Читать книгу Son of the Star, born of the Mountain Alexander the Great - Сергей Соловьев - Страница 6

– Greetings, guests! I am glad to see you here, and you probably even more than me, but I came to meet Nearch, a Cretan appointed to me in retinue! I hope he is alive and I was on time! – loudly and distinctly, as before the formation of troops the prince said. Meanwhile, the horsemen of his retinue, scattering like a fan and combing the neighborhood.

– I’m here! – exclaimed Nearh, removing the bow in the fire and throwing it with the quiver behind his back, came forward, Alexander seeing him immediately dismounted, and the tall and handsome young man, as it became known later, Gefestion, sitting astride, took his horse by the bridle.

– Hello, Nearh, I-Alexander (then his name was a childish name, but it was forgotten), the son of Philip, Argead. Are you from Crete?

Yes, from Crete, I am the son of Archon Androtima from the city of Lato, arrived in your retinue in pursuance of the will of the gods.

“Yes, all Cretan sorcerers,” he said, smiling, and slightly tilting his head to the left. He walked leisurely to the boulder, inspecting the dead and wounded Thracians lying in the grass. He was followed by ten people on horseback.

– Huckers! Servants here, bandage the wounded! “And he leaned toward one, a red-haired freckled Thracian, who held his thigh pierced through with a Cretan arrow.

– You are a great archer, Nearh, but what kind of a doctor are you? Come here, let’s tie up the guy, – he called the new officer, he looked doubtfully at Hephaestion, he just shrugged his shoulders, it could be seen that he was familiar to him.

– Go, come here Nearh, I do not finish captives, bring a clean cloth and take the vinegar.

Nearh took the required things in the wagon and walked over to the prisoner already seated on the grass, the prince already cut his trouser leg with a knife, and taking a flask of vinegar, soaked the cloth in it, wiped the injured place, saw that it wasn’t offended, the sides of the thigh slightly pulled the arrow

– Do you have Scythian tips? Lobed? Hope without unnecessary thorns? he asked, and the Cretan man only nodded in response, supporting the wounded man’s leg.

“Hold tight,” and said something to the prisoner in Thracian, which tightly squeezed his jaws, and the prince cautiously, but quickly pulled on the wound canal, the wounded man gasped, and leaned on Nearchus, but he deftly picked up thick tissue on the wounds, and became firmly and skillfully bandaged, so that the blood quickly ceased to flow.

“He is yours,” the prince nodded to his new Ethera, “It’s good that I didn’t want to finish him off, I don’t like it.” Then he will swear to you, and you will have a great squire. Look at the rest, can anyone help! – He shouted, – and the servants of the merchants rushed to perform.

“King, take the Thracians yourself, you saved us, they are yours,” said Levkon and Melon,

– I will take your carriage to the fortress, then it will return to you until the evening. And bury the dead Thracians – he ordered,

Servants and workers carried out the order, pulling off the dead, and removing from them the values they no longer needed, as well as weapons that were expensive, and it was expensive any. Levkon and Melon said goodbye to Nearh, and together with his servant he joined the retinue of the prince.

A retinue with Alexander and Nearh set off, and behind her was a cart with five Thracians, bandaged and bound, and behind the cart were two Horse Macedonians to guard. After a couple of hours, we reached the watchtower, where the prince took the cart from the garrison, and sent the cart back to the merchants.

– Where do we go? – asked a Cretan citizen of the high prince’s companion,

“In Miez, to school to Aristotle,” the Sweets answered,

“My name is Nearh,” he appeared again, trying to be polite.

– Hefaestion, I also belong to Alexander’s retinue, added a tall young man, – Not far from the city, he decided to meet you, the king warned that he had agreed with your father that he would send you in, … and for better relations. Well, everything turned out very well. Seen how Alexander learned medicine? It is Aristotle who instructs us so well, and you will study, philosophy, mathematics, music, astronomy, many came to the prince just to take lessons from him, because our teacher is from Asklepiades, hereditary healer.

“Excellent,” he added, but he thought to himself – can it compare with Cretan coriants?

“You are married,” Hephaestion asked, inspecting the marks on his tunic, “The only son of his father.” Then you can bring her here, not to Miez, in Macedonia, Amphipolis. Two years later. Are you really a sorcerer? “With these words, the giant’s eyes became round,” all the sorcerers in Crete, he added in the affirmative.

“No, just an initiate,” Nearh decided to partly reveal himself, so that he would not be caught in a lie.

So, on the road, and a few days passed until we got to Mieza. On the way, Alexander and Nearh, the regular doctors, examined the wounded, gave them drink and changed their dressings, and also tied up three lightly wounded Macedonians from the Tsarevich’s retinue, they were very skilled, so no one died on the way.

Miez appeared, a beautiful city, immersed in gardens, given by Philip to his son for learning, and learning. However, in possession too. When they arrived, everyone dismounted, and the approached pages took the horses to the stables, and Alexander led the Cretan to the rescued Thracian.

“That’s your man,” said the prince, pointing to the prisoner, “take his oath.”

The king said something to the mountaineer, he got up from the ground, where they were all disembarked from the wagon, looking into the Neararch face, smoking, heard the word “Nearh” in the young man’s speech, and he realized that he was represented to the prisoner.

“His name is Teres, so take a dagger, put it in his hands as a sign that you are taking service,” the Macedonian explained.

Teres bent his knee, spoke clearly in his native language, stretched out his hands to Noaru, palms up, and he put a dagger and belt in his hands, the Thracian bowed, hooked the weapon to his belt, and limped, stood behind the back of the court.

“Now he will fight with you in battle, like a squire, and you must feed and reward him,” the young prince laughed. “All is well, he will live with my team, they will look after him and teach him Hellenistic. And now let’s go to the bathhouse, and then for lunch and a lesson.

Bath, it was a large stone building, covered with tiles, inside of which, on the one hand, a shower room, Nearch did not see such on Crete, along the ceiling were bronze pipes for water, and two dozen watering cans, in the form of lotus leaves, from which water was poured onto washable, and on the floor of the lattice to drain the water, and the floor was, moreover, marble, with images of forests and the sea. All Alexander’s friends went to the bath-Hephaestion, Garpal, Eumenes, Ptolemy, Leonnat, Filota, Nearh, Erigy, Laomedon, all young men from natal families. The attendant turned on the water, and she poured on the washable, the Cretan man wiped the body for a long time with a sponge, and then, feeling clean, went into the dressing room where clean clothes lay, white-gray, of fine flax, put on shoes and waited on the bench for the others. Soon everyone came out, and after sitting for a while, they went to eat, the meal was very simple, and the curiosity was curious, ordinary flat cakes, cheese, honey, and diluted wine, so we ate everything quickly, went out, and headed to the school garden where Aristotle taught his lessons. And so, the unforgettable happened – Nearh saw the great Aristotle, it was a man of medium height, with a small beard, dressed in the clothes of a sage, described by Herodotus – a white linen chiton and the same cloak strengthened on his shoulder with a silver brooch. In the garden there was also a chair for a mentor and folding chairs for students, and small tables for writing.

– New student? – said the tutor inquiringly looking at Nearh,

– My name Nearh, son of Androtims, from the city of Lato, from Crete, answered a Cretan, – I am now in the retinue of the prince. “My name is Aristotle, son of Nicomach,” Aristotle answered in turn.

– Alexander, I heard you are making progress in the medicine business, successfully treating eight people. This is a great result.

Hearing these words of the mentor, the prince bloomed straight, his cheeks turned pink with pleasure.

“But,” added Aristotle in a different tone, “did you save five barbarians with your skill?” Thracians? – The philosopher’s face twisted in contempt

“First of all, people, teacher, and not so bad,” answered the prince with a grin,

“Barbarians,” Aristotle said.

“People,” Alexander approved in an icy tone.

Realizing that the case takes an undesirable turn, and he already knew that the prince is unstoppable in anger and terrible in a rage, the philosopher turned the lesson into the mainstream of learning. It must be said that Néarch did not study much in Crete – philosophy, mathematics. He knew astronomy better, and even twice Diokles went to look at the approaching tube with crystal lenses, it was clear that there were mountains on the Moon, and Mars had two satellites. Simpler glasses to spread on Crete are spread; jewelers make sophisticated items with composite lenses, well-known cameos, but the masters cherish the secrets of these items, and he saw how with the help of a lens Diokles and the priestess lit the sacred fire of Ilios. He told about the properties of flowers, how to recognize useful, how to make a healing infusion. But most of all he liked the lessons of philosophy, when they were walking around the garden, they tried to understand how to do the right thing.

Even mechanics came to Miez, and Alexander, who never saw pankatiatist fights, went to the masters. They were provided with a light house and several assistants, casters, servants fussed about in the house, sorting out the instrument, hanging out the schemes, and collecting a large table in the center of the house. The prince came in and greeted him politely with the adepts of Hephaestus, on the table, next to the papyrus and parchments, lay the assembled device, consisting of many gears, and Nearhs were interested in the mechanism, and next on the table lay something similar to a bow with a bar.

– And what’s that? – asked with a lively interest Argead.

“I called this mechanism a gastrafet,” remarked an elderly but slender mechanic with gray hair, dressed in a sulfur chiton and covered with a suede apron, in simple sandals, “For a more distant attack on the enemy and improved armor penetration,

Alexander took the device in his hand, tried to coax the mechanism with his hand, he didn’t come out, and gave it to the mechanic, he put his foot in the hook at the bottom of the mechanism and straightened his back and brought the food in the fighting position. He took a thick wooden arrow, put it in the chute of the device.

– Are there archers here? asked the master.

“I can use a bow,” said Nearh, stepping forward,

– How many boards does an arrow strike a bow? – he added.

– One, at a distance of half a stage, Cretanian replied.

– Take the mechanism into the hands of the young man, – and he gave the couch a gastraphist, he took it, as the mechanic showed, and the mechanic put the arrow in the chute again, showed that it was necessary to move the corner of the house where there were two boards, and on command he pressed the hook the descent, the impact of the arrow hitting the belly was impressive, but with a bang, the arrow broke through both boards through. Alexander came up to look, and other eters also began to consider the place of entry.

– Great, the masters you have surpassed yourself, I will write to my father about this, the money will be given to you. And the device with gears is also interesting, but what is it for?

“For different automata, and for clocks, you can measure the phases of the moon for priests.”

– And time to measure, hastily added another.

“The sun’s hands don’t fall on him, how can he measure time?” Said the prince.

“You can set up to measure equal intervals of time, due to the spring mechanism,” added the master, and as an improvement for water mills and machines for lifting water from mines.

– Very interesting, you are like Daedalus, a mechanic, these are interesting products, so Ptolemy, this is all better than a struggle to watch. You will be paid for all the devices, dear masters. The retinue left the house, the prince was in high spirits, and he was whispering about something with Hephaestion.

The best riders taught the young men how to stay in the saddle, how to rearrange themselves during the battle, to be controlled with a spear and a sword. Nearh Alexander liked Alexander’s horse, as he was obedient, as the Tsarevich tenderly courted Bucephalus. Once asked about Hephaestion

– And when Alexander bought Bukefal?

“Well, this is a whole story, get ready to listen,” he answered readily. and began his story, similar to the story of Bellerophonte: “Once a merchant came to King Philip, and offered a magic horse for twelve talents of silver…

– Twelve? – Noarch interrupted, – but one horse is not worth so much!

“Don’t interrupt!” Hephaestion frowned,

The king liked the horse, it was the best of horses, and he called for the best riders, but they were all thrown off by the wonder horse. Then the king got angry at the merchant, and said that the horse was bewitched, and no one could ride it. And no one wanted to go around because they were afraid. And only Alexander was not scared, he jumped on him, and drove him in a whirlwind, and flew around the marketplace like a whirlwind, and when he returned, the horse listened to Alexander, like a tame one.

Alexander got off the agitated horse, the people around him began to shine with smiles. King Philip, he was so pleased that he just broke into a smile for joy and pride for his son. And I stood nearby, did not take my eyes off a friend, and was so happy for him, as though he had tamed a brave stallion. And Philip approached the king’s heir.

“How can you call a horse, Alexander?” He asked his son.

“Boukefal” answered he, stroking the horse’s neck with one hand and holding the reins with the other. Alexander all shone with happiness too.”

Nearh carefully looked at Hephaestion, the king’s friend, and thought:

– The prediction came true… As always, not as you expect, but the bull Alexander tamed, he was born under the star, because the coat of arms of the Argeadas is a sacred star, born of a sacred mountain (Olympiad).. And you will not ask for advice, there is no one.. Only the priestess from Crete knows the prediction..

While Hephaestion was telling a true story, Alexander approached, and so that a friend did not see him, and with a sign he showed Nearhar not to say anything to a young speaker,

– So how many already? Twelve talents? – he said laughing, and slapped him on the shoulder, – No, much less Nearh, but the horse is true, a groovy Bukefal, it cannot be better, that’s for sure. You forgot to add, Hephaestion, that my father shed a tear, and added that Macedonia is too small for me.

“That’s exactly how it was,” Hephaestion agreed, laughing.

The Cretan looked at Alexander again, and with delight and pity, realizing what was coming him, he was standing against the sun, and it seemed to Nearhex that a crista flashed around him. Can not be. It’s not time yet…

War broke out with Byzantium, a city on the Bosphorus, and the command came from Philip Alexander to come to Pella and become governor in his absence. The retinue soon formed, and each gathered for a couple of hours with his servants and spare horses, and were ready to perform. Ahead was the path along the mountain roads of Macedonia to its capital, the road did not take much time, and soon they were in Pella, where people happily welcomed a sixteen-year-old prince. People liked that he didn’t look like Philip the sturdy, powerful bearded man, but rather resembled the images of Dionysus or Hermes, blond, light, smiling. At the trot, the detachment reached the palace of the Argead, it was a very peculiar building, with columns, different architecture, and most of all resembled the images of the Erechteion of Athens. Before the dares of the royal house, everyone dismounted, the servants took the horses, took the squires to the human, and the Eters led the butler to the inner courtyard, and then Alexander led the friends. The palace was beautiful, covered with frescoes on the inside, there were bronze lamps in many corners, but it was not luxurious beyond measure.

“The lower floor is in many ways a place for testing,” and he flashed his eyes at Nearch, down there even the lenoses stand for the Dionysian mysteries, beautiful marble, they look like sarcophagi, smiling at friends with gray-faced faces, times of holidays, you will pass the dedication, do not be afraid, this is a tradition such as in the Athens Eleusinian Mysteries.

Néarh stared at this beautiful building, hewn stone walls, polished marble floor, and in the main hall, which passed by, the floor was mosaic, as well as at the entrance to the palace. In the corners of the corridors there were bronze lamps on three or four legs, with images of griffins or lions. And so, the courtyard garden of the Palace appeared, the seats were arranged, and two armchairs, in one sat a beautiful and majestic woman, and the other was for Alexander. Seeing her son, Olympiad jumped up, almost ran up, and tightly hugged Alexander, kissed him several times, then pulled him to the chair, sat down opposite her, put a cup of wine in her hand, and sat down herself, and with a gesture invited her son to sit down, all sat down, but behaved somehow very wary, waiting for something. Servants smashed bowls of wine and snacks. And Nearh cautiously looked closely at the Tsarevich’s mother. Very beautiful blonde woman, with a complex hairstyle, in a precious silk dress, girdled with a belt of golden scales, and with a necklace of gold two-headed eagles, earrings were the finest work, from small chains, going down to the open shoulders, on her forearm gold bracelets with clasps in the form griffins, and several rings on the fingers, one of them with a signet. They were whispering among themselves, so no one heard.

– Good morning, true friends, – the Olympics greeted everyone, – I am glad, and I hope for you, because you will accompany the prince to the war. Tomorrow they will dedicate him to ephebs, “she quickly looked at her son, he looked at his mother carelessly,” It is necessary that you could command the army, “she explained to Alexander,” According to rumors, honey appeared in the vicinity of Amphipolis, and this is Pangeon, gold mines, funds for the army. So wait a little with this philosopher, saddle horses, disassemble armor, click squads, the time has come.

Dinner was served, everyone ate quickly, avoiding obscene jokes, and left to prepare for tomorrow’s ceremony. Nearh rose in his room, and a servant brought him a basin and a jug to wash, he quickly rinsed his smoking, dressed in the best, brought back from Crete, fastened a dagger to his belt, put on a signet ring, went outside, where Teres, a squire, was waiting for him, also in the best chiton and sleigh, friends came up with the servants, everyone looked great, and Alexander himself and his mother soon appeared, and the whole procession moved to the temple of Apollo. The priest cut off the hair strand, the mother asked not to cut off much, and dedicated him to ephebs, and called Alexander.