Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 33: Croton's Plea for Help

Although the Locrian fleet had fewer warships, they did not hesitate to launch an attack. The warships of both sides sped toward each other and passed by one another, but the Locrian ships did not stop to engage in close combat; instead, they continued to accelerate forward, catching the Crotoniates by surprise. As a result, they easily broke contact with the Crotoniate fleet at the slight cost of one or two ships.

Could it be that the Locrians wanted to flee?! Ascamas was quite surprised to see the Locrian fleet behaving this way.

But the Locrian fleet's actions once again caught him off guard. After opening a gap from the Crotoniate fleet, the Locrian fleet again turned their prows, assuming a posture of launching an attack.

Ascamas didn't have time to ponder: What was the purpose of the Locrians' redundant maneuver? His fleet accordingly made corresponding moves.

The two fleets rapidly closed again, but this time the Locrian fleet did not flee.

The warships of both sides interlocked like teeth, circling and ramming each other.

Naval combat was different from land combat. Land battles heavily emphasized formation and discipline; once the formation broke, it often meant defeat. But once a naval battle began, formations scattered, often becoming individual duels between ships. Victory depended on the quality of the ships and the skilled maneuvering of the captains and sailors.

Croton and Locri had decades of enmity, and they knew each other well. Ascamas was fully aware of the strength of the fleets, the composition of the crews, and even the characteristics of the commanders. He firmly believed that with his fleet’s advantage of six more triremes—outnumbering the Locrian fleet by ten warships in total—victory in this sea battle was only a matter of time.

During the battle, Ascamas's flagship skillfully reversed quickly, narrowly avoiding a ramming attack to its midsection. After averting the danger, it turned the enemy ship so that it lay broadside in front of his flagship's prow—the bronze ram. This was a golden opportunity, and how could he let it slip? He immediately ordered the oarsmen to row backward rapidly, then quickly switched the flagship from reverse to forward.

But the enemy ship also spun quickly, turning its prow toward Ascamas's flagship.

Although the enemy ship reacted quickly, the experienced Ascamas did not give up. As his flagship rapidly closed in on the enemy ship and was about to pass close alongside, Ascamas shouted, "Oars in!"

The boatswain in the lower deck immediately relayed the order to the oarsmen. Well-trained, they instantly pulled in their oars. The enemy ship had only just turned its prow and had no time to retract its oars. The twenty-meter-long trireme, propelled by its forward momentum, smashed most of the oars on the side of the enemy ship, leaving it unable to row and thus trapped.

Just as the sailors cheered and Ascamas was about to turn his flagship to ram and sink the enemy ship completely, a fleet of over twenty triremes suddenly appeared behind the Crotoniate fleet and immediately launched an attack on the Crotoniate warships.

The Crotoniate fleet found itself in a dangerous pincer attack from north and south. In the end, the Crotoniate fleet suffered a disastrous defeat: fifteen ships were sunk, eight captured, and ten severely damaged. Ascamas led a few warships to break through the enemy encirclement.

On the escape route to Croton, Ascamas, in his dejection, kept painfully pondering: Where did the Locrians' extra warships come from?

...

The naval victory inspired the Locrian army besieging Caulonia. Early the next morning, when the Crotoniate relief force arrived near Caulonia, the Locrian army, ignoring the exhaustion from their recent assaults on the city, immediately launched a pitched battle.

The Crotoniate army did not avoid the challenge. Thus, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle in the northern outskirts of Caulonia.

In terms of troop numbers, the Locrians had slightly more, but since they had to detach part of their force to besiege Caulonia, the two sides were roughly equal in number. However, the Locrian army was predominantly composed of heavy infantry and light-armored infantry, while the Crotoniates had a clear advantage in light infantry, formed from five thousand carefully selected freemen.

The Locrian commanders, worried about the impact of the Crotoniate heavy infantry, thickened their ranks. The Crotoniates, limited by conditions and having learned painful lessons from their battles with the Daonian army, immediately sent their light infantry to attack as soon as the formation was set. The Locrian light infantry, being too few in number, soon fell back.

Next, the Crotoniate light infantry began hurling javelins at the Locrian formation, inflicting considerable casualties. Under these circumstances, the Locrians immediately sounded the charge.

Facing the overwhelming charge of heavy infantry, the Crotoniate light infantry lacked the tight organization and discipline of the Daonian light infantry, did not have seasoned veterans to steady morale, did not have outstanding light infantry commanders like Epithenis, Tsipet, or Alpuens to direct them with subtle and flexible tactics, and lacked incentives like citizenship rights and land grants to spur them. Moreover, the dense phalanx of Crotoniate heavy infantry left no gaps for them to retreat. So they could only flee the battlefield in panic from the flanks, and many light infantrymen failed to escape, perishing under the Locrian heavy infantry charge. Those who managed to escape tried to regroup under the efforts of their commanders, but were immediately ambushed by Locrian cavalry and scattered once more.

Nevertheless, the harassment by the light infantry also exhausted and distracted the Locrian infantry. Now only infantry-versus-infantry combat remained on the battlefield. One side had just emerged from their ordeal with Daonia, their bodies not yet fully recovered; the other had been continuously attacking Caulonia without adequate rest. One side had fewer troops but carried the conviction of washing away their shame and defending their territory; the other had more troops but, having suffered losses from the light infantry earlier, their morale was somewhat low.

The two sides fought for nearly two hours, until the Locrians could no longer hold out and withdrew from the battlefield. In this battle, the casualties on both sides were similar, around two thousand, but among the Crotoniate casualties, a greater proportion were freemen.

Although the Locrians were defeated, their casualties were not severe. They lifted the siege of Caulonia. The Crotoniate relief force successfully entered Caulonia and was warmly welcomed by the city's populace. However, the situation was not favorable for Croton.

The Locrian army withdrew to the south of Caulonia and set up camp, still eyeing the city covetously. The Locrian fleet prowled the sea, blockading Croton's sea routes. The suffering that Daonia had endured earlier, Croton was now experiencing as well.

By now, Croton had sent out all its elite troops, while Locri still had strength to spare. Two days later, over a thousand Locrian soldiers landed on the coast between Croton and Scylletium, burning, killing, and looting as they advanced northward into Croton's territory.

After the shock of the disastrous naval defeat, the citizens of Croton were once again terrified upon hearing the news of the Locrian invasion. The Council blamed Lysias for acting willfully, resulting in the city's military weakness and inability to dispatch troops to repel the enemy incursion.

Lysias did not refute the Council’s criticism of him. He too was shocked by the fleet's disastrous defeat. At this point, he could only propose that the Council mobilize the entire city, and at the same time send envoys to Daonia and Asperustum for aid.

In this situation, Croton really had no other options. But they had only just ended the war with Daonia, and the city's denunciations of Daonia had not yet faded. Now they had to beg for help from that same power—neither the councilors nor the populace could easily save face.

Asperustum was not far from Croton. Sisprontis spurred his horse and arrived at the south gate of Asperustum in less than two hours.

Although Daonia had achieved peace with Croton, Asperustum’s defenses had not been relaxed; instead, they were even tighter. Rows of sentries patrolled back and forth atop the walls, and guards were stationed below at the gate. Even though only a few pedestrians passed through the gate, they still performed their duties diligently, which allowed Sisprontis to patiently submit to the guards’ inspection.

When the city guard captain appeared before him again, he brought an order from Chief Magistrate Heilos: he was permitted to enter. As soon as he entered the city, he was stunned by the scene before him: the main street underfoot, which was not very wide, was thick with dust. Some people were digging drainage ditches along both sides with pickaxes, others were hammering and chiseling stones piled by the roadside, then laying the cut stones on the dirt road. Still others were demolishing buildings that obstructed the road and rebuilding brick walls...

Men carrying earth, stones, and rubbish… countless able-bodied men kept busy, turning the place into a huge construction site. Everyone worked with great enthusiasm, and almost no one paused their work to give him a second glance.

“What is all this about?” Sisprontis asked curiously.

The city guard captain replied, “Because we will be moving here in the future, we are building our own home. The roads in this city are too narrow and uneven, and garbage and sewage are everywhere…” The captain listed many shortcomings of the city. Sisprontis found it very amusing—he often came to Asperustum and felt it was no different from Tarentum. How could there be all these problems that the Daonians mentioned? He immediately asked, “You’re not Greeks, are you?”

“We are Lucanians, but we are Daonian citizens!” the city guard captain declared loudly.

“You speak Greek quite well,” Sisprontis praised him, then changed the subject: “I’ve heard that your Lucania region is all mountainous, with poor soil, and you often went hungry. I didn’t expect you to care so much about your living environment.”

“Ever since our tribe joined Daonia, we haven’t gone hungry for a long time!” the captain shouted, flushing as if insulted. “The place we used to live was indeed not as good as the houses here, but compared to Thurii as I have seen it, this place is far inferior!”