Her husband had been distracted, busy with the ship that was his first concern. Before she could change her mind, Agariste had put out her hand, laying it on top of the tanned and scarred fist of a slave. When she had run around with bare knees, Manias had carried her on his shoulders and snorted like a minotaur. He had told her stories of Homer and showed her how to tie knots. She had owned him all her life.

‘Go,’ she had said. ‘Quickly. Earn your freedom.’

She knew she’d made the right choice when he bent without words and kissed her hand. The old man had wiped tears from his eyes as he’d gone below to take up an oar.

Left behind, the young sons of Athens bore the same look of frustration, she realised. It had been a hard thing to ask of Ariphron and Pericles, but Xanthippus had thought nothing of commanding their obedience. They were his boys! He held them to a higher standard. Until they were eighteen, they were no use to the Assembly. Nor could they fight with the army, unless it was to stand with an older warrior and carry his shield.

Agariste reached out at the thought. Her oldest son sat with his hands clasped around his knees, legs bare and patterned with sand. She brushed a lock of hair from his eyes, startling him and making him look at her. Pericles would have jerked out of reach, the little touch-me-not. Ariphron understood, as he always understood.

‘Your father wanted me to be safe …’ she began.

He spoke over her in his frustration.

‘I know. He made me give my vow, my oath. I will not leave this place until he returns, or until I know he will not. As if I could, with no ship, no boat.’

‘He trusts you,’ she said, holding his gaze.

Ariphron nodded without looking away, though she could see the hurt in him.

Agariste saw Pericles was watching, shuffling on his knees towards the rocky edge, when he thought her attention was on the others. As if she would not notice! The boy had never found the right way to deal with his parents, or at least not yet. He always chose mulish and bad-tempered, then sweet as honey. He could not even see a right path without turning onto the wrong one.

Her daughter Eleni reached out slyly with one little foot and kicked Pericles in the back, making him curse and leap up.

‘Sit down , Pericles,’ Agariste said again. ‘Do I not have enough to worry about with your father out there? How can you be so difficult? Sit, I said!’ She spoke the last over his protestations. His sister looked on with a smile of complete innocence.