Downward the spiralling trail led,
growing gradually steeper
and slicker with mud
from the surrounding swamp
that was filled with a chorus of toads.
There was a handrail that went all the way
to the forecourt of the temple,
but Neaira, newly-made wife of Theogenes the King,
(so what if he had to buy his way into the office?)
preferred to do things under her own power.
Look at how high she’d ascended
since her purchase by Nikarete the pimp
back when she was just a little girl of nine
– tonight she would go down
into the house of the Bull
and offer ineffable sacrifices and rites many and solemn
on behalf of the whole city,
she who just a few years before
had been a resident alien
and so couldn’t even sue when her ex-husband
got a bunch of his friends to have their way with her
while she slept off the dinner party they’d thrown
to celebrate general Chabrias’ victory at the Pythian Games. .
But now she’s here
and it’s all been leading up to this.
Neaira was giddy with excitement
to think of the scandal that would unfold tomorrow
when the people of Athens caught wind
that she’d actually gone through with it.
Technically, all this was by the book
– they could cavil and hoist all the charges they wanted
but the court would be forced to find in her favor
because every scheming step,
so cleverly orchestrated by her savior and avenger,
Stephanos the handsome,
Stephanos the rich,
Stephanos with a heart like a black spider, expert in plotting evil,
and filled with a hatred for his fellow-citizens equal to her own,
had been arranged so all of this was perfectly legal.
These men had been fucking her her whole life,
well tonight Neaira would fuck their God
and Phrynion, Theomnestos, Apollodoros
and all the rest could just go suck eggs if they didn’t like it.
