Volume 3: The First Croton War, Chapter 35: The Outbreak of War

The panicked generals, after urgent consultations with the Council, decided to send envoys to Croton to apologize and offer any compensation they demanded.

When the news reached Amendolara, Davos and the senators were astonished: after all, city-state envoys represented the city-state itself, and killing them was a major taboo—it could mean war.

Amendolara immediately canceled its plans to participate in the Isthmian Games and began to watch the situation closely.

"Father, this is great! The people of Thurii are about to be punished by the gods!" Sostratus ran excitedly into the back courtyard.

Kynogoratas, lying on his couch and sunning himself while recovering from his wounds, was not as excited as his eldest son. The former chief general of Thurii looked troubled and sighed: "I told you so! I told you so—Neonxis would bring disaster to Thurii!" ...

When the Thurian envoy galloped to Croton, Croton's generals had already learned the news from merchant ships. They listened coldly to the envoy's words, dismissed the idea of "offering any compensation," and simply said: "We can go to Thurii ourselves and take whatever we want, as much as we want!"

Croton had tolerated Thurii for a long time. Ever since it defeated Sybaris a century ago, Croton's power had steadily grown, making it a major power in Magna Graecia. But due to the strength of Athens, it had been forced to allow the founding of Thurii—a great disgrace for Croton, which was used to bullying its way across the "sole" of southern Italy. Now, after this incident, it could settle old and new scores at once while filling the treasury’s emptiness—two birds with one stone.

That same day, Croton's General Assembly easily passed a resolution to declare war on Thurii and began a war mobilization for its citizens. By the morning of the third day, they had assembled seven thousand able-bodied citizen soldiers. Asperustum and Scylletium also sent three thousand citizen soldiers to join them. Trina, having just been through war and facing the Bruttians directly, sent only thirty cavalry. Caulonia also expressed a desire to join the campaign, but Croton politely declined, because Caulonia's southern neighbor was the Locrian League, and Croton had long-standing enmity with Locri. Caulonia was an important shield for Croton's south and could not be compromised.

Four days later, after sacrifices at Croton's Temple of Apollo and auspicious divination, Melanthius, one of the ten generals, led an army of ten thousand soldiers northward in full force.

War had finally broken out between Croton and Thurii.

Upon hearing the news of the Crotonian army marching toward Thurii, Neonxis was extremely anxious. Reminded by his colleagues, he proposed to the Council that an emergency Assembly be convened.

At the Assembly, he spoke passionately. First, he recounted how the Thurian Council's attempts at peace had failed, and then repeated the Crotonians' reply, which immediately aroused indignation among many citizens. But when they heard that Croton had a ten-thousand-man army attacking, a long silence fell over the assembly hall. To be sure, although the Crotonian attacking force was smaller than the Lucanian tribal coalition army, these were real Greek heavy infantry, and Croton's citizen soldiers had a reputation throughout Magna Graecia for their fighting strength.

Just then, the vineyard owner Oryphus shouted: "We should send another envoy to Croton to sue for peace and agree to any of their demands."

"Their demands will only be for more money and goods, but the key is that our treasury is nearly empty!" General Polyxides stood up and said: "We can't raise more money unless we impose a special war tax on the citizens."

At the mention of taxes, the assembly fell silent again.

In the end, the citizens, battered by war and now afraid of conflict, made a compromise. They reluctantly expressed that, to avoid another devastation of Thurii, they agreed to the city hall's tax demand—but feared that even that would not satisfy Croton's appetite.

"We have to try first," Pleisinas shouted, raising his arm. "Lost money can be earned back, but regret over lost loved ones comes too late!"

The proposal was passed, and Neonxis breathed a temporary sigh of relief.

"Why not seek out Tarentum and ask it to mediate peace between us and Croton?! Since Tarentum advocated the founding of the Magna Graecia Defense League, it certainly wouldn't want war between city-states!" Another person stood up and said: "Moreover, with Tarentum's great strength, it will surely make Croton think twice, making a truce more likely!"

"That's a good idea, Eanilus!" Neonxis praised. As the owner of Thurii's largest shipyard, Eanilus was not someone to offend lightly, so Neonxis nodded repeatedly: "Thank you for reminding me. We'll send someone to ask for Tarentum's help immediately!"

"Even if a truce is possible, we must prepare for failure! What if Croton insists on war? What do we do?!" Another person stood up and said.

Neonxis saw it was Antistanos speaking. Although their relationship had soured over the Kynogoratas affair, he had to admit the suggestion was sound. So Neonxis asked: "Respected Antistanos, do you have any good advice?"

"First, let our citizens arm themselves. Croton has superior numbers, so we cannot face them head-on outside the city. Our high walls will help us withstand their attack and wear down their morale..."

Antistanos's words won agreement from many citizens: "That's right! Thurii's defenses are strong. The Lucanians couldn't crack us twice at the city walls, and Croton won't either!"

Antistanos continued: "Second... Amendolara is our ally, and everyone knows the fighting ability of their soldiers. We should ask them for help!"

At the mention of Amendolara, Neonxis felt as if he had swallowed a fly, but the attendees all expressed approval: "Antistanos is right! We should go to them for help. With them here, we can feel at ease!"

"I said long ago that souring relations with Amendolara over a few slaves wasn't worth it. Now asking for their help won't be easy!"

Such remarks made Neonxis's face blush and pale by turns, deeply embarrassed. He forced himself to be energetic and said: "That's a good suggestion. Burkes, you go."

The usually mild-tempered Burkes immediately refused: "I'm not capable. Better let the capable Pleisinas go."

Pleisinas, hearing this, lowered his head and didn't speak. He knew that if he went, not only would the plea for help fail, but he might even be beaten.

It was no wonder Burkes wasn't cooperative. Earlier, he had urged the city hall to fulfill its promise and grant freedom to the slaves. The city hall ignored his proposal, eventually leading to a slave revolt, with some slaves escaping to Amendolara. At that time, Burkes, knowing Davos, thought: "Amendolara will certainly refuse Thurii's demands. It would be better to simply fulfill the promise, grant freedom to the slaves, and thus achieve friendly relations with Amendolara." Neonxis and the other generals not only rejected his advice but also thought that, given his relationship with Davos, Burkes would find it hard to go to Amendolara to demand the slaves back, so they sent the hardline Pleisinas instead. Burkes's words just now were among the original reasons Neonxis gave for refusing his embassy to Amendolara. Now Burkes was throwing them back in his face—one can imagine the expression on Neonxis's face.

At this point, even though Neonxis secretly resented Burkes, he had to plead gently: "Burkes, this is a matter of life and death for Thurii! No one else can accomplish this task but you! I hope you can go to Amendolara and ask Davos to send troops to help!"

After venting his frustration, Burkes nodded straightforwardly in response to the citizens' pleas.

"Amendolara is a small city; the reinforcements it can send are unlikely to be many. The key is still ourselves," Antistanos continued. "I suggest mobilizing the freemen to join the fight and promising them citizenship. Of course, we made a similar promise before and didn't keep it. This time, to win their trust, we should grant them citizenship immediately as soon as they agree to fight!"

Each of Antistanos's suggestions made Neonxis more uncomfortable. As for this one, not only Neonxis but also the citizens present—based on their own interests—almost none agreed. In the end, the answer Antistanos got was: "Let's discuss it later..."

While Thurii was holding its Assembly, Croton's army, after most of a day's march, arrived outside the city of Crimissa.

Crimissa—this town was originally a colony of Sybaris. After Sybaris fell, it defected to the Crotonian League. When Athens refounded Thurii, the agreement with Croton specifically mentioned that Castron and Crimissa must remain neutral.

Now, before Croton's great army, Crimissa opened its gates without hesitation and voluntarily sent a thousand men to join the Crotonian forces.

Melanthius of Croton, now forty-five years old, had in his youth won the Olympic wrestling championship twice and the Isthmian wrestling championship once. He had fought many battles against Locri and the Bruttii, commanded independently twice and won victory... He fought fiercely, often leading from the front, but was not liked by his soldiers because after a victory he always took all the credit... He was said to be tall and handsome, lived lavishly, and was quite popular with the women of Croton. For this, men envied him and deliberately voted against him, causing him to lose elections for general many times. His friends often advised him, "Don't pay too much attention to your appearance; keep a low profile," but he would say, "Apollo granted me a strong physique and a wise mind. Without envy, how can my excellence be highlighted?"