Bourkos seemed to see through Davos’ confusion, so he explained: “The city of Thurii is located about twenty stades from the mouth of the Crathis River.”
Davos let out an “Oh” and asked: “Thurii is at war with the Lucanians, so why are there so many ships coming for trade?”
“The Lucanians have no ships, so they can’t cut off Thurii’s maritime trade. And the more war there is, the more supplies are needed. These merchant ships are all here to make money…” As the two were speaking, the fleet had stopped moving.
The pilot boat moved ahead alone and soon merged into that expanse of white sails…
About an hour later, the pilot boat returned, pulled alongside Bourkos’ ship, and a man came aboard.
“Bourkos, you’ve finally returned! I thought the Lucanians had scared you into moving to Greece,” the newcomer said with a grin as he approached.
“If even the most timid you hasn’t left, how could I leave?” Bourkos joked, giving him a hug.
“Did everything go smoothly?”
“Is Thurii alright?”
The two asked at the same time, then laughed together.
“Seeing how relaxed you look, Thurii must still be safe.”
“You know, the barbaric Lucanians have no advanced skills. They can’t build siege engines or ships. They only destroyed the villages and farms outside the city. Luckily, the wheat had already been harvested in autumn. During winter, a plague broke out among the Lucanians outside the city, forcing them to retreat to the northern mountains, leaving only a few soldiers at Amendolara—”
“Wait, you’re saying plague?” Bourkos looked horrified.
“The Lucanians killed thousands of Thurii citizens and piled their corpses outside the city. Zeus was angered and inflicted punishment on the Lucanians, while we Thurii citizens suffered no harm!” The newcomer spoke with a mix of anger and pride.
Bourkos hastily praised Zeus.
The newcomer continued: “Now that the weather is warming, they’ve started moving south again. Fortunately, Tarentum has sent reinforcements.”
“As the advocate of the Magna Graecia Defense League, they should have sent reinforcements long ago!”
“You can’t blame them. They had just repelled an attack by the Messapians, and then they sent 1,500 hoplites and 50 cavalry, led by Archytas.”
“Which Archytas?”
“What other Archytas? Of course, the son of Hestiarchos, the former ephor of Tarentum, the genius the Tarentines talk about!”
“Speaking of genius, I have one here too.” Bourkos pulled Davos over and said to Polyxides: “Let me introduce you. This is the commander of the Greek mercenary army that campaigned in Persia, Davos of Thessaly!” Bourkos said seriously. Then, pointing to the newcomer, he said: “Davos, this is the general elected by Thurii this year, my good friend—Polyxides!”
“Salutations, General Polyxides!” Davos bowed slightly.
“Welcome.” Polyxides nodded slightly, then turned to Bourkos: “What did you just say? Campaign in Persia?”
Bourkos noticed Polyxides’ perfunctory attitude, so he greatly exaggerated Davos’ deeds. Immediately, Polyxides’ gaze toward Davos became intense: “Unbelievable! Davos, someone so young has accomplished such an incredible feat! Leading your soldiers back from deep within Persia, surrounded by tens of thousands of enemies! Truly… wow!”
Davos said sincerely: “This is the result of the joint efforts of my brothers. Many died on the road home…”
“I invited Davos’ troops to Thurii hoping they could use their rich combat experience to help us repel the Lucanians!” Bourkos took the opportunity to preemptively explain his hiring of Davos’ forces at a high salary.
“You’ve arrived just in time. We are discussing a counterattack against the Lucanians.” Polyxides said to Bourkos: “I came to tell you that the Council of Generals has agreed that your fleet can disembark at the simple dock at the river mouth, and let Davos lead his mercenaries to camp at the site of old Sybaris.”
“What?! Let us camp at the site of old Sybaris?!” Bourkos’ face changed. He immediately pulled Polyxides aside and whispered angrily: “Are you all mad?! Don’t forget that when Thurii was founded, there was an agreement with Croton that the site of old Sybaris could not be touched! Otherwise, why didn’t Thurii build its city on the Sybaris site, when it has a better location and a better port!”
“Everything you said, every Thurii native knows. But this was the result of Kynogoratas’ strong advocacy, and the other generals agreed too! The soldiers you hired before have already been camping at Sybaris for nearly a month.” Polyxides shrugged, indicating it had nothing to do with him.
“Kynogoratas again! He expelled the Athenians, and now he wants to provoke Croton. Does he want Thurii to be destroyed?!” Bourkos said angrily.
“It’s not as serious as you say. Decades have passed, and Thurii has always kept this agreement. The weeds at Sybaris are taller than a man. Now that Thurii is suffering from war, it’s only temporary camping. Besides, Croton has no time to pay attention to this; they are fighting fiercely with the Bruttians. Otherwise, where should these mercenaries camp? The mercenaries who came last time and this time probably amount to four or five thousand men. The camp they build will have to occupy a large area. Right now, around Thurii, aside from that wasteland, it’s all farmland and villages…”
“Didn’t you say the farms and villages outside the city were destroyed?” Bourkos asked.
“After the Lucanians retreated, everyone went back to their towns and villages to start rebuilding. Otherwise, if they all gathered in the city, problems would arise sooner or later! As for the fields, the farmers have already sown the wheat seeds, otherwise there would be no harvest this year.”
“What if the Lucanians come?” Bourkos asked worriedly.
“So we are discussing how to repel them.”
Bourkos stared at Polyxides speechlessly for a long while, then finally said: “It seems the current generals are quite united and bold! Have they all forgotten how miserable last year was?”
Polyxides looked embarrassed and couldn’t speak.
…
Because a channel had been cleared in advance, Bourkos’ fleet entered the river mouth smoothly, though disembarking was a bit troublesome since there was only a simple dock.
Bourkos, Davos, Philistos, Asiastes, and the guard escort disembarked first. Standing on the soft ground, they were still unaccustomed after long hours of tossing at sea.
Philistos bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, rubbed it between his fingers, and despite the stench, brought it to his nose to sniff, looking intoxicated, as if he were holding not soil but a delicious meal. Then he extended his hand toward Davos and said excitedly: “It’s black!”
Davos understood what he meant. Before Bourkos’ gaze even turned, he exclaimed: “This is truly fertile land!”
Bourkos said proudly: “Of course! The Sybaris Plain has several rivers including the Crathis. Not only is there abundant water, but the land is fertile and flat, and vast in area. It’s the best land in this region. Otherwise, how could Sybaris have lived in luxury!”
The group walked away from the riverbank for a short distance and saw ruins among the weeds—the old site of Sybaris.
Davos stopped before a large stone. Although it was covered with moss and greenery, the flat surface faintly revealed exquisite patterns and a dark red color, proving it was fine marble. Looking around, there were many such stones here, hidden under weeds, half-buried in the soil…
You see, Greece and Italy mostly produce white marble; only Africa abounds in red marble, so it’s naturally expensive. Although Davos didn’t know the price, he had rarely seen such stone even in the city-states he had passed through, so it was clearly not easy to obtain. “What excellent stone! Why didn’t Thurii use it when building the city?” he asked Bourkos, seemingly casually.
Note: Regarding Magna Graecia, to be precise, it refers to the Greek city-states of southern Italy, the “foot” part of the Italian “boot”. The specific city-states included will be mentioned one by one later in this book.
Ruins