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THE SPARTAN TWINS
By Lucy Fitch Perkins
1918
CONTENTS
LIST OF CHARACTERS I. COMPANY AT THE FARM II. THE STRANGER'S STORYIII. THE SHEPHERDS IV. SOWING AND REAPING V. THE TWINS GO TO ATHENS VI. THE FESTIVAL OF ATHENAVII. HOME AGAIN
THE SPARTAN TWINS
The Characters in this Story are:—
MELAS, a Spartan living on the Island of Salamis, just off the coast of
Greece. He is Overseer on the Farm of Pericles, Archon of Athens.
LYDIA, Wife of Melas, and Mother of Dion and Daphne.
DION and DAPHNE, Twin Son and Daughter of Melas and Lydia.
CHLOE, a young slave girl, belonging to Melas and Lydia. She had beenabandoned by her parents when she was a baby, and left by the roadside todie of neglect or be picked up by some passer-by. She was found by Lydiaand brought up in her household as a slave.
ANAXAGORAS, "the Stranger," a Philosopher,—friend of Pericles.
PERICLES, Chief Archon of Athens.
LAMPON, a Priest.
A Priest of the Erechtheum.
DROMAS, LYCIAS, and Others, Slaves on the Farm of Pericles.
Time: About the middle of the Fifth Century B.C.
[Illustration: Plan of home of the Spartan Twins]
I
COMPANY AT THE FARM
One lovely spring morning long years ago in Hellas, Lydia, wife ofMelas the Spartan, sat upon a stool in the court of her house, with herwool-basket beside her, spinning. She was a tall, strong-looking youngwoman with golden hair and blue eyes, and as she twirled her distaff andtwisted the white wool between her fingers she sang a little song toherself that sounded like the humming of bees in a garden.
The little court of the house where she sat was open to the sky, and theafternoon sun came pouring over the wall which surrounded it, and made abrilliant patch of light upon the earthen floor. The little stones whichwere embedded in the earth to form a sort of pavement glistened in thesun and seemed to play at hide and seek with the moving shadow of Lydia'sdistaff as she spun. On the thatch which covered the arcade aroundthree sides of the court pigeons crooned and preened their feathers, andfrom a room in the second story of the house, which opened upon a littlegallery enclosing the fourth side of the court, came the clack clack ofa loom.
As she spun, the shadow of Lydia's distaff grew longer and longer acrossthe floor until at last the sunlight disappeared behind the wall, leavingthe whole court in gray shadow.
Under the gallery a large room opened into the court. The embers of afire glowed dully upon a stone hearth in the center of this room, andbeyond, through an open door, fowls could be seen wandering about thefarm-yard. Suddenly the quiet of the late afternoon was broken by amedley of sounds. There were the bleating of sheep, and the tinkle oftheir bells, the lowing of cattle and the barking of a dog, the softpatter of bare feet and the voices of children.
Then there was a sudden squawking among the hens in the farm-yard,and throug