Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 101: Wolves and Sheep

Dionysius certainly wouldn’t dampen his own men’s morale for the sake of a single Spartan. He simply needed to understand for himself how to deal with Daonian phalanx infantry next time, so he said with a smile: “Of course, after the defeat in this pitched battle, it’s hard to say whether the Daonians will still have the chance to meet us in another field engagement.”

This time it was Phoebidas who felt puzzled. He asked directly: “Why do you say that? The Daonians haven’t suffered heavy casualties, and with the strength of their city-state alliance, they could certainly raise another army no weaker than Syracuse.”

Dionysius smiled: “Phoebidas, you are indeed talented in military affairs, but defeating and destroying a country cannot be accomplished by fighting alone.”

He lifted his head, his sharp gaze seeming to pierce through the tent and see the Daonian magistrate trudging through Lucania… A scornful sneer on his face, he said arrogantly: “The Samnite invasion is already enough of a headache for Daonia, but the victory in today’s battle will have a huge impact on Magna Graecia! Daonia’s troubles are just beginning. Before Daonia can extricate itself from those troubles and concentrate all its forces to block us, what we need to do now is to swiftly conquer the other city-states of the South Italy Alliance, break into Daonia’s territory, panic its people, and shake its subordinate cities with unrest…” Dionysius declared decisively: “Then easily — con — quer — it!”

“The lord is right! The sooner we conquer Magna Graecia, the sooner we can go home!” Phasipesas loudly echoed.

“Let us drink to the early conquest of Magna Graecia!” Leptines, usually low-key, grew emotional from Dionysius’s encouragement.

“We should go kill more people of Magna Graecia and seize more plunder!” Achilita said with a wide grin, his expression rather ferocious. He had little interest in conquering Magna Graecia—after all, no matter how much land they seized, none of it would be given to his tribe. What he needed was more food, money, and even slaves to strengthen his tribe.

The Celtic leader Gaba shared the same sentiment.

As the others raised their cups, Phoebidas reluctantly stood up as well. He couldn’t be sure: if Syracuse easily defeated Daonia, would that be good or bad for Sparta?

The celebration inside the tent did not last long, because the envoy from Scylletium had arrived.

The citizen soldiers of Scylletium had suffered heavy losses in the battle, and now an envoy was sent late at night—the purpose was obvious.

Dionysius deliberately delayed his appearance for a long time, making the neglected envoy restless. As soon as Dionysius appeared, the envoy immediately presented Scylletium’s request to surrender to Syracuse to this Syracusan tyrant.

Dionysius had long planned for this. He deliberately dismissed it with contempt and angrily told the envoy: Scylletium had always actively opposed Syracuse and its ally Locri. Now that it had suffered a crushing defeat and faced the imminent fall of its city, only then did it think of surrendering—this was not sincere. Scylletium must pay a price for its previous wrongdoings before he could feel the sincerity of the Scylletians.

This envoy was clearly not as young and arrogant as the one who had previously delivered the declaration of war. He immediately abased himself and pleaded repeatedly.

Only then did Dionysius’s expression soften slightly as he stated: For Syracuse to accept Scylletium’s surrender, one thousand sheep, fifty cattle, and thirty thousand catties of grain must be delivered to the Syracusan camp by tomorrow morning. Only then would Syracuse accept Scylletium’s request for a truce.

When the Scylletian envoy heard this, he immediately cried out in dismay: The amount of supplies Dionysius demanded was enormous—Scylletium simply could not gather them within half a day. He begged to have the quantity halved.

Dionysius said coldly and sternly: This was precisely the time for Scylletium to show its sincerity. If these supplies were not delivered to the camp by tomorrow morning, Syracuse would attack Scylletium in the afternoon!

The Scylletian envoy hurried back to the city and reported Dionysius’s harsh demands to the Council.

Necessity overrides will! Faced with an army pressing upon them, the high officials of Scylletium, after heated debate, decided to accept Dionysius’s conditions. They again sent several generals led by Pretinis to the Syracusan camp to negotiate and determine the terms of Scylletium’s surrender.

Dionysius made some concessions. Soon the two sides signed an agreement and swore oaths to the gods.

Pretinis and the others breathed a temporary sigh of relief and quickly returned to the city to prepare the supplies. Scylletium was not unable to produce these goods, but handing them over would make life difficult for the Scylletians in the second half of the year. Still, hardship was better than having the city destroyed by the Syracusans. Moreover, to get Scylletium to surrender and join Syracuse’s army to fight against its former allies, Dionysius also offered some enticing conditions—such as ceding the eastern part of the Euphemia Plain, formerly belonging to Trina, to Scylletium—which greatly tempted Pretinis and the others…

The overwhelming victory of Syracuse in this battle had so frightened the Scylletian Council that they felt the South Italy Alliance, led by Daonia, had a bleak future. And as the first South Italy Alliance city-state to defect to Syracuse, Scylletium would also gain considerable benefits.

Thus, from that afternoon into the night, the entire city of Scylletium was busy…

Early the next morning, the Scylletians drove flocks of sheep and cattle and loaded grain-laden pack-animals out of the city in an endless stream. Naturally, Pretinis and several other generals and their attendants accompanied them, heading to discuss with Dionysius matters such as the dispatch of troops for combat.

When the long column was only halfway out of the city, a large number of cavalry suddenly appeared on the empty fields outside the city. They viciously charged at this unarmed procession.

The sudden assault threw the Scylletians into panic; they fled for their lives. Countless sheep, cattle, and pack-animals blocked the city gate, preventing it from being closed and the drawbridge from being raised.

“Dionysius tricked us! He wants to seize our city!” Pretinis finally realized, but it was too late.

Dust swirled ahead, and the rumble of footsteps grew loud—the main Syracusan force was rapidly approaching the city walls…

“Dionysius, you have broken your oath, deceived the gods, I curse you to have your eyes gouged out and your heart ripped out, your bloodline cut off!…” Pretinis was struck in the chest by a Numidian cavalryman’s javelin and fell from his horse. Before dying, he turned all his hatred into this venomous curse.

The Syracusan army easily broke into the undefended city of Scylletium. And this army, composed of citizens from Sicilian Greek city-states, mercenaries, and foreign tribes, did not stop there…

The Scylletians panicked and tried to flee the fallen city, but the harbor was full of Syracusan warships, and countless foreign cavalry roamed outside the city walls. There was no escape…

As a result, the atrocities that the Syracusans had once committed in Sicilian city-states like Catana and Naxos were now reenacted in Magna Graecia’s Scylletium—the slaughter of the city.

Dionysius did not stop his soldiers; in fact, he indulged them. This army, which had grown accustomed to plunder through his long‑term deliberate indulgence, had been strictly controlled by him recently. After enduring continuous forced marches and a major pitched battle, they needed an outlet… Of course, that was only a secondary reason.

More importantly, he was short on money! Desperately short! Even paying the mercenaries their wages three months from now would be difficult, and plunder was the fastest way to raise funds.

Furthermore, he needed to amplify the impact of this battle. He had to send a shocking message to the people of Magna Graecia: opposing him would lead to such a miserable fate!

The Syracusan army looted the entire city. Of course, the majority of the plundered wealth went to Dionysius.

Apart from the countless Scylletians killed during the looting, he also decided to enslave the nearly seventy thousand captured Scylletian civilians, including the freemen in the harbor, and ship them to the slave market in Syracuse to be sold for cash.

Among them, only a few were neither killed in the looting nor sent away as slaves. Dionysius specifically ordered his bodyguard to find them and protect them. They were the envoy Salithius who had threatened him before, along with his family.

Dionysius brought them to the square of Scylletium. Before tens of thousands of Scylletian captives, he cruelly used a sharp short sword to cut Salithius and his family all over, leaving them covered in wounds and bloody.

As Salithius cursed weakly, Dionysius announced loudly: “Any person of Magna Graecia who insults me, insults the Syracusans, will suffer the same fate!”

He raised his sword and cut off Salithius’s head.

The tens of thousands of Scylletian captives remained silent in terror.

He did not destroy the city of Scylletium as he had done to Catana, because compared to Trina, Scylletium held a more important position. Not only was the city larger, able to accommodate his seventy thousand‑plus troops (Syracuse had suffered over three thousand dead and wounded in the battle), but the eastern coast of Magna Graecia was his main direction of attack. He would use Scylletium as an important forward base for Syracuse’s offensive against Daonia and Croton—a springboard for the next advance northward, where Syracusan land and naval forces, especially grain and supplies, could be concentrated.

Of course, regarding the western coast (the Bruttii region), which was high‑lying, rugged, unfavorable for large‑army movements, and entirely occupied by foreign tribes, Dionysius had no immediate desire to attack, but he had his own considerations.

He picked out several dozen soldiers from different Bruttii tribes among the captives, as well as Lucanians. He received them amiably and told them through interpreters: The Syracusans had come to Magna Graecia not to enslave them, but on the contrary, to liberate them from Daonia’s harsh rule and restore the freedom they once enjoyed! Moreover, if they would rise up against Daonia and fight for themselves, then after the war, Syracuse would grant them more fertile lands, such as the Ophemia Plain and the Sybaris Plain…