He could hear Cimon grumbling something, not yet fully awake. The young man’s snoring had not helped. Xanthippus remembered startling off his block to it once or twice. Ah, he had slept, then! He sat up and opened wooden shutters, slick with varnish under his hands. The stars were still visible outside, though he saw people already up and about. He felt himself flush, his heart beating faster. He would not be shamed by Spartans. It felt at times as if they paraded their virtues in front of others. Part of him suspected he was mistaken, that they simply rose early, ate and drank little – and worked to be masters of war. It was just possible there was no room in them for gentle debate, for politics, for art.

In the pre-dawn gloom, Xanthippus found a large pot and arranged it on a little shelf on the wall, emptying his bladder with some relief. He heard Cimon murmur a question, brought alert by the noise. Xanthippus was just glad Themistocles had not come with him. Aristides might have fitted in well with their Spartan hosts. Themistocles would surely have had them reaching for weapons. Xanthippus sighed as he finished. The gods loved Themistocles, but he seemed to think he had won the battle of Salamis all on his own. If he brought it up one more time to the Assembly, Xanthippus thought they would be breaking pots and arranging his own ostracism. There would be irony!

‘Xanthippus?’ Cimon asked.

His own pallet was almost as thick as a summer blanket and slightly less scratchy than sleeping on straw. Xanthippus emptied the pot out of the window. He had seen a gutter there the night before, when a single lamp had lit the travelling house.

‘I am awake,’ he said. ‘Rise now, before we have Spartans asking why we slept half the day away.’

He heard Cimon yawning and did the same. Xanthippus dressed quickly and slipped out of the door to knock on the next. There were no locks or bars in the house and he put his head inside, seeing Onesimos and Relas sprawled on the floor. They were still snoring and he had to stamp his foot on the floor to startle them awake.

‘Up, both of you. Be alert.’