Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 1: The Establishment of the Tua Union

In the afternoon, Davos urgently convened a meeting of the Amendolara Senate and invited Kynogoratas, along with more than a dozen renowned and influential citizens of Thurii, including Antistanos, Bourkos, and even Pleisinas and Polyxides on the list.

Asiastes was puzzled and asked, “Sir, why let that dishonorable, thick-skinned scoundrel Pleisinas attend?”

Davos said seriously, “To us, Pleisinas is a man of no faith and petty character. But to Thurii, he is a patriot who did not hesitate to ruin his own reputation for the sake of the city’s interests. Such a person deserves our respect!”

“And what about this Polyxides? He’s a deserter!”

Davos did not answer. He had asked Kynogoratas, and despite being betrayed by Neonxis and Polyxides, Kynogoratas gave an objective suggestion that Davos invite Polyxides to the meeting, because the Polyxides family had always been influential among the Boeotian immigrants in Thurii.

Ever since the people of Amendolara came to rescue the citizens of Thurii, Pleisinas had been uneasy, even thinking of leaving Thurii to emigrate to another city-state. When the herald from Amendolara found him and extended the invitation, he was skeptical. The herald repeated Davos’s words to him, and Pleisinas actually shed tears of gratitude. He knew that in the past two days, the Thurians, who had been well cared for by the Amendolara people, felt guilty and instead blamed Pleisinas for being the first to break the friendship between Thurii and Amendolara. Even his own relatives were distancing themselves. Davos’s affirmation moved him deeply.

At the same time, the invitation to Pleisinas showed the Thurians that Amendolara was willing to let bygones be bygones, which reassured many Thurians who had previously contributed to opposing Amendolara.

Because the conditions were simple, the meeting was held on the grass. Everyone sat cross-legged in a circle, with guards standing around.

At the meeting, Davos proposed the establishment of a Thurii-Amendolara alliance, with the citizens of both cities sharing one magistrate and one Senate. He invited the Thurians present, including Kynogoratas, to join the Senate and become members of this new alliance’s Senate.

This proposal had been discussed between Davos and the senators of Amendolara beforehand. These Thurians were already in a weak position, heavily dependent on Amendolara’s aid and protection, and they would become senators to boot—why not do it?

The news quickly spread among the Thurian populace, and the vast majority cheered. Mainly because if this alliance were established, they could accept Amendolara’s help and the protection of its powerful soldiers without guilt! No need to worry about betrayal or abandonment, since they would all be one family!

The cheers reached the ears of the new Thurian senators still in the meeting, and their last doubts vanished.

Then Davos continued: Since Thurii and Amendolara were now one family, Amendolara’s laws would also apply to Thurii, and the rights and duties enjoyed by the people of Amendolara would equally apply to Thurian citizens.

Except for a few Thurian senators who had minor objections to the law requiring citizens who owned land to pay a one-percent land tax annually, Davos’s proposal passed by a large majority.

Next, Davos proposed fulfilling the earlier promise: granting freedom to the slaves who had fought in the battle against the Lucanian coalition. For the freemen who participated in the battle against the Lucanian coalition, did not betray Thurii, and did not join the Croton army, they would be made preparatory citizens of the new alliance. The leaders among the freemen who incited the rebellion and caused the fall of Thurii would be sentenced to death by the Thurian people.

This proposal passed without dispute. Because with the burning of Thurii, the Thurians had deeply reflected. They realized that one of the main causes of the disaster was Thurii breaking its promises and mishandling the freemen and slaves.

Pleisinas felt a bit awkward after hearing Davos’s proposal. Unexpectedly, Davos suggested that Pleisinas be put in charge of executing it. This was a good chance for Pleisinas to wash away his stain, and he once again felt immense gratitude toward Davos.

In fact, most of the freemen who had participated in the Battle of Lucania had joined the rebellion and followed the Croton army to transport spoils, intending to go to Croton, but were captured by the Amendolara legion. As for the slaves, with Thurii fallen, they lost control. Most of the miner slaves fled into the mountains, while the city slaves mostly chose to stay. If they fled elsewhere, in most cases they would still become slaves, and if captured by natives, their situation would be even worse. Better to stay with their familiar masters—life was tolerable except for the lack of freedom. Very few freemen and slaves actually met the conditions of the proposal, but for those still lingering near the ruins of Thurii who had not yet left, it was undoubtedly great news. They believed that the rumored magistrate was indeed favorable toward freemen and slaves, and he was a life magistrate—meaning there would be more opportunities for them to gain freedom and become full citizens in the future.

By calming the freemen and slaves and kindling their enthusiasm for the new alliance, the safety of Thurii was secured, because they outnumbered the Thurian citizens by a wide margin.

The first Senate meeting of the Thurii-Amendolara alliance proved highly efficient. One proposal after another aiding the reconstruction of Thurii was passed. At Davos’s suggestion, Kynogoratas was elected City Administrator of Thurii by a large margin, receiving unanimous votes from the Thurian senators. This was mainly because Kynogoratas had wholeheartedly helped the Thurian citizens despite past grievances, making the Thurians feel guilty. Also, the shrewd Thurian senators realized that for a long time to come, the political situation would be dominated by the people of Amendolara. Since Kynogoratas was valued by Davos, they needed to work hard to ensure Kynogoratas would speak more for the Thurians.

Since the two cities were not far apart, apart from the office of City Administrator, which each city had independently, the other public offices were shared. As needed, deputies or assistants would be appointed and dispatched to each city to carry out duties.

At the same time, a Thurii Reconstruction Committee was established, led by Davos, with the two City Administrators, Cornelius and Kynogoratas, as his deputies, overseeing the entire reconstruction of Thurii.

Finally, Bourkos asked the question that worried all Thurians: “What if the people of Croton come again?”

Davos’s expression remained unchanged as he smiled and said, “I think we can let the Military Affairs Officer answer that.”

Philistos stood up and said, “Honored senators, let me first briefly introduce the results of our army in this battle. We mobilized a total of 4,895 soldiers, eliminated about 6,000 enemies, and captured 9,000 prisoners. (This is a very high casualty ratio—on average, each Amendolara soldier killed more than one enemy. Under normal battle conditions, even if the Amendolara soldiers were far more capable, this situation would be impossible. It happened only because it was a surprise attack, and the Crotonians were drunk, asleep, unarmored, and unarmed, leading to such high casualties.) On our side, only 72 citizens died and 200 were wounded.”

Upon hearing this, the Thurian senators were stunned.

Philistos continued, “Of the 9,000 prisoners, about 5,000 are from Croton (mainly because when Croton set up their camp, they placed soldiers from other city-states on the periphery).” Philistos glanced at Davos. “We can use these prisoners to force Croton into peace negotiations with us. If negotiations fail, even though Thurii was burned down, its walls are made of stone and are mostly intact. We can organize a large workforce to quickly repair the walls and defend against a Croton attack. At the same time, we can seek aid from Tarentum.”

“Will Tarentum help us?” Bourkos asked doubtfully. After all, Thurii had tried the same before. Tarentum had sent envoys symbolically, but after their mediation failed, they took no further action.

“Now that Croton’s strength is greatly diminished, not only will Tarentum help us, but Locri might also take action!” said Kynogoratas, who was well versed in the affairs of Magna Graecia. “Magistrate, we should organize manpower now to first build the walls, and we must immediately try to form an alliance with Tarentum!”

“But we are already allied with Tarentum!” Amyntas blurted out.

“That’s different,” Antonios explained in a low voice. “The previous treaty with Tarentum was signed by Amendolara. Now Amendolara has become the Thurii-Amendolara alliance.”

Amyntas scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Kynogoratas, you’ve reminded me. We do need Tarentum’s aid now,” Davos said. In his heart, he did not consider Tarentum’s aid essential, but understanding Tarentum’s attitude was very important. Because originally, Amendolara was only an inconspicuous ally of Tarentum, but suddenly it had become an alliance of two cities, with greatly increased strength. How would Tarentum view this? Kynogoratas was reminding him of this. Therefore, Davos cast a grateful look at him.

…

Mariji and Antistanos were dispatched to the Senate of Tarentum.

When the magistrates and senators of Tarentum learned that Amendolara had defeated the army of Croton, they could hardly believe their ears. Ten thousand Croton soldiers had been wiped out or captured in a single morning. These were not the fanatical but undisciplined, fierce but short-lived Lucanians—they were real Greek citizen soldiers, and Croton’s citizen soldiers were known for their athleticism and strength. How could this not shock the people of Tarentum!