Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 23: Slaughter and Appeasement (Part 2)

Amidst the uproar, a voice exclaimed in surprise, "Dila's husband?! Uraza, you've missed your chance!"

This remark drew light laughter from the guests for the first time.

"I thought you'd all died in the pursuit from Grumentum..." Uraza said bitterly. "So I've already taken a wife."

"Back then, none of us could be sure we'd live to see today!" Bacule's words resonated with the guests, and he continued, "So tonight, let's not talk about anything else—just drink! Celebrate that we're still alive today!"

"Well said!" Cessima grabbed a two-eared amphora full of wine, took a gulp, and shouted approvingly, "Good wine! This is the first time I've had such fine wine! Tonight, I'm going to drink all of Bacule's good stuff dry!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Bacule silently thanked Cessima for bailing him out. He raised his cup and shouted, "Come, let us give thanks to the God Asinu for his protection!"

Bacule led the way, and after a few cups of wine, the banquet grew lively—cups clinked, toasts were made, and amidst the noise, Bacule stood up and said to Asiastes, "Come, brother-in-law, let me introduce you to my guests!"

Asiastes held a wine jug in one hand and a cup in the other.

"This is Cessima, my childhood friend and wrestling rival, though he could never beat me!"

"Don't listen to his nonsense!"

"Fine, let's have another match another day!"

"Why another day? Let's compete right after the banquet ends. You up for it?!"

"Bring it on! Think I'm afraid of you?!" Bacule agreed readily.

Hearing there'd be a wrestling match to watch later, the other guests got excited and started cheering.

Asiastes greeted Cessima in the Lucanian custom, clinked cups, and downed the drink in one go.

"Good!" someone shouted. Clearly, even though Asiastes was Greek, his use of Lucanian etiquette and forthrightness was starting to draw the guests' attention.

"This is Uraza, my good friend, and he once pursued Tina!"

"Pleased to meet you!" Asiastes stepped forward, clinked cups, and said, "Don't worry, Tina is living well. I'll always treat her right!"

Uraza glared at Asiastes and spat out, "I'll wrestle you later. You up for it?!"

"Fine!" Asiastes replied simply, raised his cup, and drained it.

"Good!!" More guests, eager for entertainment, shouted out. They were starting to find this Greek agreeable.

"This is Uncle Hemon. When we were kids, he often took us fishing. His fishing skills are the best among all the Lucanians!"

...

After making the rounds and finishing one jug of wine, Asiastes felt a little unsteady on his feet, but the guests' eyes no longer held the wariness they'd had at first.

"Brother-in-law, you need to understand..." Bacule, back in his seat, said loudly and earnestly to Asiastes, "We all used to live in small tribes in the mountains between the upper Lao River and the upper Agri River. We often interacted, and when facing outside enemies, we'd join forces to fight back. But after Grumentum and Nerulum formed an alliance, we had no power to stand against their strength. Some were forced to join Grumentum, others like Cessima and Uraza were forced into Nerulum, and some, like us, escaped from the deep mountains... I never thought we'd gather together again..." Bacule said emotionally, "If my father knew, he'd be unable to sleep all night!"

Bacule's words stirred memories among the guests, and most sighed with regret.

Just then, Bacule slapped Asiastes on the shoulder and said loudly, "My brother-in-law has another identity. He is the trusted subordinate of Davos, the magistrate of the Thua Alliance. This time, Lord Davos sent him to help govern Nerulum!"

At this, the guests all gasped in astonishment.

"Davos? You mean that Greek who wiped out over ten thousand of Acipirus's men with only a few thousand?!"

"Asiastes, I heard this Davos later defeated tens of thousands of Crotonians with just a few thousand men. Is that true?"

"I also heard he's the son of a Greek god?!"

No wonder the guests were so startled. Although Nerulum and Thurii had cut off relations due to war, Laüs had a port. As long as there was foreign trade, news from outside soon reached Nerulum. The Lucanians had been wondering why the powerful Lucanian coalition army had failed, and the name Davos first reached their ears. If they paid attention, they'd hear even more rumors about Davos from foreign merchant ships at the port of Laüs...

For the more superstitious and strength-worshipping Lucanians, this Greek who had achieved so much—strong and mysterious—inspired awe. So when Bacule learned of this from the prisoners, he immediately realized it could be used. Thus, he didn't mention Asiastes's rank but called him Davos's trusted subordinate, instantly casting a halo over Asiastes.

Asiastes took the opportunity to say, "Lord Davos once said, 'In Lucania, big tribes oppress small ones, swallow up their people, plunder their livestock, and in the end, the chiefs of big tribes are as rich as kings, while the people from small tribes, though not slaves, are worse than slaves.'"

"That's right!"

"Absolutely!"

Asiastes's words resonated with the guests.

"And the Thua Alliance will never oppress you!" Asiastes declared emphatically. "Before I came, Lord Davos repeatedly told me, 'Treat the Lucanians as your own people!' He said, 'Under the rule of the Thua Alliance, Greeks, Lucanians, Persians, and all races are equal—no distinction of status, no difference of rank—they enjoy the same rights and obligations!'"

"That's true!" Bacule immediately chimed in to confirm: "Mariji, the Thua Alliance's chief commercial officer and a senator in the Senate, is a Persian, but he is also a citizen of the Thua Alliance! And I am a Lucanian, now the battalion commander of the Fourth Battalion of the First Legion of the Thua Alliance, and also a senator in the Senate! My father, Vespa, is likewise a senator!"

The guests exclaimed in disbelief. The Lucanians, surrounded by Greek city-states, had long contact and interaction, so they roughly understood the Greek city-state system. Being a senator was equivalent to being the chief of a major Lucanian tribal union—someone who could participate in discussions and decisions about tribal alliance affairs, and if powerful enough, could even sway the Great Chief's decisions.

"How do we become a citizen of the Thua Alliance?!" Many felt envious and couldn't help shouting.

"As long as you're willing to join the Thua Alliance, you can become a preparatory citizen right now. If you abide by the alliance's laws and behave well, after five years you can become a full citizen (the Thua Alliance Senate, considering the special circumstances of the Lucanians, allows anyone willing to submit to become a preparatory citizen. But for fairness, just like the Greeks, they convert to full citizens after five years)," Asiastes explained.

"What's the difference between this 'preparatory... preparatory citizen' and a full citizen?" A meticulous person noticed the distinction.

"Preparatory citizens don't enjoy some rights of full citizens, like land allocation from the alliance or eligibility for public office... and so on. But preparatory citizens enjoy the alliance's protection and can receive its aid. For example, if you become a preparatory citizen and want to farm, the alliance will lease you land in Nerulum to cultivate at a tax rate of only five percent (this is a new policy to encourage preparatory citizens to move to Nerulum). If you prefer herding, the alliance will lend you livestock to graze, also at a five percent tax rate. You should know that in Thurii, many Greek freemen find it not so easy to become preparatory citizens of the alliance. After applying, they undergo at least two years of scrutiny before they might become preparatory citizens."

"That's true. The Thua Alliance Senate, considering the Lucanians' wariness toward Greeks, specially relaxed the conditions for Lucanians to become preparatory citizens to show the alliance's sincerity. This has even drawn criticism from many citizens!" Bacule again endorsed the alliance.

In truth, they were overthinking it. Most guests didn't care about that. Compared to having to surrender half their annual income to Nerulum City and barely scraping by with war spoils, the tax rate offered by the Thua Alliance was as good as it could get! The guests exchanged eager comments.

"Aren't you afraid that we might take the livestock you give us and run away?" someone joked.

"We're not afraid!" Asiastes said confidently. "With just a few head of livestock, we can recognize someone unfit to be an alliance citizen. And where would the thief who stole the livestock go? Flee to other Lucanian tribes, only to have the livestock taken away and continue being oppressed by unfamiliar chiefs? Or go to another Greek city-state and become a slave? Or wander alone in the wild until they freeze, fall ill, or starve to death? Rather than that, isn't it better to stay in the friendly and peaceful alliance and live a stable life? The alliance respects Lucanian culture and customs, allows you to have your own temples, freely worship, keep your own customs and festivals, as long as you don't violate the alliance's laws or disturb public order..."

After hearing these words, each guest fell into thought.

Then someone shouted, "How do we become a senator in the Thua Alliance Senate?!"

Bacule recognized the speaker as Hemon and smiled to himself. Hemon's tribe had once been second only to Vespa's, one of the larger tribes between the Lao and Agri Rivers. But now he had only a few hundred warriors left.