Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 43: Tarantum in Action and Agasia's Regret

Watching Phoebidas reluctantly board the ship and leave Tarentum's harbor, Diomilas immediately changed his expression and said seriously to Eumachus, "The Spartans have a saying that's quite right: if Tarentum doesn't pull itself together, even a new city-state like Daonia, with no historical tradition, will start to look down on us!"

"Are we really going to war against the Messapians?!" Eumachus hesitated.

"Aren't the Messapians already waging war against us?" Diomilas retorted, speaking with pain. "It's precisely because we've been yielding to the Messapians all along that they increasingly think Tarentum is weak, that they keep escalating their raids on us, and that the other city-states of Magna Graecia are increasingly ignoring Tarentum's existence! We must counterattack and completely resolve the Messapian problem!"

"Completely resolve?! That's not what you told me last time!" Eumachus frowned.

Diomilas had let it slip and quickly said, "What I mean is, first we need to concentrate all our strength on capturing Manduria, which poses the greatest threat to us. Then, depending on the opportunity, the best outcome would be to seize Brundisium. That way, our strength would be greatly enhanced! The other Messapian city-states can be conquered gradually..."

Eumachus felt tempted but still hesitated. "Do we have the strength to decisively defeat the main Messapian force?"

"Of course we do!" Diomilas said firmly. To persuade his colleague, he added, "And we have a powerful reserve force!"

"What reserve force?" Eumachus was taken aback.

Diomilas pointed to the west over the sea. "Daonia, our ally. We've helped it for so long—now it's time for it to contribute!"

Eumachus finally said, "I will support your proposal in the Senate."

...

"Damn it! Daonia, Castron, Tarentum—these city-states of Magna Graecia are all in cahoots!" Phoebidas said angrily on the ship.

"Should we go to Croton instead?" Dorobisis suggested cautiously.

Phoebidas shot him a glare and said, "To Syracuse!"

Phoebidas knew full well that Croton had poor relations with Daonia because of the earlier war. But he couldn't go there, because Croton's enemies weren't limited to Daonia—its relations with Locri were even worse, and Locri was an ally of Syracuse, which was in turn a Spartan ally in Magna Graecia. If he went to Croton, Syracuse would likely complain to Sparta. Although he was eager to get revenge on Daonia, he didn't want to end up exiled like Thibron. Besides, compared to Croton, Syracuse was a better partner.

But dealing with that Sicilian tyrant, who was rumored to be somewhat overbearing, Phoebidas felt he should learn from his earlier mistake of being too ostentatious in Magna Graecia. He would adopt a different approach—more subtle—to achieve his goals.

The newly built Cheiristoya restaurant in Thurii was located in the southwestern part of the city, near the dock. Compared to the other Cheiristoya restaurant next to the Thurii marketplace, this one catered mainly to alliance citizens, foreign envoys, and wealthy merchants, so it offered high-end dishes, such as washed lamb and beef. To accommodate this, part of the restaurant was partitioned into open-air courtyards to allow smoke from the grilling to escape.

When Timasion, Xanthiparis, and Cleanho entered the courtyard at Agasia's invitation, they felt no unfamiliarity with the scene, having enjoyed similar things at Davos's residence.

Cleanho was interested in the price of the washed meat and asked the slave serving nearby as he ate, "How much does it cost to eat this once?"

The slave thought for a moment and said, "Honored guest, that depends on how much you eat. Usually, it's about two to five drachmas per person."

"So expensive!" Cleanho exclaimed in surprise. "I don't even earn a drachma a day now!"

"It is a bit more expensive than ordinary dishes, but it's worth the price!" the slave explained patiently. "First, our restaurant sources its beef and mutton from Nerulum—Lucanian livestock is famous throughout Magna Graecia, so the price is naturally not cheap. Second, the restaurant regularly sends people up to the high mountaintops in the west to collect unmelted snow and ice to freeze the meat. That's quite a risky endeavor! Then, there are slaves skilled in knife work who constantly slice the meat into uniform thin pieces for you. The restaurant also hires chefs from Egypt to prepare sauces of various flavors. And finally, there's me serving you at all times... You see, with all these complex steps and so many people involved to make this washed meat you enjoy, do you still think it's expensive?"

"You have a silver tongue!" Cleanho exclaimed in admiration. Then he sighed and said bluntly, "Too bad you're a slave!"

"Although I am a slave now, my kind master still pays me wages every day. According to the alliance's Slave Law, 'A slave who works diligently for his master for more than four years, can raise enough money to buy his freedom, and obtains his master's consent, may become a freeman.' And our master Cheiristoya is as merciful as Lord Davos. She has already made a sacred vow to the great god Hades before our eyes! So I believe that in ten years, I will definitely become a Daonian citizen!" The slave's eyes shimmered with gratitude and hope.

Davos, you really know how to win people's hearts! Aren't you afraid of opposition from the slave owners? Cleanho looked at the slightly excited slave but didn't voice the thought. Instead, he asked casually, "What's your name?"

"Tanalus."

"I hope your wish comes true," Cleanho said insincerely.

Tanalus replied cheerfully, "Thank you for your blessing, kind guest!"

"Look, someone's finally praised Cleanho for being good-hearted!" Timasion teased.

"Timasion, are you jealous?!" Cleanho pretended to be angry and picked up a jug of beer. "Come on, let's drink!"

"Hah! With your drinking capacity, you think you can get me drunk?!" Timasion didn't bother with a cup and lifted his own jug. "Come on, let's finish it in one go!"

"Drink then!" The two tilted their heads back and gulped down the beer.

Xanthiparis called out, "You two, drink slower! Agasia is spending a lot to treat us to this meal!" Then he joked to Agasia, "This restaurant should be considered Davos' establishment, right? He should give us a discount when we settle the bill."

"Uh... don't worry about Agasia. He's a senator in the Senate—how can he not afford even a few dozen drachmas!" Cleanho said loudly, belching, with a hint of envy in his voice.

"Cleanho is right—don't worry about the money. Tonight, let's eat and drink freely!" Agasia said loudly, as if he hadn't heard the irony in Cleanho's words.

"Bring me another jug of beer!" Timasion said to Tanalus. "This is good stuff—I like it!"

"Give me another one too!" Cleanho called out as well.

"Please wait a moment." Tanalus hurried to the door and called out the guests' request to a server in the hallway.

The banquet lasted about half an hour, and everyone was slightly tipsy.

"A year ago, we were fighting Persians every day, seeing the stiff corpses of our comrades beside us. We barely had any hope of making it back to Greece alive, let alone thought we'd be joyfully drinking and eating like this today..." Xanthiparis said with emotion. "It's been so hard! We truly have to thank the gods for their protection!"

"Let's toast to still being alive and gathered together!" Timasion raised his cup.

"Thanks to Zeus (Hades) for his protection!" The others responded in turn.

Xanthiparis set down his cup and said, "Agasia, you didn't just invite us here to drink and eat, did you?" The observant man had long noticed that Agasia seemed a bit downcast.

Agasia's hand, reaching out with a ladle to scoop meat, paused midair. After a moment, he set down the ladle, wiped the wine stains from his mouth with his hand, and looked at the three men who were staring at him expectantly. He said solemnly, "Today, a Spartan envoy came. He demanded that the alliance arrest you and hand you over to Sparta..."

The news of the Spartan warship arriving at Thurii had already spread at the port. Timasion and the others knew about it, but they hadn't expected the Spartan envoy to have come specifically for them.

"How did you answer the Spartans?" Cleanho asked urgently, while the other two also looked tense.

"Don't worry. Even though the Spartans threatened war, Davos firmly refused the Spartan envoy!" Agasia's reply made the three men sigh in relief.

"Davos truly is a leader who wins battles—he's not afraid of Spartan threats!" At that moment, Cleanho was praising Davos again.

"Actually, the Spartans aren't that terrifying. We fought alongside them in Asia Minor for over half a year, so we know Sparta fairly well. Their generals do have plenty of combat experience, but they have very few actual Spartan citizens to send into battle. When fighting abroad, they rely mainly on allied troops and mercenaries like us. Their combat effectiveness isn't that strong. Just dealing with Persia has already caused them plenty of difficulty. I don't think they have the spare capacity to come and provoke the alliance!..." Timasion also tried to console.

These words seemed to have little effect on Agasia. His eyes stared blankly at the ground in front of him, his face full of remorse as he muttered, "Back then, I forced Davos to agree and went to Asia Minor to lure you here... To attract all of you, I casually promised conditions that the alliance doesn't actually have. I thought that once you came, you could live a peaceful life like us, but I never expected... so many conflicts and disputes would arise, causing you so much suffering and earning the dissatisfaction of the alliance citizens... And now, it's made Sparta hostile toward the alliance! Because of this, Davos has also faced criticism from the senators! I... Have I really done wrong in this matter?!"