The chorus, too, sometimes singing and sometimes speaking in unison, took roles in the drama, such as first the citizens of one city and then of another, and then of another, and so on.
It also was not above commenting on the activities and speeches of the principals, chiding them, calling certain omissions to their minds, offering them constructive criticism, commending them, encouraging them, and so on. Indeed, it.was not unusual for the chorus and a principal to engage with one another in discourse. What I saw was clearly drama but it was not a form of drama with which I was familiar.
The chorus, according to Drusus Rencius, in its various sections and roles, was the original cast of the drama. The emergence of principals from the chorus, of particular actors playing isolated, specific roles, was a later development. Some purists, according to Drusus Rencius, still criticize this innovation. It is likely to remain, however, in his opinion, as it increases the potentialities of the form, its flexibility and power.
Such dramas, incidentally, are normally performed not by professional companies but by groups of citizens from the communities themselves, or nearby communities. Sometimes they are supported by rich citizens; sometimes they are supported by caste organizations; sometimes, even, they are sponsored by merchants or businesses, as a matter of goodwill and promotion; sometimes, too, they are subsidized by grants from a public treasury. Art in a Gorean city is taken seriously; it is regarded as an enhancement of the civic life. It is so: not regarded as the prerogative of an elite, nor is its fate left exclusively to the mercies of private patrons. The story in the so g drama, in itself, apart from its complex embellishments, was a simple one. It dealt with a psychological crisis in the life of a Ubar. He is tempted, in the pursuit of his own schemes, motivated by greed, to betray his people. In the end he is convinced by his own reflections, and those of others, of the propriety of keeping the honor of his own Home Stone.
"What did you think of the drama?" Drusus Rencius had asked me last night. "The story of it," I had told him, seeking to impress him with my intelligence, "aside from the impressiveness of it, and the loveliness of its setting and presentation, is surely an unrealistic, silly one."
"Oh?" he had asked.
"Yes," I had said, "no true ruler would act like that. Only a fool would be motivated by considerations of honor." "Perhaps," had said Drusus Rencius, dryly. I had looked at him, and then I had looked away, quickly. I had felt like I might be nothing. He was -regarding me with total contempt.
"I did enjoy the drama," I insisted to Drusus Rencius, standing on the riser, looking over the parapet, "really."
"Splendid," he said.
"I still think my comments were true, of course," I said lightly. Surely it would not do to retreat on such a matter.
Besides, for most practical purposes, I did regard them as true. Who, in these days, in a real world, could take anything like honor seriously?
"Perhaps," granted Drusus Rencius.
"You are a hopeless romantic, Drusus," I said to him, turning about, laughing. "Perhaps," be said. He turned away from me. Again I heard the small sound in the cloak. He looked at the tarns.
I turned away from him, hurt. I did not want him to be disappointed with me. "The view here," I said, lightly, "is lovely. We should have come here before." Perhaps," he said.
I had seen much of Corcyrus in the past few days. Drusus Rencius, for the most part, had been an attentive and accommodating escort. I loved the markets and bazaars, the ells, the colors, the crowds, the. quantities and varieties foods, the tiny shops, the stalls, the places of business which e times were so small as a tiny rug on the stones, on ich a peddler displayed his wares. Drusus Rencius had a€” permitted me, with coins, helping me, to bargain. I had a€” very excited to come back to the palace with my small imphs. I loved shopping, and looking, even when I was buy-nothing. Trailing me about, while I satisfied my curiosity as curious nooks and crannies, must have been tiresome for Drusus, but he had not complained. I had begun to fall in c with the Gorean city. It was so vital and alive. In particular I was excited by the female slaves I saw, barefoot, in ir tunics and collars, not exciting much attention, simply ing taken for granted, in the crowds. Such women were an accepted part of Gorean life. Sometimes, too, I would see a ked slave in the crowd, one sent forth from her house only I her collar. These women, too, did not attract that much attention. Their sight was not that uncommon in Gorean cets. One such woman, in particular, startled and excited She wore not only her collar. She also wore an iron belt is belt consisted of two major pieces; one was a rounded, ed, curved barlike waistband, flattened at the ends; one d of this band, that on the right, standing behind the man and looking forward, had a heavy semicircular ring, staple, welded onto it; the other flattened end of the waist- nd, looking forward, had a slot in it which fitted over the ple; the other major portion of this belt consisted of a- rved band of flat, shaped iron; one end of this flat band s curved about, and closed about, the barlike waistband in front; this produces a hinge; the flat, U-shaped strap of iron swings on this hinge; on the other end of this flat band iron is a slot; it fits over the same staple as the slot in the ttened end of the left side of the barlike waistband. The It is then put on the woman in this fashion. The waistband closed about her, the left side, its slot penetrated by the iple, over the right side; the flat U-shaped band of iron, ntoured to female intimacies, is then swung up on its hinge, tween her thighs, where the slot on its end is penetrated by staple, this keeping the parts of the belt in place. The whole apparatus is then locked on her, the tongue of a thrust through the staple, the lock then snapped shut. almost fainted when I first saw this thing. She actually wore it. It was on her! It was locked on herl The insolent mastery
it bespoke made me almost giddy, the very thought that a woman might be subjected to such domination. She did not even control her own intimacies. They were controlled by him who owned her, and them.
"You seem interested in the iron belt," had said Drusus Rencius. "No," I had said. "No!" "There are many varieties of such belts," said Drusus. "You see a rather plain one. the placement of the padlock, at the small of her back. regard that arrangement as more aesthetic; others prefer for the lock to be in front, where it may dangle before her, constantly reminding her of its presence. I personally prefer the lock in the back. Its placement there, on the whole, makes a woman feel more helpless. Too, of course, its placement there makes it almost impossible for her to pick." "I see," I had said. How irritated I had been then with Drusus. He had discussed the thing as though it might have been a mere, inconsequential piece of functional hardware. Could be, not see what it really was, what it meant, what it must teach the girl, how it must make her feel?
"There are wagons," I said, pointing over the parapet.
There were some five wagons approaching the city, in a line.
Each -was being drawn by two strings of harnessed male slaves, about twenty slaves in each string.
"Those are Sa-Tarna wagons," said Drusus, "bringing grain to the city." "What is that other wagon," I asked, "the smaller one,- there near the side of the road, which has pulled aside to let the grain wagons pass?" I had been watching it approach. I thought I knew well what sort of wagon it was. It was the sort of wagon whose contents are of so little value that it must yield the road in either direction to any vehicle that to pass it. It was a squarish wagon. It was drawn might care by a single tharlarion, a broad tharlarion, one of Gor's quadrupedal draft lizards. It was covered by a canopy, mounted on a high, squarish frame, of blue-and-yellow silk.