‘Any news of the Trusted One?’
‘He has been seen in a number of villages. He is very close to your family and they tell me he is on your son-in-law’s estates at the moment. Our people are ready to fight. Catania, Noto and Siracusa will not be taken without a struggle.’
‘I do not think that William has any intention of waging war on us.’
‘One year ago, did his father have any intention of burning Philip outside his own palace?’
‘All I am saying is that a premature rebellion could lead to defeat. Timing is always crucial.’
‘Then we are in agreement.’
When Elinore entered the room to greet her uncle, Idrisi noticed her flushed cheeks and shining eyes. The flute-player is affecting this child, he thought, and it pleased him. Mayya arrived with Afdal in her arms and the Amir made all the right noises, but did his mind’s eye compare the two infants? At the end of his visit, the proud possessor of a new son invited them all to visit him in Siracusa.
‘It will be spring soon and the best time to visit us. Balkis is desperate to see you.’
‘We will try,’ said Mayya, ‘but it’s such a long journey and the mere thought tires me.’
Idrisi retreated to his library to find the parcel from Balkis. He undid the string and unwrapped the cloth. Inside lay a carefully folded tunic made of pure silk, the colour of burnt milk. On top of it was a letter. Elinore knocked on the door and entered without waiting for his reply. ‘I need to ask you something, Abi.’
‘Let me guess. You want to learn the flute.’
She coloured slightly. ‘I would like to marry him.’
‘Has he expressed interest?’
‘No, because he is in awe of you and thinks he is too low-born for you to even consider such a match.’
‘Have you spoken to your mother?’
‘Yes and she is not happy.’
‘Why?’
‘She thinks he is low-born.’
‘Are you sure you know him well enough to marry him?’
‘Yes. You once told me that affairs of the heart are determined by instinct, not reason. My instinct tells me that I will be happy with him.’
‘That is all that matters to me, child. I have no objection. I like the boy myself, but how will he earn a living? Musicians are not paid regularly.’
‘He doesn’t only play the flute. He makes them and can teach children to play. He wants us to move to Djirdjent where his mother’s family will help him.’
‘I will help him if he wants to stay here and your uncle in Siracusa is a generous soul if he wishes to move there. And you? Where would you like to live.’
‘I’m not sure. There is a part of me which would like to leave this island for ever and move to Salerno.’
‘Why?’
‘Instinct. Something bad is going to happen here. Can’t you feel it in the air?’
‘Elinore, you are baptised and so is Simeon ibn Thawdor. You need not fear the Barons. No harm will come to you. But I am more worried about your two brothers. Will they survive? For how long? When some of my friends left Palermo and went to settle in al-Andalus, I mocked them for their foolishness. I was so sure I had made the right decision.’
He shrugged his shoulders in despair.
Elinore kissed him on his head. ‘Even though we have not yet discussed Pythagoras and his numbers which you promised me, I love you.’
‘The numbers were important for the merchants and sailors. But much more interesting was the way of life that he advocated. Perhaps you should go and live in Cariati, much closer to us than Salerno. The Pythagoreans fled here to Kroton, as they called it then, and their brotherhood flourished. Some of them came to Siracusa as well. The symbol of their brotherhood was the ox on the tongue. Each new recruit was pledged to secrecy and silence. In order to achieve their aims of creating a society in which each and every person had a moral responsibility, they had to be careful. And did you know they also believed that the only way to purify the soul from the infections of the body was through music? That is why Pythagoras and his followers were the first to explore the links between music and mathematics. And you will find books that can teach you even more than I know. He is not a philosopher I have studied closely. Is that your mother I hear shouting for you? Tell her I approve of Ibn Thawdor and she should not worry about your dowry.’
As she ran out of the room, Idrisi began to pace up and down, pausing to look at the map on the large table. It was his own map and he was thinking it was time to emigrate, but to which destination? Then he saw his unfinished manuscript and he knew that it had to be completed before he went anywhere. The philosophy of medicine he was advancing was based on providing simple and easily accessible cures for the diseases that afflicted the rich and the poor. He had read something in a book by Aflatun* that had displeased him and he had meant to tell Elinore. He found the book where he had marked the following passage:
‘When a carpenter is ill,’ said Sokrates, ‘he asks the doctor for a quick remedy — an emetic, purge, cautery or the knife — that is all. If he is told to diet and wrap up his head and keep warm, he replies that he has no time to be ill, that there is no good going on living just to nurse his disease if he can’t get on with his work. So he says goodbye to the doctor and returns to work, and either gets over it and lives and carries on with his livelihood, or else dies and is put out of his misery that way.’
‘I understand,’ said Glaukon ‘and of course that is the proper use of medicine for a man in his walk of life.’
He smiled as he recalled how this had enraged him. The ‘proper use of medicine’ had meant the spread of infectious diseases that did not distinguish between carpenters and those who owned large estates and hundreds of slaves.
In the book he was preparing, Idrisi had written that a healthy diet was the best preventive medicine, but also that there should be no treatments that the poor could not afford. These should be available to all in special hospitals. Other considerations he had put aside for the moment, although, in private, he agreed with Hippokrates’ injunction: in order to cure a man it was necessary to understand his origins and the causes of his evolution. This was a conviction forbidden to the People of the Book who were to believe that Jehovah, God, Allah created man — possibly a simplification of knowledge that had not helped the study of medicine. The Ancients, too, had their myths, but these contained the kernel of a truth. Prometheus, who gave man fire to save him from extinction, was clearly aware that man possessed the brain to make use of the fire and the makers of the myths themselves interpreted Prometheus as the symbol of human intelligence.
His thoughts were interrupted by Mayya, anxious to inspect the gift Balkis had sent him. She held the tunic against her own body, but it was too large.
‘She was always good at making clothes, but let us see how it fits you.’
He rose and changed tunics. The silk clung to his body.
‘It fits you perfectly. Balkis has not forgotten your body.’
Still he did not speak, but did not change back into his old clothes. He smiled vacantly at his wife.
‘When will you go and see Walid in Venice?’
‘After I have finished my Formulary.’
‘And when will that be? When Afdal is five or ten?’
‘It might be sooner if I was not interrupted so often.’
‘I came to discuss our daughter. I can’t believe you have agreed that she can marry Thawdor’s son.’
‘Because he is poor?’
‘Well, not that, but…’
‘What other reason could there be? Breeding, of course. Let me tell you that Thawdor’s forebears included men who ruled this island hundreds of years ago. I would not compare his lineage with yours or mine, leave alone that of your brother-in-law.’