Читать книгу The Journey: How an obscure Byzantine Saint became our Santa Claus - David Price Williams - Страница 38

harbour, next to the great theatre, and my father spent many an hour there talking over the neighbourhood’s business, everything from town drains to state expenditure. I’m not sure how much he contributed to the more lively debates, but he was very active when it came to port tariffs or import taxes. He drew up long lists of these that the harbour authorities used when trading ships came in from other countries.

I had been drawn into the incense trade since I’d come of age. I remember when I had reached twenty-one, my father had said to me, “You know, Nicholas, you’re already in your twenties. It’s time you were thinking of a job, something where you can earn your daily bread for a change. You’re grown up now and should be preparing for the world. How would you like to join me in the incense trade?”

I said at the time that I wasn’t really sure but did he think I would be any good at it? I had become quite bookish of late and enjoyed my studies of the Greek and Latin classics. But it wasn’t an enquiry. It was more by way of a demand.

“Yes,” he had continued, “you should take yourself off to our warehouse by the harbour and see old Eurymachus there, our storeman. He’ll show you the ropes and tell you what’s what. You know most of it already; you’ve been there often enough over the years. I told him the other day to expect you. You could start tomorrow.”

THE JOURNEY