Chrysippus

Chrysippus was a bastard

who had two legitimate brothers,

half-brothers whose mother

was his father’s wife.

To win at the Nemean Games

a prize for charioteers

at fifteen years of age

would prove his worth to all,

and make his parents proud.

Among his father’s guests

was the teacher Chrysippus desired,

an exiled charioteer

all brawn and brain and beauty,

the favorite of a great-uncle

who acted as his regent

and gave him every advantage

for acceding one day to Power.

This teacher was only twenty

but was an Olympian champion

in all the chariot events. 

Chrysippus in his thong

and working up a sweat

mesmerized the crowds

and athletes looking on:

Chrysippus and his teacher

together had no equal.

Boys know if they’ve got game—

on outdoor basketball courts,

on dance floors and in bed,

or playing whatever they play

when they compete for gold.

The athletes all agreed,

if ever gold was needed

by a boy whose heart was pure,

Chrysippus was that boy.

His father’s wife was troubled

seeing Chrysippus in training:

a boy as beautiful as he,

a youth as intelligent as he,

a lover as prized as he

will find his path beset

by schemers and applause

and undeserved imbroglio;

and should he die too early

’twill be that he was slain.

(Moreover, she knew his mother,

a more cunning wench than she.)

No question but Chrysippus

might earn his father’s favor

if he should win both laurels

and ovations at The Games.

Spectators would then behold

the magnetic glorious aura

of victory and fame.

Though never raised as brothers

Chrysippus and his siblings

would not contest their father

in choosing the wife whose son

would legally inherit

the whole of his estate.

Chrysippus and his brothers

knew they must keep some peace

between their rival mothers

plus obey their father’s laws;

no brother struck another, 

no brother ever dared

to shame his father’s name.

Among the charioteers

at The Nemean Games

some were of the opinion

that he who would prevail

must first throw down a well

Chrysippus and his teacher—

a notion that reached the ears

of Chrysippus’s half-brothers

by their mother’s machinations.

She’d never had reason to doubt

her husband would give all he had

to her eldest son and dismiss

with gifts the bastard sons

of his several concubines,

but as The Games drew near

she worried that Chrysippus

might score a perfect ten

and catch his father’s fancy.

But to harm their father’s guest

and thus despise their birthright

some brothers care not to do.

Before The Games began

Chrysippus was informed

his father’s guest no longer

was banished from his home

and would return to Thebes

as soon as The Games were finished.

Chrysippus vowed to go

to Thebes with his horses

and join The Sacred Band

to continue with his teacher.

His teacher feared a breach

of hospitality

if he should carry away

his host’s most promising son 

whom even his horses loved,

and even more he feared

pubescent love invading

his heart, a virgin love

uncharted in his mind;

so “No!” was all his answer.

The Games arrive with the hoopla

of the festival of Dionysus!

The athletes sleep together

with their horses very close by.

Records are tied and set,

new stars adorn the sky.

Chrysippus wins the silver

to his teacher’s every gold!

And when all the Games were done

Chrysippus needed fondling

and told his teacher so,

so they made love,

never parting afterwards

and never returning to Pisa.

A lover of Olympian Games

Chrysippus’s father gave chase

cursing and praying for justice.

Asleep in his teacher’s bed

Chrysippus was stabbed in the gut.

Many accused the lover,

one fated unspeakably foul,

who was with him when he died

revealing the name of the assassin.

When his father heard the news

of how his boy had died

he wept and spoke of judgment:

“I will not fault the teacher

for doing what he did

when overwhelming love,

to which even gods succumb,

prompted his fatal mistake.”

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