Goat Song : A Novel of Ancient Greece.

New York: Dell, 1970 Book. Very Good +. Pbk. Reprint. When the Athenians took the island of Sphacteria, there was one among the Spartans, a youth name Ariston, who would not surrender, who thrust out his sword and made a desperate, suicidal charge. But Ariston was fated to live- he was saved by a blow from Orchomenus, the Spartan soldier who loved and hated him too much to let him die. He came to Athens a slave, a prostitute whose favors were sold by Polyxenus, the bathhouse keeper. In time, although not a citizen, he was to become one of the most powerful men in his adopted city, the friend and patron of Sokrates and Eurepides, the embodiment of all that was finest in the Athenian spirit. But always Ariston lived in the shadow of a black day in Sparta when, because of him, a beautiful young girl was hideously slaughtered- again and again suffering and death came close to those he loved..