Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 53: The Fall

“So we don’t need to worry about Croton—what we should really fear is whether Daonia will accept our occupation of Crimissa and let us become their allies?” That was Cleanho’s greatest concern.

“I don’t know…” Timasion thought it over but still couldn’t be sure. “If it were any other city-state, they probably wouldn’t tolerate something like forcibly seizing a city. After all, we’re all Greeks of Magna Graecia, and they’d be wary of us mercenaries from abroad. But Daonia is different—Davos and his men gained their position the exact same way. If we want to succeed, we have to take the risk and gamble! If we wanted to be safe, we’d be better off staying in the Daonia Alliance!”

At that moment, Timasion was actually rousing his own spirits, while Cleanho, seeing success within reach, grew anxious: “I hope Agasia and the others can persuade Davos!”

“If Croton really sends reinforcements, tomorrow we can pretend to be Daonia’s army and buy some time!” Timasion gritted his teeth savagely. Since they’d already deceived Daonia once, a second time didn’t matter. He pointed at the chaotic scene in the street ahead and said urgently, “Whatever Daonia decides, whether Croton sends help or not, we first have to get our own affairs in order—seize the whole city as fast as possible, lock up the people of Crimissa, send scouts to watch the south, and have the men prepare for defense! This kind of chaos has to end quickly, or it’ll keep gnawing at us!”

“Forcing orders to stop looting and killing, threatening military punishment…” Cleanho smiled bitterly. “That’s Davos’s way—he did it back in Persia. We can’t copy that… And besides, our brothers lost over two hundred dead in the assault, and plenty more wounded. We have to let them blow off steam. Timasion, don’t provoke them. We need to take this slow…”

“To be honest, back in Persia we used to laugh at Davos for his methods, called him a fool… Now I realize we were the real fools!… I… I have to admire Davos—he always thinks ahead… Once we’re settled, we absolutely must tighten discipline!” Timasion sighed, making up his mind.

He immediately sent heralds to find all the unit officers and have them pull their men together. Meanwhile, he and Cleanho, with their personal guard, rushed to the Acropolis of Crimissa and sent men to shout for surrender in front of the citadel.

The Crimissans’ reply was: “Never!!!”

So the two sides faced off until afternoon.

Watching the besiegers grow in number and begin preparing siege equipment, the Crimissans trapped in the citadel grew more and more desperate. Realizing the enemy was about to attack, many began wailing. Antaoris and his men wore grim, heroic expressions, ready to die alongside the citadel.

Just then, a stir ran through the otherwise quiet enemy camp.

…

“Croton’s army has reached the North Gate?! How is that possible?!” Cleanho felt as if struck by lightning, panic-stricken and unwilling to believe it.

Torax, both flustered and confused, said, “Our scouts to the south… south definitely didn’t spot any Crotoniates?!”

“Commander, it’s… it’s true!! The Crotoniates are forming up outside the city—they’re about to… about to attack!!” shouted the captain of Timasion’s personal guard, who was in charge of defending the north wall.

Timasion barely kept his composure. How could he doubt his own trusted man? He thought for a moment, then his face changed. “Damn! We overlooked it—they must have come by ship, the same as us!”

“How… how many?” Cleanho asked nervously, hoping the guard captain would give a reassuring number.

“Probably four or five thousand…” The captain’s words crushed any remaining hope. Everyone’s eyes turned to Timasion.

In this critical moment, Timasion asked back: “Brothers, do we retreat?”

“I… I…” Cleanho looked at the citadel ahead, struggling inwardly for just a moment, then roared unwillingly: “We’re not Crimissans! We can hold the walls against them! Just hold out until tomorrow! Just until tomorrow… Timasion, you said if we want to become masters of Crimissa, we have to gamble! Stake our lives! Even if I die in battle, I’d rather not go back to the Daonia Alliance and be laughed at by them!”

“Same here. So what if we die? What’s there to fear? We can hold the walls against the Crotoniates!” Torax’s face twisted with ferocity, speaking for most of the officers and soldiers.

“Right! Let’s fight the Crotoniates to the death!” Everyone immediately shouted in agreement.

Timasion no longer hesitated. Gazing at the men before him, he gave orders in a strong voice: “Cleanho! Torax! And the rest of you—go round up the men still scattered in the city and get them to the walls immediately!”

“Yes!”

“Pasax! You take two hundred men and keep watch on the citadel. If any Crimissan dares come out, kill them all!”

“Commander, leave it to me—you can rest easy!”

“Everyone else, follow me to the North Gate! Let the Crotoniates taste our strength! We won’t let them take our city!” Timasion clenched his fists and roared.

“Roooar!!!” The mercenaries howled, their fighting spirit rekindled.

Timasion was an excellent commander. Even after the initial surprise attack went awry, he had kept a cool head, directed his troops skillfully, deceived the enemy, and broken into Crimissa in the shortest possible time. But as a low-born warrior, his eyes—blinded by envy and ambition—had seen only a weak, neutral city-state like Crimissa in Magna Graecia as something he could seize with his strength. He lacked the statesman’s ability to consider the full relations among the Greek city-states of Magna Graecia, especially Croton’s attitude toward its neighbor Crimissa.

Before Daonia existed, Croton hadn’t paid much attention to Crimissa—partly because of its agreement with Athens, and partly because Thurii posed no threat to Croton. But after Croton’s defeat by the Daonia Alliance, the situation had changed dramatically: Daonia had captured Nerulum, Laüs had joined the Daonia Alliance, Daonia had opened an overland trade route between the east and west coasts… and so on. Daonia was growing strong and prosperous at an alarming rate, making Croton restless. They began to feel threatened by this rising power to the north, and Crimissa’s strategic position as a buffer became extremely important. For the past six months, Croton had been actively courting Crimissa.

That was exactly why the moment Crimissa heard of an enemy attack, its first thought was to ask Croton for help. And it was also why, when Croton heard that Crimissa was under attack from the north, their immediate reaction was: “The Daonians have finally launched their offensive!” So the Croton Council passed the motion to send reinforcements almost at once. And even though the messenger said “only two thousand enemies,” they prudently dispatched ten thousand citizen soldiers, suspecting it might be Daonians.

When Timasion assumed that all Croton’s reinforcements were coming from the north—since for city-state reinforcements, five thousand was already a huge number—he sent almost all his troops to defend the north wall, with some coverage of the east and west. He never expected that another fleet would enter the mouth of the Umbrian River, break into the nearly empty harbor, and force a landing. Five thousand Crotoniate soldiers promptly seized the South Gate, easily routed Pasax’s two hundred men, linked up with the Crimissans in the citadel, and continued their attack northward.

The mercenaries were not only vastly outnumbered but also trapped in a dangerous pincer attack from both north and south. Defeat was inevitable. When word came that “huge numbers of Crotoniate soldiers have broken into the city from the south,” the mercenaries lost all will to fight. Timasion and Cleanho were helpless.

When the Crotoniates charged in from the south, the mercenaries put up only token resistance before scattering in panic.

From the wall, Timasion watched the fleeing mercenaries below being driven and slaughtered by the Crotoniates like cattle—exactly what they had done to the Crimissans earlier. The fury of Nemesis had fallen upon the mercenaries so swiftly that his heart was filled with desolation.

“Timasion, hurry! Let’s break out to the north!” Cleanho shouted urgently.

Timasion shook his head. He looked up and gazed northward, a resigned smile on his face: *Davos, in this contest, I lost after all…*

Without a moment’s hesitation, he drew his sword and cut his own throat.

Cleanho had no time to grieve. He and a few men used rope hooks to climb over the wall, trying to escape in the chaos.

But the Crimissans, bitter over the looting and killing in their city, pursued relentlessly. The Crotoniates, seeing the job through, also joined the chase. The mercenaries were already surrounded; apart from a handful who escaped, most were either killed or captured. Cleanho, Torax, and the others were eventually cornered and raised their hands to surrender, but the enraged Crimissans beheaded them…

Through interrogating the prisoners, the Crotoniates and Crimissans learned that these fierce enemies were mercenaries from Asia Minor and Ionia, who had once campaigned in Persia alongside Davos, the magistrate of Daonia. They had lived in the Daonia Alliance for over two months, and this attack on Crimissa was a premeditated, independent action by these mercenaries.

Though it seemed unrelated to Daonia, Croton’s generals and council members saw it as the perfect excuse: unless Croton was willing to maintain long-term peace with Daonia, letting Daonia grow so rapidly would be a huge threat. Only by striking while Daonia’s wings were still fledgling could they destroy this rising alliance!

The war faction dominated the council, and the resolution passed smoothly. Even the moderate Lysias didn’t strongly oppose it—clearly he too recognized the threat from Daonia.