Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 68: The Death of Archytas

This time, Timocrates had truly shot himself in the foot. Even a small-scale retreat during combat was extremely dangerous; one wrong move could lead to an overall rout.

Fortunately, the Tarentine soldiers had been in a state of complete defense for a long time, and when the enemy before them vanished, most had not yet fully reacted. Watching the enemy rout before them, exposing a large gap, the already exhausted Tarentine soldiers could hardly believe their eyes, yet they were ecstatic.

"The enemy has been beaten back!!!"

"The enemy is running! We... we've won!!!"

On the battlefield, soldiers who had been shrouded in the shadow of death for over an hour could not think so much. Like a drowning man who clutches at a drifting straw, they cheered, joy seeming to replace exhaustion. They rushed through the gap recklessly, and this movement also compelled nearby soldiers to follow suit and run out uncontrollably.

By the time Archytas realized something was wrong, the entire army had become like a burst dam. Not only were soldiers surging toward the gap, but the high morale they had accumulated was also swiftly drained away.

"Everyone, halt! Don't panic! Maintain formation, then charge out!..." Archytas struggled desperately to calm the chaotic soldiers, but it was futile. Instead, the Peucetii intensified their attack, forcing the Tarentines to flee faster toward the gap. Archytas himself was swept along by the surging crowd and pushed toward the breach.

"General, it's no use. We'd better flee!" his adjutant urged anxiously beside him.

The demoralized soldiers were completely unable to resist the full-force assault of the Peucetii, and casualties began to mount. The constant screams of the dying reached Archytas's ears, making him even more agitated. Seeing his guards also wearing panicked expressions, he had to pull himself together and shout hoarsely, "Kill our way out with me! Follow me and break out!!..."

Archytas attempted to rally the soldiers to concentrate their strength, charge westward, try to widen the gap, and even rout the Igraetians, so that more men could escape the encirclement. However, on one side was the victorious enemy, and on the other were soldiers with no will to fight. Most were only concerned with fleeing, ignoring his orders.

The citizen soldiers of Tarentum truly lacked training and experience! He sighed bitterly in his heart, and even at this moment, he found himself thinking: What would Davos do if he were commanding the Daonian army in such a situation?

Just as his mind wandered, his guards had already clustered around him, pushed along by the soldiers, and emerged through the gap.

"General, we must flee now!" the adjutant urged urgently.

Flee? Where could they flee to? In Archytas's field of vision, in the distance, squadrons of enemy cavalry were galloping across the flat plain, reaping the lives of Tarentine soldiers who only thought of escape with javelins and lances. Nearby, several enemy cavalry units were charging aggressively toward him, shouting loudly...

"What a pity—my research on lifting devices is not yet complete..." Archytas sighed again. In academics, he had regrets; in politics, he had always advocated that the Greek city-states of Magna Graecia should unite against foreign enemies. And this ideal, Daonia seemed to be on the verge of achieving...

At that moment, he cast aside all his attachments and regrets, drew his short sword, took the lead, and charged toward the enemy...

...

The sun set in the west; weary birds returned to their nests. The dust and mist of the battlefield dispersed, the cries of battle faded away, leaving only corpses strewn across the fields and blood enough to float a pole.

Tremenius, accompanied by Timocrates and the Peucetian commanders, arrived before the body of Archytas.

This Greek mathematical genius, the young military commander upon whom the people of Tarentum had placed great hopes, had fallen among the carcasses of several horses, pierced by three javelins. Strangely, his ashen face showed neither pain nor anger, but was instead exceedingly calm...

"I thought he was something special, but he's just a beardless youth!" one Peucetian commander muttered disdainfully.

Tremenius glared at him until he fell silent.

He gazed at the corpse of Archytas for a moment, then said, "Cut off his head and show it to the Greeks of Brundisium. Bury his body."

Late into the night, a few soldiers, after great hardship, escaped back to Tarentum. Only then did the populace learn that the force of six thousand soldiers had been nearly annihilated. The entire city was plunged into immense grief.

But compared to the defeat in battle, the heavy sacrifice of citizens, and Archytas's unknown fate, the Senate was even more shocked by the alliance between the Peucetii and the Messapians. This multiplied the pressure on Tarentum.

The Tarentine Senate convened an emergency session late into the night, only to find that the defeat had reduced the Senate's number by nearly one-twentieth, because including Archytas, at least six senators who had accompanied the army had not yet been heard from.

Grief-stricken, they discussed how to deal with the difficult situation ahead. After this battle, Brundisium would surely be besieged by the Messapian-Peucetian alliance, while the main force of the Peucetii was still surrounding Manduria. With nearly six thousand young citizens dead or wounded, and after months of continuous fighting, the loss of Tarentine citizen soldiers had already reached ten thousand—a grievous blow. Not to mention the nearly six thousand citizen soldiers still trapped inside two cities. Thus, Tarentum's remaining strength was sufficient for defense but insufficient for offense.

Yet abandoning the territories won with the blood and lives of its citizens was unacceptable not only to the senators but also to the populace. So the only way out was to request reinforcements.

But whom to ask for help became the focus of debate. As things stood, their subordinate allies Heraclea and Metapontum could at most muster three to four thousand men each. Tarentum would face a possible attack of twenty to thirty thousand from the Messapian-Peucetian alliance. Such a force was far from sufficient. Requesting aid from a powerful city-state was Tarentum's only option, and there were not many candidates.

To the east, Sparta, as Tarentum's mother city, had always maintained good relations. Tarentum had sided with Sparta during the Peloponnesian War, further cementing the friendship between the two city-states. This was the choice of some conservative senators led by the magistrate Daiomelas. To the west, Daonia, an ally of Tarentum, had rapidly grown into a league of six cities and two subordinate city-states within two years. Its armies had rarely suffered defeat, having once mobilized a force of twenty thousand. Its power was evident—enough to confront the large Messapian-Peucetian alliance. This was the opinion of another magistrate, Eumachus, and some senators. A few senators also mentioned Syracuse to the south. Because of their relationship with Sparta, Tarentum and Syracuse had some dealings, but as a city-state of Magna Graecia, Tarentum also remained wary of Syracuse meddling in Southern Italian affairs. Besides, Syracuse was still fighting Carthage at the time; how could it spare strength to aid Tarentum? So it was not considered.

After deliberation, most leaned toward requesting aid from Daonia. As Eumachus put it: "When Davos, the Daonian magistrate, was still a mercenary leader, Tarentum selflessly helped them. Archytas led our citizen soldiers to assist them in defeating the Lucanians. When they secretly occupied Amendolara, we again risked offending other Magna Graecia city-states to help them selflessly, recognizing their occupation of Amendolara as legitimate, providing them with food, and sheltering them from Thurian attacks. When Thurii was burned, and when Daonia was attacked by Croton, we again extended a friendly hand... It is because of Tarentum's repeated selfless help that the Daonia City-State League exists today (though Eumachus directly ignored the fact that Tarentum had not sent reinforcements according to the treaty)! We Tarentines do not give favors expecting repayment. But we should also give the Daonians, who may have felt uneasy from benefiting from our help, a chance to repay us!..."

"That's right, Magistrate! We should generously give Daonia a chance to repay us!..." In truth, considering the distance between the city-states and their current strength, Daonia was the best choice for aid. The two leagues already had a treaty. As for Sparta, they were still occupied with the war against Persia. It was merely the shame of Tarentum's previous failure to send troops to aid Daonia, and the pride of a historically powerful state in Magna Graecia, that had caused hesitation. Eumachus's tactful words satisfied the vanity of the senators well, and finally they reached a consensus on the request for aid.

"Archytas is dead?!" Davos's face showed disbelief.

"Yes, Magistrate. This morning, several soldiers who escaped back to Tarentum said they saw the Messapians carrying away the body of General Archytas on the battlefield..." Polydorus, the Tarentine envoy, spoke mournfully.

"Could soldiers fleeing for their lives possibly see clearly?!" Davos still refused to believe this fact. "Maybe he was wounded and captured?"

"We also wish General Archytas were still alive, but even if he is, falling into the hands of the Messapians, he would..." Polydorus trailed off, unable to continue.

Davos understood his meaning: Archytas, as the main commander of the Tarentine army, had rarely lost against the Messapians. Especially this campaign against Manduria and Brundisium—how much damage he had inflicted on the Messapians! They probably hated him enough to drink his blood and eat his flesh! If he truly fell into their hands this time, Archytas's fate was all too clear.