, his father. I don't quite know why, but I got befriended with him and as he had lost one of his sons who resembled me in look in a squirmish he adopted me. He had heard of rich lands in the south, of Egypt and I knew a lot about sailing and about finding out with the help of the position of the stars were we would be in the mitts of an ocean. We made an alliance and I promised to look for the remaining, scattered soldiers of my father which I had not seen on my whole way down from the north rim of the Peloponnesus down to Lakedaemonia. His son with which I was now a good friend went with me. We found my father who resided with a small bunch of faithful soldiers.
We had found each other again, kissed each other, and my father who had thought I was dead we very happy. We feasted again. My father was an old man now, had lost his spirits but gained his high moods again. But what was now to be hoped for again if we remained in this country. Everywhere our strengths had fallen away. I and my fathers friend, this Phaidos, had lots of good councels. He thought to left behind these lost countries to attach ourselves to the troops joining the people of the seas to emigrate to Egypte and to leave these arid shores to our enemies. In the south, in the south of Egypt there was plenty of fertile land, and there was Egypt to be conquered.