Eneas shook his head. "That's just it. They didn't mean for such heedlessness to accompany their celebrations-they couldn't have! If you had stayed in Tessis longer you would have seen the Great Zosimia, and then you would know the truth. People dancing naked in the streets! Common folk mocking the nobles-and the drunkenness and fornication! Again I beg your pardon, Princess Briony, but it is heartbreaking to see the lawlessness that has become ordinary in the cities. And not just on Great Zosimia but on Gestrimadi, Orphan's Day, even Kerneia-you need but name it, and you will find another day when the common folk turn their backs on honest toil and think of nothing but wine and dancing!"

As grateful as she was to him, Briony was beginning to think that Eneas was in some ways a bit of an old stick. "But the nobles celebrate all these festival days and more besides. Why shouldn't the common people have the same privilege? They have the same gods."

Eneas frowned at her jest. "Of course they do. But it is the duty of the nobles to provide an example. The lower classes are like children-they cannot be allowed to do everything their elders are allowed to do. Would you permit a child to stay up all hours, drinking unwatered wine? Would you let a child go to the theater and see a man dressed up as woman kiss another man?"

Briony wasn't sure what she thought. She had heard sentiments like the prince's many times and had generally found herself agreeing-after all, if the common people could truly govern themselves then the gods would not have made kings and queens and priests and judges, would they? But this last year had made her look at things differently. Finn Teodoros, for instance, was one of the wisest people she'd ever met, and yet he was the son of a bricklayer. Nevin Hewney's father had been a cobbler but Hewney was still acknowledged to be a great playwright, better than dozens of writers from more noble backgrounds.