Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 46: Amendolara Handicraft Development Zone

“No! I never said that!” the merchant retorted, seeing the judge’s expression darken. Behind him, a sudden roar of angry shouts erupted: “How dare you insult us Lucanians! You want to die?!”

“Izam is a warrior of our alliance, and you dare to insult his wife! Your Honor, please punish this lecher severely!”

...

The merchant groaned inwardly. He had thought the woman was a reasonably attractive Lucanian slave, and since she only asked the price without buying, wasting so much time, his mind had gone momentarily fuzzy and he blurted out those words. He never expected she was the wife of a Daonia Alliance citizen. The truth was, he had only arrived a few days ago and was unfamiliar with local customs. In other city-states, citizens’ wives mostly stayed at home. A woman who could go to the market to buy and sell, and was of a foreign tribe, must be a slave. Taking a few verbal liberties, even touching her twice, was something no one would bother about. But Daonia was different. Many of its citizens married Lucanian women, and quite a few Daonian Greek women married Lucanian preparatory citizens. These foreigners lacked the elaborate etiquette of the Greeks, acted boldly and openly, and were naturally influencing and changing the conservative habits of Daonia’s original Greek citizens. Moreover, the revered magistrate, Lord Davos, allowed his own wife to appear in public, even to open a bank and a restaurant in the market, which further pushed the change in Daonia’s customs. So now it was common to see Daonian citizens’ wives in the marketplace.

“Defendant, is what the plaintiff said true?” Protesilaos asked. Seeing the merchant open his mouth immediately, he warned loudly: “If it were mere discrimination against foreigners, the maximum penalty would be a fine and corporal punishment. But if you lie after swearing before the gods, that is the crime of sacrilege, punishable by the cruel removal of the tongue! So think carefully before you speak!”

The merchant, Hetushu, was greatly shocked. He remained silent for a long time, cold sweat beading on his forehead. Finally, he said in a low voice: “What she said... is mostly true... but... but I didn’t know beforehand that discriminating against foreigners was against the law!”

“Really?” Protesilaos’s expression was stern. “When you rented the stall, did you not familiarize yourself with the ‘Regulations That Must Be Observed for Business in Daonia’ written by the Market Administration?”

“No...” the merchant started to deny, but then suddenly remembered Daonia’s Market Administration rule: without thorough knowledge of those regulations, one could not rent a stall. So he could only nod. “I’ve seen them.”

“In that case, you knowingly broke the law! First, you violated the law that ‘Daonia shall not discriminate against foreigners,’ and you must pay a fine of ten drachmas and receive two strokes of the rod, so that you remember well and do not repeat it! As for your verbal insult to the plaintiff, without acting on it... that... do we have a law in the alliance about this?” Protesilaos asked Phraocles.

Phraocles thought carefully and shook his head.

“It seems I will have something to do at the next Senate meeting,” Protesilaos muttered to himself. He considered for a moment, then said: “As for the punishment for your verbal insult to the plaintiff, I leave the decision to her.”

The merchant trembled and looked at the plaintiff with pleading eyes. The young Lucanian woman did not decline and said bluntly: “Then let him serve as a guide at the Market Administration for five days of voluntary labor.”

“Good, so be it!” Protesilaos praised the plaintiff’s suggestion. “Defendant, regarding the plaintiff’s ‘five days of voluntary labor,’ you may choose not to accept it, but then you will be expelled from the alliance and forbidden to do business here forever!” Protesilaos emphasized. “Think carefully: do you accept this punishment?”

For a merchant, dignity was unimportant; what mattered was the ability to make money. His pottery business at the Thurii market these past few days had been very prosperous. He certainly did not want to be expelled from the alliance over such a trivial matter, so he ultimately accepted the punishment.

The next dispute was exactly the opposite: a registered freeman stallholder clashed with a foreign merchant. The freeman had insulted and beaten the merchant. The facts were clear, the evidence conclusive, and there was little controversy. According to the market regulations against “discriminating against foreign merchants” and “causing a brawl,” it should have been a straightforward judgment. However, during the trial, the freeman refused to admit the beating and kept hinting to Protesilaos that he was a trusted subordinate of Senator Polyxides, constantly working for him, and hoped the judge would hush up the matter.

The young and fiery Protesilaos had always disliked Polyxides, who often flaunted his noble birth in the Senate and occasionally looked down on those of them who were not senators of Thurii. Now that he had an opportunity, he would not let it go. He roared angrily: “Bold defendant, how dare you ruin the reputation of Lord Polyxides! Not only have you oppressed the plaintiff and assaulted him with vile behavior, but you have also consistently denied the facts and violated the oath you swore earlier. I sentence you for the crime of sacrilege, to be carried out immediately!”

The freeman was terrified and quickly begged for mercy, while the onlookers cheered loudly for Protesilaos.

In the end, the freeman refused to undergo the cruel punishment of “tongue removal” and chose instead the equivalent penalty of forty strokes of the rod. He was beaten until barely breathing and carried out of the court. Meanwhile, the scribe recorded his actions. Even if he eventually recovered, the registry office would use the record to expel him from Daonia.

The disputes and conflicts that occurred at the market and the harbor were mostly minor, and the judgments were very swift, without the need for cumbersome legal procedures, lawyers, or juries...

Theos watched from outside the court for a while and discerned a pattern: clearly, this small court was demonstrating through action the Daonia Alliance’s impartial stance, protecting the legitimate rights of all law-abiding persons within Daonia’s territory—citizens, slaves, foreigners, and outlanders alike. This made a deep impression on merchants like him who traveled far and wide.

Merchants like Theos were citizens of status in their own city-states. When doing business in other city-states, local citizens, often out of jealousy and the mindset that “this foreigner wants to take our city’s money,” frequently made hostile moves, and the high officials of those city-states usually favored their own citizens (since elections required citizen support). Among the Greek city-states, Athens had the best attitude toward foreigners and Hetushu who settled and did business in its territory. Because its super-developed trade and handicrafts required an open attitude to welcome the technology, capital investment, and employment brought by foreigners, Athens gave foreigners considerable rights under the law. Except for the inability to own land or hold public office, foreigners could even contract Athens’ mines or monopolize maritime shipping.

Athens’ generosity had, of course, been rewarded with goodwill from foreigners. In peacetime, they would make charitable donations, such as repairing temples, sponsoring dramatic festivals, and allowing Athenian citizens to watch for free. When Athens was in danger, they stepped forward like Athenian citizens, serving as heavy infantry or purchasing weapons and equipment—even triremes—to donate to the Athenian government.

Now Daonia seemed to be following Athens’ example, and in some aspects even bolder. Theos had come this time because the Daonia Alliance Senate had passed a new law: allowing the leasing of land between the Saraceno River and the Sisno River to foreign merchants for industrial use, with a lease term of twenty years.

This news immediately caused a stir among the foreign merchants in the Thurii market and quickly spread throughout Magna Graecia. Most merchants who had visited Thurii were optimistic about the Daonia Alliance’s trade prospects, especially since Daonia had also brought Laüs into its alliance. This meant any merchant trading in the alliance could enter Laüs at favorable prices and develop trade with regions like Naples, Massilia, Gaul, the Iberian Peninsula, Mauretania, and others. In particular, the Thurii–Laüs road was already under construction. Given the quality of Daonia’s road-building, the completed road would make cargo transport between the two cities much easier. At best, it would take only two days to travel from Thurii to Laüs—nearly the same time needed by sea. Moreover, sea travel was riskier: meeting pirates or storms could ruin everything, and one might even lose one’s life. Passing through the Strait of Messina also meant paying hefty tolls to Messina and Rhegium, the two cities at the northern and southern ends of the strait, which would greatly reduce profits.

On his last trip to Amendolara, Theos had passed through that area of land. Though flat, the soil was hard (mostly gravel) and unsuitable for farming, so it had not been distributed as “allotments” to alliance citizens. Except for a small portion used for the Amendolara military camp for citizen soldiers’ training, most of the land lay fallow. For Theos, even such barren land was valuable. He wanted to bid on a plot and set up a weapons workshop.

After making money in the previous trade, Theos had become interested in this rising alliance. He noticed that Daonia was a bellicose alliance; otherwise, it would not hold triumphs to give such great glory to victorious generals and soldiers. There would certainly be no shortage of wars in the future, and the rapidly increasing number of Daonia Alliance citizens had a great demand for weapons. As far as he knew, there was a large weapons shop in the port market of Thurii, said to be established by the alliance to provide for the families of fallen soldiers and to care for disabled veterans. Most of the weapons and armor sold there came from spoils, at most repaired, with little to no full-set heavy infantry equipment produced from scratch—and they lacked the capability. This showed Theos an opportunity for profit.

Corinth’s most famous product was weapons; its military equipment was renowned throughout Greece. Theos had previously been in this trade and had considerable experience. He could hire skilled Corinthian blacksmiths, set up a weapons workshop in the alliance, saving on transport costs, ease access to raw materials, and lower costs—since Thurii had copper mines and Lucania had iron mines. He could custom-make high-quality armor and weapons for the alliance’s citizens, or sell them in bulk to the alliance, or even to the natives (since the Daonia Alliance did not restrict arms exports). This was an industry more profitable and stable in Daonia than the grain trade. Having made his decision, he was eager to get started.