Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 43: The Library

Isocrates waited anxiously in a spacious lounge inside the Council Chamber for the final decision of the Daonian Senate.

Soon, a guard entered and invited him to the assembly hall.

When he walked into the hall, he found Magistrate Davos of Daonia standing in the center.

Davos smiled at him, gestured for him to sit, and then said with a smile, "Noble envoy of Athens, I am very glad that you have brought the friendly goodwill of the great Mediterranean city-state Athens toward the Daonia Alliance. It has made us, who dwell in an obscure corner of the Greek world, stop wallowing in self-pity. For in the new play 'The Daonians' by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes, we Daonians are treated as barbarians for the amusement of the Athenian populace..."

At these words, Isocrates inwardly cried, "This is bad."

Sure enough, he heard someone behind him shout angrily, "What right do Athenians have to insult us Lucanians!"

"They are not only insulting the Lucanians; they are insulting all Daonian citizens!" another person shouted angrily.

"If Athenians all hold such an attitude toward us, then Athenians are not welcome here!"

...

One angry voice after another pelted Isocrates, who sat in front, making him feel as if a volcano were about to erupt behind him. His face even changed color.

Davos watched his discomfiture and continued, "Isocrates, you say that Athens and Daonia share deep friendship. This cannot be merely spoken of with words; it requires actual deeds. But now, based on the real situation in Athens that we have learned, we see no friendship from the Athenians toward Daonia. Instead, we see the entire populace of Athens relentlessly mocking and ridiculing the unique characteristics of a newly arisen city-state alliance that differ from other Greek city-states—even to the extent of being a topic of conversation in Athenian taverns for several months on end. This is not the behavior befitting a city-state that once called itself 'the best school of all Greece' and has a long historical tradition! Nor is it the behavior of a city-state that claims to have deep affection for Daonia and wishes to form an alliance with it! Therefore, the citizens of Daonia cannot, when facing a powerful enemy, confidently entrust their backs to a city-state that discriminates against them. So as for concluding a military alliance, I think it is still too early to discuss it now."

"Damn Aristophanes! Damn Aristophanes!" Isocrates cursed countless times in his heart, but could not change the reality of the failed alliance. Dejected, he wanted to stand up and make a final attempt.

Davos waved his hand at him to signal not to interrupt, then said, "Although the Thurii of today is no longer the Thurii of the past, and the Daonia Alliance has not a single connection with Athens, the Daonians are by no means an ungrateful race. We clearly distinguish kindness from enmity: if someone gives us enmity, we repay it tenfold; if someone gives us kindness, we repay it tenfold—"

"The Magistrate is right! Tarentum allied with us when we were in difficulty, so we sent a great army to save their city-state! Thurii once gave your mercenary army a place to settle at the very beginning, so when Croton's army pressed on our border, we did not yield; instead, we avenged the dead Thurians with a great victory! Daonia regards promises as life itself and cherishes the friendship it has given. Therefore, friendship cannot be lightly bestowed!" The old man Scombrus shook his graying beard, puffed out his chest, and cast a sidelong glance at Isocrates, putting on an arrogant expression that said, "Daonia's friendship is extremely precious—you Athenians are lucky to get it."

Davos smiled and continued, "Since the center of the Daonia Alliance is in Thurii, we naturally inherit some of the feelings of the former Thurian people. We are willing to have friendly exchanges with Athens and strengthen communication to eliminate misunderstandings between us..."

Hearing this, Isocrates understood the intention of Davos and the other senators: aside from a military alliance, Daonia was willing to maintain friendly relations with Athens. Strengthening trade and cultural exchanges seemed not much different from the core meaning of his earlier speech.

But Isocrates understood that the difference was clear. If at first Isocrates had been condescendingly negotiating cooperation as an elder brother from Athens, now the Daonians had trampled that innate elegance and nobility underfoot, instead telling him: Daonia's friendship is extremely precious; they could spare a little for Athens, but it depended on Athens' performance...

"To be able to sit in the magistrate's seat and single-handedly build the Daonia of today—this young man is no simpleton!" Looking at Davos ahead, Isocrates felt the pressure...

While Isocrates was giving his speech in the Daonian Senate, Antistanos took Lysias to the north side of Victory Square. There stood a newly completed building that looked like a temple. At the foot of its steps were nine bronze statues of the Muses, lined up in a row.

"Is it the Temple of Apollo?" Lysias asked Antistanos in confusion.

Antistanos still wore a mysterious smile but did not speak.

With growing curiosity, Lysias walked up the steps and finally discovered a few large letters on the lintel above the temple entrance: "Library."

"What is this?" Lysias could roughly guess the function of this building, but such a large building just for storing books? Were there that many books?

He looked at Antistanos again, puzzled, hoping for an explanation.

"This is the library built with donations led by our Magistrate Davos!" Antistanos said proudly, pointing at the letters. "He once said, 'Books are the gems of human wisdom. Whether from Persia, Egypt, Carthage, or even earlier from Sumer, Hittite, Assyria... the history and civilization they created eventually converge in words and books. They are the common wealth of all humanity, the ladder for us to leave ignorance and march toward a more splendid civilization. Therefore, we must do everything to collect them! Protect them well! If these treasures are destroyed by war and calamity, that will be the most grievous loss for all mankind! But we not only want to collect books, we also want to share and read these books with more people, so that the people of Daonia can perfect themselves with knowledge, create wealth with knowledge, and create an even more glorious culture with knowledge. That is the significance of my building this library!'"

After hearing this, Lysias was lost in admiration and murmured, "One who can speak such great words must be a great man!"

Antistanos smiled secretly.

"Hurry and take me inside to see!" Lysias could hardly wait to enter, but was stopped by the guard at the door.

"This is my friend; he came with me and wants to go in and look around," Antistanos quickly stepped forward to explain.

"Very well, Lord Antistanos," the guard saluted respectfully.

"A place that stores knowledge actually has armed force!" Lysias said grumpily as he walked inside.

"Books are precious, but also fragile. A single fire can destroy them all. Of course, they need guards to protect them from accidents," Antistanos explained.

"I see," Lysias said, his temper cooled. "So it seems not just anyone can enter here."

"Only Daonian citizens and preparatory citizens can enter."

"In that case, the freemen of Daonia have one more motivation to become citizens." Lysias had been here for nearly two days and had come to understand the vast gap in rights between Daonian citizens, preparatory citizens, and freemen. However, this gap was not insurmountable, unlike in Athens, where no matter how hard one tried, one could not cross the chasm between Athenians and foreigners.

"There must be forty or fifty thousand Daonian citizens in Thurii. If they all crowded into this library, could it accommodate them?" asked Lysias in doubt.

"We have long considered your concern. First, the level of Daonian citizens has not yet reached the point where everyone is literate. Second, it is impossible for them all to appear here at the same time. Even if too many citizens want to enter the library, the library has rules limiting the number of people. But as it seems now, such a situation probably won't occur for many years. By then, Daonia may have a second, third, fourth library..." Antistanos's words brimmed with confidence in his alliance.

Lysias fell silent, but soon he was captivated by the scene before him: rows of tall wooden cabinets neatly arranged in the hall, cutting the vast space into aisles only wide enough for three or four people to walk side by side. Each cabinet was open, divided by wooden planks into rectangular compartments, inside which were placed scrolls of books or documents assembled from papyrus or parchment. In front of these bookshelves was an area with many wooden tables, where only a few people sat reading quietly.

Lysias, who loved books as his life, stared wide-eyed and could not help saying, "There are so many books!"

"Actually, not that many. Most of the cabinets in the back are empty, after all, the library has only been built for less than twenty days," Antistanos said with some emotion. "Magistrate Davos once called upon Daonian citizens to bring out their private book collections, have the library copy them, and store them here. Moreover, he would erect stone markers and inscribe the names of those citizens who donated books. At that time, many citizens responded to the call, so many that the library's copyists could not keep up..."

Following the direction of Antistanos's finger, Lysias saw several stone markers erected on the left side of the library entrance. He had been so focused on looking ahead earlier that he had overlooked them.

The stone markers were densely carved with names of people.

Lysias noticed that only the first name had a book title written after it. "Th-this... this is—" he touched the book title in disbelief.