Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 17: Thurii's Medicinal Herb Market

You should know that in all of Greece, only the Daonia Alliance, with the full support and help of Davos—a magistrate who came from a later era and was steeped in over two thousand years of medical knowledge—vigorously trained doctors, established hospitals and the School of Medicine, and deeply researched treatments and pharmacology. This allowed Daonia, especially Thurii, to flourish in medical and pharmaceutical endeavors, far outstripping other city-states and nations of the Mediterranean in this era. Thus, the herb street in Thurii’s port market was truly unique in the entire Mediterranean world.

However, although this street was very famous in southern Italy, it did not have the bustling crowds of customers like other streets. After all, most of those purchasing medicinal herbs were doctors and pharmacy staff. Patients basically obtained their medicine from pharmacies within the city, rarely coming to the market to buy these unprocessed herbs. And doctors, that high-caliber talent, made up only a very small proportion of Daonian citizens.

Therefore, Nicostratus and his companions, who had just pushed through the sea of people, felt greatly relieved when they arrived on this street. They curiously strolled from shop to shop, looking, observing, and inquiring.

As they walked, they came to a relatively large pharmacy and discovered the shopkeeper was actually a Bruttian. He was bargaining with a customer in stiff Greek accent: “Lord Olivus, I know you’re from the Ministry of Military Affairs. You buy large quantities of ‘horse chew fruit’ from me every year, that’s true. But this year, you’re here to buy too early, and the quantity is so large... You see, the snow on the Cosenza Plateau hasn’t completely melted yet. Only the horse chew grass growing in lower areas has borne fruit. The quantity is naturally small, so the price has to be higher. If you think it’s too expensive, why not wait until summer to buy? By then, the price of this ‘horse chew fruit’ will drop...”

“Come back in summer? ... I’m afraid I won’t last that long before Lord Capus tells me to get lost!” The customer sneered. “I’ll go buy from another shop.”

With that, he turned to leave.

“Wait!” The shopkeeper hurriedly called him back. After hesitating for a moment, he finally gritted his teeth and said, “Seeing as our Bruttian warriors also train regularly and also need to drink this fruit-infused water to quench thirst, I’m willing to lower it by another obol! Lord Olivus, I’m really taking a loss this time!”

Olivus immediately turned from anger to a smile: “Agum, isn’t it just one obol less per pound? This stuff is everywhere on the Cosenza Plateau. It doesn’t cost you an obol—you just pick it for free. What’s there to begrudge!”

Agum forced a bitter smile: “Lord Olivus, picking ‘horse chew fruit’ is not as easy as you say. As soon as spring warms up, the women of our tribe have to step on the slippery mountain paths to go up and pick. They risk being harmed by wild animals coming out to forage, and they have to compete with other tribes. So far, two women have broken their legs and are lying in the hospital! After picking the fruit, we have to dry it, but spring often brings days of continuous rain, so we have to bake it over a fire... We work hard to earn this money, and we have to support the entire tribe of over a thousand people. It’s really not easy!”

Olivus wasn’t about to listen to his complaints. He said abruptly, “Are you worried about your tribe? Or worried that with less money, you’ll have to cut down on your trips to the brothel?”

Agum’s face changed color. He quickly said, “Don’t talk nonsense!”

Olivus patted his chest and said in a low voice, “We’re all men, I understand.”

Agum looked around and said nothing more.

“Brothers, pick 300 pounds of ‘horse chew fruit’ and prepare to take it away!” Olivus shouted. Immediately, over a dozen sturdy soldiers came in and began to squat down and sort through the fruit.

Agum couldn’t help but say, “No need to pick; they’re all genuine ‘horse chew fruit,’ top quality! The Port Market Management Department doesn’t allow us to cheat—I want to keep trading here for a long time!”

Olivus looked at him and laughed. “That’s true. Even for Chief Saru’s sake, I should trust you. Then weigh out 300 pounds of fruit for us.”

Then Olivus said to the soldiers, “I’ll go look around elsewhere. When the fruit is weighed, take it straight back to the training camp.”

“Yes, Battalion Commander!”

When Olivus reached the shop entrance, he remembered something and turned back: “Agum, yesterday Lord Davos was chatting with me and specifically brought up the matter of herb picking. He believes, ‘You can’t pick mountain herbs excessively, or it will lead to a decrease or even disappearance of these plants!’”

At the mention of Davos, Agum immediately showed respect: “Lord Davos truly has far-reaching insight, incomparable to others! But Lord Olivus, you underestimate us Bruttians! We have lived on the plateau for generations. The mountain streams, trees, flowers, and grasses are all generous gifts from the highland goddess Amara to us Bruttians. If we overexploit the plateau, we will certainly incur Amara’s wrath!”

Olivus laughed heartily. “Good! Good!” With that, he glanced at Nicostratus and turned to leave.

Agum ordered the slaves to weigh the ‘horse chew fruit’ for the soldiers. Nicostratus, Stasippus, and Lycasus took the opportunity to step forward and observe this small, hard red fruit.

“May I ask what medicinal use this fruit has?” Stasippus asked politely.

“Oh, this fruit is called ‘horse chew fruit.’ Before, it was everywhere on our plateau, and no one paid it any attention. Only horses, when tired from running, liked to eat it. Later, the doctors from Thurii took this thing to study and said that boiling it in water to drink could quench thirst and also relieve fatigue, so it became valuable. In the last two years, the Daonia Ministry of Military Affairs has bought hundreds or even thousands of pounds of this fruit from me each time for citizens to drink after military training. It’s very effective! You must not be Daonians, right? Buy a little to try for yourselves.” Agum earnestly promoted it to them.

“We are from Croton!” Nicostratus suddenly interjected.

Agum let out an “oh” without any special emotion, as if the old hatred between Croton and the Bruttians had long passed, gone with the wind.

“How much per pound?”

“Six obols.”

“Give me one pound, please.” Stasippus said, taking out his money pouch.

Agum scooped up a large double handful of red fruit, poured it into a grass bag, and seeing that it clearly weighed more than a pound, said, “With this bag, I’ll charge you seven obols.”

“Alright.”

“What use does this grass have?” Nicostratus asked curiously, standing beside a pile of what looked like thorny dead grass.

“That’s thorn grass. The doctors in Thurii discovered that crushing it and adding it to a hot bath can relieve skin itching. It’s a good thing!”

“This can cure skin itching?” Nicostratus carefully touched the thorns on the grass, his face full of doubt.

“Those Thurii doctors are all students taught by Lord Davos, descendant of the death god... They all have superb medical skills, just like... like your Greek god of medicine, Ascle... pius...”

“Asclepius.”

“Yes, that Greek god. How could the words of these miraculous Thurii doctors be false? Besides, we have personally tried it, and it really does have that effect. This grass is now often ordered by pharmacies! ... Nowadays, whenever various Bruttian tribes have a traditional cure for an illness, they come and tell these Thurii doctors, hoping they will confirm it works. I hear the Lucanians do the same... Lord Davos truly is a descendant of a god, turning the wildflowers and weeds in our mountains into treasures!” Agum said with gratitude and emotion.

Nicostratus and Stasippus exchanged glances, both stunned. Through their studies these past few days, they had learned that the Daonia School of Medicine was far ahead of other city-states in medical theory research, diagnostic experience, and surgical procedures. They never expected they had done so much work in pharmacology as well!

Just then, Lycasus ran into the shop and said with some excitement: “Teacher, there’s a shop next door selling those surgical tools you mentioned last time!”

“Really?! Take me there quickly!” Nicostratus dropped the thorn grass in his hand and followed Lycasus out. Then Stasippus picked up the grass bag and also left the shop.

After the three men had gone, Agum muttered to himself, “Crotonians... hmph...”

The shop selling surgical instruments next to the Bruttian herb store was very small in floor space, but it displayed a dazzling array of exquisitely crafted iron and wooden tools of various types, carefully arranged by category.

When Nicostratus and his companions entered, they had just begun looking around joyfully when the shopkeeper asked, “Are you Daonian doctors?”

“No, we are from Croton.”

“Then you can only look, not buy!”

“Why?!” Lycasus looked at him indignantly.

“These tools were designed by the Thurii hospital and sent to iron workshops for specialized production. They made this request, and the Port Market Management Office supervises it. There’s nothing I can do!” The shopkeeper shrugged helplessly.

“Can’t we pay more?” Stasippus tested.

“Don’t get me in trouble. I don’t want any blemish on my record in the Thurii Household Registration Office.” The shopkeeper rolled his eyes.

“Stasippus, come look quickly!” Nicostratus picked up a sharp knife as large as a leaf and said loudly, “This is the little knife Teacher Helpus uses during surgery to cut the skin. This is—”

Nicostratus picked up another small tool and said, “I remember this is called forceps, used to clamp boiled... uh, sterilized linen... And this... this curved needle, used to suture wounds. Look how finely made they are!” Nicostratus touched each tool with great affection.