Chapter III – Parallel Chronologies
Part IV – A Time to be Silent, a Time to Speak
The next day at the clinic seemed especially busy, keeping Dice inside the examination room while Helena ran about taking care of all the patients waiting outside. The buzz of patients talking and coughing outside quickly turned to frightened screams as soldiers descended on the clinic. Helena pushed open the door and ran into the examination room, she needed not say a thing, her face spoke for her.
Dice dropped what she was doing and ran past Helena and into the waiting room as the soldiers entered the front door.
“Run!” Dice yelled to Helena, who immediately rushed to a window in the back of the building. She climbed up and jumped out the small space as a soldier reached out and grabbed the hem of her chiton. As she fell to the dirt on the other side of the wall, her clothing tore, leaving a small rose piece of cloth in his clenched fist.
Inside another soldier grabbed Dice’s arms as the captain entered with a scroll. The patients watched in horror as he opened the scroll, sealed by the stamp of the council of the Areos Pagos.
“Dikeus of Athens, you are placed under arrest for seducing your patients while practicing the art of Medicine and ruining their good name.” He read before giving the order to haul her out in chains.
As she exited the building she saw ten soldiers, weapons brandished, waiting outside as if they had come to capture a violent criminal. Turning to her left she watched a soldier dragging a bound Hellen towards a carriage that awaited them for transport back into the city.
“Mina! Mina!” a winded voice called from the from the foyer. “They have Helena and Dice!”
Mina pushed open the doors and rushed to the stairs to look down and see Hippa looking up at her, her face white with terror.
“Who has Helena?!” she asks rushing down the steps.
“Soldiers.” She stops to take another deep breath, “soldiers grabbed them at the clinic.” another breath “they are headed to the prison right now!”
Mina runs outside followed by Hippa, Naeith, and her bodyguards just in time to see a small force of soldiers march by with the two women sitting tied in the back of the carriage.
“No!” Mina screamed as she rushed to the gate. Being stopped only by Naeith grabbing her arm.
“Mina no!” she cried gripping her bicep. Mina turned and looked at her head of the household, confused by her boldness.
“They want you to act rashly and without thinking.” The young girl sternly told her, looking her directly in the eyes.
“They have Helena.” Mina told her as her deep green eyes went from rage to sadness, welling up with tears.
“Why do you think they marched them by the house, there is no other reason.” Naeith explained calmly with the logic of a general, “criminals are paraded down the center road, to go through the agora. They want you to go out there.”
Her eyes changed from sadness to rage once more, as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. She looked up and watched as the marched by, scanning the soldiers one by one, looking over them with hatred in her heart and vengeance in her mind.
“Find out the crimes they are being accused of.” She told one of her male servants, who nodded and rushed out.
“Naeith, go and find out who is behind this.” She commanded with determination before turning to go back into the house.
“What are you going to do?” Hippa asked as she followed close behind her.
“I will prepare for war.” She replied as she pushed aside the decorations on the table, clearing it in order to be used for her war council.
The carriage arrived at the prison and the two women were dragged out and thrown into two separate dark and dank cells. The door slammed behind Helena as she fell to disgustingly filthy floor. She looked up to see a shadowy figure in the corner of the room slowly emerge. Frightened she scurries backwards into the opposite corner.
“Do I scare you little girl?” the figure asks as he steps into the small ray of light coming from the tiny window high above the room, illuminating his bald head. Helena whimpered unable to answer.
“Good.” He replies. “Fear is an important motivator. It can help us make the… right decisions.” He then walked closer so that he was literally standing above her looking down at her. “Now I will give you two options. Will you make the right choice?” he asks with a nefarious calmness.
She still was unable to reply, looking up at her captor, trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Will you!!!” he yells angrily.
“Ye..yes" she sobs
“Good.” He smiles malevolently.
That same moment Mina was gathering information from her multitude of sources and mobilizing people and resources to build a defense for the both women. In all honesty her defense of Agnodice was only for the sake of Helena. She needed to do whatever it takes to get her beloved out of what was sure to be a death sentence. The trial already being scheduled for the next morning as her contacts within the Parliament informed her.
No one slept that night, each house was filled with movement. The people of the city spoke of the trial of the century. Demosthenes gathered his politicians together in his Andreon, telling them that they must prosecute these criminals with the most severe punishment for the morality of Athens. Mina placed up and down the courtyard telling the people who were gathered there that they must be strong, and unflinching in the face of tyranny. The senators in their homes, lay in their beds, unable to sleep by the thought of having to condemn young people to death for character crimes.
Dawn came late that day, as all in the city waited for the sun to come up in order to take their actions. Demosthenes took his place at the head of his political group as the accused women were both brought out before the judges of the Areopagos. The opposing party led by Aeschinus watched anxiously because they new they would be made to choose between the law and sending two young people to their deaths. While the citizens watched not knowing who they were supposed to support.
Dice stood in her cell looking at the wall, thinking. Thinking about all her choices, reviewing her actions the last years, and remembering her years of study. “Was it worth it?” she thought. So many years of study and hard work, a life of sacrifice and selfless service to her patients. After thoroughly reviewing all her choices, she began to recite the Hippocratic Oath, coming to terms with the thought that tomorrow would be her last.
“My fellow Athenians, I stand before you, with great sadness.” Demosthenes began, “It seems that here we have before us two separate cases of immortality, and corrupting of the good people of our noble city. Each a display of blatant disregard for the laws of our city, for the laws of man, and for the laws of the Gods.”
“Here we have Dikeus, the physician who has given into his list, forsaking his oath to do no evil, and is accused of seducing his young patients.” He exclaimed pointing to Dice standing before them. “Tell them girl, do not be afraid, you should not be ashamed of the evil actions that have befallen you.”
“I am sorry my dear, I know how difficult it is for you to relive this dreadful experience, but you must so that no one else will suffer as you have.”
“Dikeus…” she began to say sobbing, “he took me in the examination room where he began to examine me. Suddenly he grabbed me in an improper way, and he told me that I must…” her words gave way to sobbing and sniffling.
He then called over a young girl, and taking her by the hand walked her the center of the large room.
“He… he said I had to lay with him!” she stated before weeping loudly.
The crowd looked at the scene stunned, as Demosthenes’ politicians started to call for a death sentence.
“For shame! For shame!” physicians in the crowd yelled out.
“Wait!” Aeschinus yelled out to stop the crowd's calls for death. “Have we become like the barbarians, driven only by emotion and not by the sacred laws of our great city? Have we not the civil duty to hear the accused speak to these allegations?”
“Yes, you are correct my esteemed colleague.” Demosthenes replied with a satanic smile on his face. For he knew that if Agnodice chose not to reveal she was a woman she would surely be given death, but if she did she would be given the death penalty even quicker and it would open the door to creating a precedence of hunting down the corrupting women of the city. “Speak.”
“I swear by Apollo Physician, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.” She began, quoting the Hippocratic Oath that was so dear to her. “As Hygeia and Panacea, divine healers of humanity, are women, so am I, Agnodice of Athens.” she declared letting her hair down.
Everyone watched in shock, unable to speak, until the physicians in the crowd as well as the politicians of Demosthenes began to cry out at how much of an outrage it was for a woman to practice medicine. The false witness looked in surprise, before bolting out of the room out of fear of being condemned for perjury.
“This revelation is quite troubling” Demosthenes nodded his head in disgust, “This woman has deceived her patients and the citizens of Athens, and in her deception has skirted the laws of our fair city, bringing shame upon us all with her immortality.”
Then he walked over to Helena who stood trembling a few meters away from Agnodice. “Now I will show you how this young woman's crime is not just some limited instance, but rather a plague of corrupt women spreading immorality and filth in our Noble city.”
The people watched, hanging off of every word coming out of the orator’s mouth. They were shaken by the idea that their city was infested by a feminine malignancy that threatened their whole society. In their mind these women were already guilty of crimes against humanity, as they watched the trial, forgetting their own list of personal inequities.
“This girl, Helena of Samos, a friend and co conspirator with the accused, is a tribade, refusing marriage, and shunning her duties as a woman!”
The crowd gasped in horror as the idea of a woman refusing men brought in their minds the wild Amazon warriors of the past. Noble women began to fan themselves as they whispered amongst themselves, and the men started to call for the death of both women.
“Good people of Athens!” Aeschinus called out once more trying to hush the crowds calls for blood. “There is no evidence of this! She might have not even known that the physician she worked for was a woman. Besides should we cast all young girls to their deaths, accused of following the ways of Sappho, just because they have not been wed yet?!? Maybe, what Demosthenes is suggesting is that we should go through the city and round up all the unwed women and butcher them as well! My esteemed colleague, your misogyny shows no bounds!”
“Her own words are the evidence!” Demosthenes cries out, “Tell us girl, is it true?”
“She fears for her life, she will say whatever you want!” Aeschinus retorts
“Speak!” Demosthenes yells
“It is.” Helena replies, and the crowd gasps while Aeschinus grabs his head in shock at the girl's confession.
“But my friends, we must not be hasty to let a young girl die so easily. She was obviously corrupted in her youthfulness by more sinister forces.” He explained, “We must be merciful and fair in our dealings with this disease. We must separate the confused and misled from the ringleaders of the this corruptive cult of Lesbos.”
Everyone watched, captivated by the spectacle before them. Was there really a cult following of Lesbians amongst them, shirking their womanly responsibilities in an attempt to overthrow the natural order of the world? They looked amongst themselves, searching for who else amongst them was guilty of such high crimes, although most women were guilty of the practice in the Gynekonition and the men knew of it.
“Helena, daughter of Croix, do you regret your actions? Will you repent for your iniquities?”
“Yes, I ask for forgiveness from the people of the city.” She stammered, unable to look up, tears running down her face. “I have brought shame to my city, my house, and my father.”
“Will you marry a state appointed suitor, and bear children to be loyal and upright citizens of our city?”
“I will.” She wept
“Now tell us young girl, tell us who corrupted your innocence, and turned you away from the natural order of society?” he requested smiling wickedly.
The girl wept uncontrollably trying to utter the name he wanted to hear but could not bring herself to say. Just then chanting came from the crowd, at first quietly then louder and louder. No, it was not from the crowd, it was from behind the crowd. The spectators of the trial parted allowing a group of women chanting “Mer-cy, mer-cy, mer-cy!” to cut through.
Helena looks up at the group of rowdy women.
“Mina.” She whispers, seeing her love, in all her glory, at the head of the mob.