“Lots of people here would know if Ikaros were misquoting,” I said. “I would myself—except that the Bible was a long book, longer than the Republic. If he misquotes the Sermon on the Mount, he’s going to be corrected, even after twenty years. But he’s much less likely to be caught out on verses from the book of the prophet Amos.” And of course, Ikaros probably did have a copy of the Bible among his forbidden books. But he wouldn’t be able to admit that.

Simmea sighed. “Will you talk to the committee and say what you’ve just said?”

“Of course I will.”

“We’re meeting next on the day after the Ides.” She grinned. “Letting them in and ridiculing them seems like a terrific strategy. Forbidden fruit is sweet, but nothing is appealing if people mock it.”

The mission from Psyche had been housed in an empty sleeping house near the agora. Maecenas, one of the captains of the Excellence, and another member of the Foreign Negotiations Committee, was entertaining them. They looked relieved when we came in, and so did the envoys. The envoys were all men, of course. Psyche did not admit women to full citizenship. But they accepted that the other cities did, and dealt with us when they had to. Two of them were Masters, whom I knew, and the third was one of the Children whom I only vaguely recognized.

“Joy to you,” Simmea said.

“Joy to you, Hermeias, Salutius,” I said, then inclined my head to the third man. “I’m Maia.”

“Aurelius,” he said.

We all sat down. I fetched wine and mixed it. “Have you had a pleasant journey?” Simmea asked, when we had all drunk a toast to Plato.

“Very smooth and comfortable,” Hermeias said, inclining his head to Maecenas. “We called at the City of Amazons, where I had a dispute with Ikaros.”

Simmea laughed. “Maia and I were just discussing the New Concordance.”

“It’s the most ridiculous misunderstanding of Iamblikius you could possibly imagine,” Hermeias said, stroking his beard. “I’m glad he didn’t live to see it. I managed to refute a few of Ikaros’s theses, and he was good enough to thank me for it.”

“Will you allow them to preach in Psyche?” she asked.

“We’ll agreed to allow them to debate, which is a slightly different thing,” Aurelius said. “It’s hardly likely to win many converts in a city made up of Platonists.”

“It does seem unlikely,” Simmea said.

“So what brings you here?” Maecenas said, blunt as ever.