Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 28: Davos's Speech

Thus, as soon as Aristocrates raised the issue, he readily recounted the truth of his dealings with Polyxides on the orders of Dionysius.

Polyxides naturally denied everything, but the already restless public erupted like a volcano.

“Traitor!”

“Traitor to the nation!”

“Hang him! And let his soul suffer stricter punishment in the underworld!”

…

It wasn’t just Polyxides’ treason that enraged the people; the contempt for ordinary citizens and the disparagement of foreign-born citizens revealed in his letters stoked their fury. The entire square was like a calm sea suddenly struck by a storm—a towering wave crashing forward, threatening to destroy the makeshift court.

Not only were Polyxides and his associates trembling under such terrifying pressure, even High Judge Tritodemos felt tense, because according to the Daonia Law, Polyxides’ violations did not warrant the death penalty—after all, Syracuse was not currently an enemy of Daonia, nor were they in a state of war. Moreover, as a senator of the Senate, Polyxides had the legal right to propose a bill for an Assembly. But after the jury declared him guilty, combined with yesterday’s trial, Tritodemos, facing the fury of the crowd below, hesitated to deliver the final verdict. Instead, he repeatedly whispered in consultation with the assistant judge and the prosecutor, Aristocrates.

Just then, the resounding sound of a bugle rang out.

The crowd turned to look: the great doors of the Senate had swung open, and the senators, led by Davos, stepped out of the council hall.

Under the protection of the guard squad, Davos descended the steps and walked onto the wooden platform—since the platform had been built next to the steps.

Tritodemos hurried forward to bow, but Davos stopped him: “This is a court; you are the master here. I have only come to resolve a small problem for you.”

Tritodemos immediately understood his meaning and said gratefully, “Thank you for your help, sir!”

Davos turned back and saw Aristocrates bowing to him respectfully, so he patted him affectionately on the shoulder and praised, “Aristocrates, I didn’t expect you to do so well!”

Then he bowed to the jury members, thanking them for their hard work.

After that, his gaze swept over the group in the defendant’s seat. Compared to the fearful and pleading looks of Oryphus and Massisacus, Polyxides had completely given up—desperate eyes gleaming with a savage light. He pointed at Davos and cursed, “Davos, you’re afraid of me fighting for more rights for the citizens, so you fabricated false evidence to frame me! One day the people will see your true face, and you won’t escape Hades’ righteous judgment!”

Davos ignored him completely, walked to the front of the platform, and stretched out his hands, gesturing downward. A miracle occurred: the “sea” below, once howling with wind and churning with waves, gradually grew calm…

Then he spoke: “Citizens of Daonia! Families of Daonian citizens! I am very pleased to see so many of you attending this public trial! It shows that you love the Daonia Alliance and care about the rule of law in Daonia! On behalf of the Senate, I thank you for enduring the hardship of standing before this court for two days!”

With that, he bowed sincerely to the people.

The crowd responded to Davos’ encouragement and consideration with enthusiastic applause.

“The law is sacred, especially in the Daonia Alliance, because Hades below watches over our deeds!” Davos pointed to the ground. “We know that the citizens of the Daonia Alliance come from all over the Mediterranean, from all races, and due to differences in customs and culture, conflicts are inevitable. The law has brought order to Daonia and united us all. So do not protest the verdict rendered according to the Alliance’s legal code, because if a verdict can be changed because of your anger, then one day that same injustice might fall upon you or your loved ones…”

Davos’ heartfelt words made the people think deeply. Some had initially thought that Davos had come to pressure Tritodemos into handing down a harsher sentence against his political enemy, Polyxides, but it now seemed otherwise.

Taking advantage of the calm in the square, Tritodemos delivered the verdict: Polyxides—multiple crimes combined, stripped of Daonian citizenship, confiscation of illegal property, and thirty years of imprisonment; Oryphus, Massisacus, and other senators—though they had accepted bribes from the Syracusans, there was no clear evidence of further ties with Syracuse, so combined with yesterday’s sentence, they were stripped of citizenship, their illegal property confiscated, and given twenty years of imprisonment; Eanilus, Euricpus, and other senators—no evidence of dealings with Syracusans was found, and based on yesterday’s crimes, they were stripped of citizenship, their illegal property confiscated, and given ten years of imprisonment…

Davos’ earlier words had taken effect. The crowd expressed disappointed boos at the verdict, but there were no further extreme actions.

However, at that moment, Polyxides broke free from the soldiers’ control and shouted to the crowd below: “I did this for you! For the freedom of the citizens! One day you will regret today’s verdict on me! …”

His actions were like pouring oil into a dying fire—the people’s anger flared up again, curses once more assaulting the platform, and some even spat toward it.

The guards hurriedly escorted Polyxides and the other convicts off the platform. As they passed by Davos, Eanilus did not dare to look in that direction. Only after stepping off the platform, standing at the foot of the Senate council hall’s steps, did he look up at the senators on the steps. Endless regret rose in his heart: because of a moment’s greed, he, a noble senator above ten thousand, had become a despised prisoner under the steps…

The public trial ended. Tritodemos, Aristocrates, the jury members, and others left the platform one after another, but the crowd below did not disperse, because Davos had not left the platform. This told them that the magistrate still had something to say. So compared to the end of yesterday, the square gradually returned to calm.

Facing thousands of expectant gazes, Davos knew well what the Daonian people wanted to express and what they wanted to obtain.

But first, he wanted to start with another topic: “Just now, Polyxides said that everything he did was for the Daonian citizens. If he hadn’t committed crimes like illegally occupying land and restricting citizens’ freedom, I would have been very happy to hear that, because that is what a qualified Daonian senator should do.”

A burst of jeers rose from below, expressing contempt for Polyxides’ ugly behavior of saying one thing and doing another. This diluted some of the lingering effect of Polyxides’ final shouting.

“I also thank Lord Dionysius of Syracuse for taking time out from his fierce battles with the Carthaginians to care about the political life of the Daonian people. I hear that the people of Syracuse are not very well off; he didn’t need to waste a large sum of money here. If he used it on the Syracusan people, perhaps their lives would be better! Most importantly—” Davos gave a cold laugh and declared loudly: “He, Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, hasn’t even cleaned the shit off his own ass. What right does he have to meddle in our Daonia Alliance and disrupt Daonia’s normal order?”

Davos’ ironic words made the crowd burst into laughter.

“The Senate will send envoys to Syracuse to protest to Dionysius, demanding an explanation and an apology! You might worry that this will incur the enmity of Syracuse. I can tell you clearly: Syracuse is indeed powerful, but we Daonia are equally powerful. Since the alliance was founded five years ago, we have never lost a war! Dionysius of Syracuse is already struggling against the powerful Carthage to the south. Would he dare to risk being attacked from two sides by provoking us, the strong? Citizens! The Daonian Army Corps, formed by you, are not only the true steel walls of Daonia but also an incredibly sharp sword. Once you are armed, you can quash any city-state’s ambitions against Daonia!”

Davos’ words resonated with the people, stirring their courage and sense of honor.

“Lord Davos is right! Our First Army Corps is invincible and fears no enemy attack!”

“We of the Second Army Corps are no slouch either! If Syracusans dare set foot on the land of southern Italy, we’ll drive them into the sea to feed the fish!”

“No one can defeat the Third Army Corps in the mountains—there we are the strongest!”

“Don’t forget, among the Daonian Army Corps, the Fourth Army Corps is the only one that has stormed and taken an enemy city—we’re the best at siege warfare!”

“We not only have powerful army corps, we have an invincible commander! Under the protection of Hades, the Syracusans must have lost their minds to think of opposing us!”

“Hail the Daonian Army Corps!”

“Hail the Commander!”

The initial arguments gave way to cheers that surged like a tsunami. The lingering shadow of learning that “the Syracusans had been scheming behind the scenes” seemed to be swept away.

Davos again gestured downward with his hands. When the cheers subsided, he said solemnly: “This time, senators like Polyxides, Eanilus, and others committed such great crimes, encroaching so much public property of Daonia, and a considerable number of Alliance public officials were involved in this case. This shocked not only me and the Senate, but also all of you present, and the entire Daonia Alliance! This is my failure! The Senate’s failure! You should be angry, you should blame the Senate! But after the anger, we must think: how can we prevent such egregious incidents from happening again?”

Note: In the past few days, I’ve seen brothers discussing the population of Syracuse. According to the information I gathered, during its peak—the middle period of Dionysius’ reign—Syracuse controlled most of Sicily and Magna Graecia, established several colonies, and indirectly controlled the Adriatic Sea. The population under its jurisdiction was about 2.2 million. Considering that Syracuse in the book is still early in Dionysius’ rule, I halved it, after all Sicily was his base and had the largest population. Historical records indicate that the city proper of Syracuse had a population of about 200,000.