The Last of the Wine (book)
The Last of the Wine is Mary Renault's first novel set in Ancient Greece, the setting that would become her most important arena. The novel was published in 1956 and is the second of her works to feature male homosexuality as a major theme. The book is a convincing portrait of Athens at the close of the Golden Age and the end of the Peloponnesian War with Sparta.
Plot summary
The novel is narrated by Alexias, a noble Athenian youth, who becomes a noted beauty in the city and a champion runner. The novel suggests that young male Athenians were treated almost like modern debutantes and wooed by older men seeking to be their lovers; in fact, in a memorable passage, Alexias' father, Myron, himself a former beauty and champion athlete, writes to his son before leaving Athens for the Sicilian Expedition. The father imparts to the son the traits he should seek in a lover – qualities like honor, loyalty and courage. However, the father also warns the son not to become involved with women as he is much too young. (See pederasty.)
As an Ephebe (adolescent male), Alexias falls in love with Lysis, a man in his 20s – a champion pankratiast and a student of Socrates. The novel follows their relationship through the Peloponnesian War, the surrender of Athens, the establishment of the Thirty Tyrants rule over Athens, the democratic rebellion of Thrasybulus and shortly after. The story ends with first hints of the eventual trial of Socrates for teaching blasphemy and sowing social disorder.
From the beginning of the novel, Socrates figures prominently; both Alexis and Lysis become his students in their youth. Socrates was very prominent around the city, always talking to new people. Also characterized in the novel are Plato and several figures from his Dialogues who were Socrates' students, including Xenophon and Crito. Another historical figure who figures in the story, albeit mostly off-stage, is Alcibiades, the Athenian general who flees Athens on a charge of sacrilege and functions as a military adviser to Sparta until he is recalled by a resurgent democracy in Athens. Alexis and Lysis serve under Alcibiades' command until his carelessness leads the fleet to disaster and he once again goes into exile.
In the course of the novel, Lysis falls in love with and marries a woman who sees Alexias favorably and encourages the continuation of her husband's relationship with him. Not long after this, Athens is defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. Alexias' father is murdered under the Spartan-installed tyranny, and he and Lysis go into exile in Thebes joining Thrasybulus when he leads the next democratic revolt. Lysis is killed in the battle between the Long Walls running from the port of Piraeus to Athens (the Battle of Munychia). Shortly after the victory, Alexias takes Lysis' widow under his protection, marries her and continues his family line. The book ends with the postscript that this story (incomplete and long-forgotten) has been found by Alexias' grandson (also named Alexias), a commander of Athenian cavalry in the service of Alexander the Great.[1]
References
Other books by Mary Renault
Contemporary fiction
- Purposes of Love (US title: Promise of Love) (1939)
- Kind Are Her Answers (1940)
- The Friendly Young Ladies (US title: The Middle Mist) (1944)
- Return to Night (1947)
- The North Face (1948)
- The Charioteer (1953)
Historical novels
- The Last of the Wine (1956) — set in Athens during the Peloponnesian War; the narrator is a student of Socrates
- The King Must Die (1958) — the mythical Theseus up to his father's death
- The Bull from the Sea (1962) — the remainder of Theseus' life
- The Mask of Apollo (1966) — an actor at the time of Plato and Dionysius the Younger (brief appearance by Alexander near the end of the book)
- Fire from Heaven (1969) — Alexander the Great from the age of four up to his father's death
- The Persian Boy (1972) — from Bagoas's perspective; Alexander the Great after the conquest of Persia
- The Praise Singer (1978) — the poet Simonides of Ceos
- Funeral Games (1981) — Alexander's successors
Non-fiction
- The Nature of Alexander (1975) — a biography of Alexander the Great
- The Lion in the Gateway: The Heroic Battles of the Greeks and Persians at Marathon, Salamis, and Thermopylae (1964) — about the Persian Wars
