Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 4: Thurii in Reconstruction

“I will be like that someday!” Sekrian shouted confidently, full of longing for the future. “Untie the ropes! Let’s head to the river mouth!”

Lysias was also sizing up the patrol captain before him, then asked, “Are you citizens of Amendolara?”

The captain glanced at him and said, “No, we are citizens of the Thua Alliance!”

“Oh, sorry.” Lysias asked politely, “May I ask how the Croton soldiers you captured are doing now?”

“I cannot tell you exactly where they are being held, because it is a military secret!” the captain said sternly. “But I can tell you they are doing well now; Lord Davos even had the hospital treat the wounded soldiers. However, if your negotiations fail, things may not go so well for them. I hear the Thurii senators in the Senate strongly recommend sending them to the mines!”

Lysias was shocked: sending prisoners to the mines meant certain death! He remembered that when the Athenian army failed in its attack on Syracuse in Sicily, about five or six thousand were captured and eventually sent to quarry stone. Within a few years, nearly all had died! This made him feel somewhat tense.

After a while, a soldier returned on horseback and whispered in the captain’s ear, “Take the longest road.”

The captain immediately understood and said to the Croton delegation, “The Senate agrees to meet with you. Let’s set off.”

Hetushu passed through the ruined port and entered the city area. The Croton delegation could not believe their eyes: compared to the extremely quiet port just now, here there were people everywhere, full of noise. Men and women, old and young, were all busy. Some were clearing ashes and moving stones and rubble; others had already begun, on cleared land, following the craftsmen’s instructions to tamp down the earth and drive stakes; even more were setting up wooden frames by the city wall, laying stone blocks, and stacking bricks; still others were making mortar, transporting bricks and timber, pushing carts of food and water… The entire main city of Thurii had become a huge construction site. People were sweating profusely, enthusiastically rebuilding their homes. They were so focused that when the Croton delegation passed by, almost no one looked up.

Although thousands labored at the same time, the noise was not chaotic; they were organized in an orderly manner. Lysias noticed that some people with red ribbons tied around their heads played a major role, directing and coordinating the site’s operations. The true overseer was a lean, withered old man who constantly patrolled the area. When he found a problem, he would stop to check the blueprints, then talk with the people crowding around him, and soon someone would rush over to make corrections…

“Who is he?” someone in the Croton delegation asked curiously.

“Heracleides, once a disciple of the great Greek architect Hippodamus,” the captain replied.

Heracleides had originally, after finishing the construction of warehouses and inns in Amendolara, continued to oversee the building of the road from Amendolara to Thurii. But upon hearing that the Senate planned to rebuild Thurii, he volunteered to design and supervise the reconstruction of Thurii.

Davos gladly agreed and put forward some of his own requirements for the construction of the new Thurii.

For this city that recorded Heracleides’ glory and where he had lived for twenty years, Heracleides had mixed feelings. He knew it too well; he could walk through the entire city smoothly with his eyes closed, and could recount every rise and fall of the terrain, every curve of the riverbank… He poured all his emotions into his work, and after one sleepless night, he completed the design drawings for the new Thurii.

Davos was greatly impressed after seeing them. After that, Heracleides spent every day at the construction site, extremely energetic, and meticulously supervised the rebuilding work. His enthusiasm infected the citizens who were already rebuilding their homes, and the reconstruction pace kept accelerating.

The Croton envoys naturally did not know the degree of respect this lean old man now enjoyed in Thurii, nor did they remember who Hippodamus was. They responded politely and turned their attention elsewhere.

Lysias seemingly casually asked, “There must be over forty thousand people working here, right? Thurii shouldn’t have that many. Are the people of Amendolara among them too?”

“There are indeed some from our Amendolara populace, but most are freemen and slaves.” The captain looked at Lysias, as if knowing what he was thinking, and said without concealment, “You must be wondering why these freemen and slaves work so hard? It’s not only because they might become residents of this city in the future, but also because Magistrate Davos passed a provisional decree in the Senate: ‘Allow the widowed women of Thurii to marry freemen, but it must be with the woman’s consent.’”

“What?!” Lysias was greatly startled.

“Crotonians, you should know that even without counting the citizens slaughtered this time after your occupation, Thurii lost over ten thousand citizens in the earlier war with Lucania. The city of Thurii is almost entirely widows. I heard that Thurii was even planning to issue a decree allowing citizens to take multiple wives. That shows how short of men Thurii is.” The captain showed a faint smile. “Now, these freemen, in order to show off in front of the Thurii women busy rebuilding their homes and win their favor, naturally work desperately. You see, once they are favored by a Thurii woman, not only can they marry a wife, but they immediately become Thurii preparatory citizens and get a house. Although they can’t get land yet, as long as they join the army and fight in the future, those things won’t be a problem. Speaking of which, these guys are really lucky, with so many cultured, beautiful Thurii women to choose from. Back when we were in Amendolara—”

“Captain, stop complaining! Your wife is a famous beauty in Amendolara, and a Persian beauty at that. Don’t you know how much the other citizens envy you!” a soldier couldn’t help but say.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!…” The captain laughed shamelessly. “Of course, of course! My wife is the most beautiful woman in all of Amendolara, aside from the magistrate’s wife! Beautiful and cultured! I’m complaining for you guys, because you missed the good times!”

“My Lucanian woman is great! Not only passionate, tall, and big here…” a soldier patted his own chest and said dreamily, “Greek women can’t compare at all!”

…

A group of soldiers started arguing over whose woman was more beautiful, getting more vulgar by the minute. Lysias had no interest in listening further.

For a traditional Greek aristocrat like Lysias, the decrees issued by the Thua Alliance were completely heretical. In Croton—a polis founded centuries ago with extremely stable clan and phratry power—such measures were simply impossible. But he had to admit that for the people of Thurii who had lost their homes and a large number of able-bodied citizens, these were good ways to quickly boost the city-state’s strength. However, a Thurii that could rapidly recover its strength and prosper, and that was also a mortal enemy of Croton, was definitely not what Lysias wanted to see!

Thinking these thoughts, Lysias followed the group out of the city with a worried heart. On the way to the camp, they “happened” to see more than a dozen platoons training: they seemed to be playing a game. Both sides had about fifty men each (actually one platoon each). They used long wooden sticks with coarse cloth wrapped at the tips as spears, rough wooden planks as round shields. They charged and thrust at each other like in real combat. Only when one side was forced back behind a white line drawn with lime powder did the game end. The losing soldiers had to put their hands behind their backs, squat, and hop around the field (like frog jumps) as punishment.

The scene was intensely fierce; it was obvious at a glance that this game simulated actual combat. Lysias personally saw several soldiers get stabbed and immediately leave the field to receive bandage treatment, but the soldiers’ enthusiasm did not diminish at all; they kept clapping and cheering, vying to get on the field. The soldiers’ martial spirit and desire to fight were evident.

Someone in the delegation asked curiously, “Is your training always like this?”

The patrol captain smiled lightly, “We train once every five days. Each training session from dawn to dusk includes many drills. This is just one of the less intense drill items.”

The Crotonians in the delegation exchanged glances; it was clear that the military training intensity of the Thua Alliance was significantly higher than that of the Croton citizen soldiers, who spent most of their time in the gymnasium.

Lysias did not fully believe the captain’s words, but he could still see from this that the Amendolara army was a strictly trained, battle-hardened unit; otherwise, they could not have so easily defeated the Croton army, even if it was a surprise attack.

They entered the camp and arrived in front of the central tent. The patrol captain went in to report, while Lysias and his group waited outside the tent.

At this moment, a person came out from the tent. Lysias glanced at him and felt he looked very familiar, but couldn’t remember who it was for a moment.

That person also hadn’t expected to meet Lysias at this time; he was momentarily stunned, then regained his composure, smiled at Lysias, and immediately turned and left.

Lysias stared at his back, trying hard to recall who he was.

“Magistrate, please come in!” came the patrol captain’s voice from behind.

Lysias steadied himself, lifted the tent flap, and walked inside.

The patrol captain led the soldiers out of the camp. His stern expression immediately melted into a smile. “Brothers, how was my performance just now?”

“Captain Olivus, you did great! Very serious and earnest, completely different from your usual self!” a soldier praised.

“I think you fell a bit short. There was a part where you joked about women—that was beneath your dignity!” another soldier raised his objection.

“What?!” Olivus’s eyes widened. He said displeasedly, “Xenotimas, you carried out your task very carelessly today. You must accept punishment!”