Seeing Phidias board the ship and leave the port of Taranto, the expression of Diaomilas immediately changed and then said to Umakas, “The Spartan said something correct. If Taranto does not pull itself together, then even Theonia, a new city-state without any historical tradition will look down on us!”
“Are you really planning to start a war against the Messapians?!” Umakas asked hesitantly.
“Haven’t the Messapians been waging war against us all this time?!” Diaomilas asked back, then said, “It is because we have always been tolerant to the Messapians that they increasingly think that we, Taranto, are weak, so their invasion has increased and made the other city-states in Magna Graecia ignore Taranto more! We have to fight back, and completely deal with the Messapians!”
“To completely deal?! That is not what you had told me last time!” Said Umakas, frowning.
Diaomilas slipped up, so he hastily said, “I mean, we first of all, should concentrate on capturing Manduria and then see if we have the chance to capture Brentesion, so that our strength will be greatly strengthened! We can then slowly capture the other city of the Messapians….”
Umakas became a bit excited, but he was still hesitant, “Do we even have the strength to beat the main force of the Messapians in one fell swoop?”
“Of course we have!” Said Diaomilas firmly, and in order to persuade his colleague, he added, “And we also have a strong reinforcement!”
“Who?” Umakas was taken aback.
Diaomilas then pointed to the west of the sea, “Theonia, our ally, we have helped them for so long already, now it is the time for them to contribute!”
Umakas eventually said, “I will support your proposal in the council.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Shit, Theonia, Roscianum and Taranto are all in one group!” Said Phidias angrily on the ship.
“Why don’t we go to Crotone?” Dorotheus cautiously advised.
Phidias stared at him and said, “We will go to Syracuse!”
Of course, Phidias knew that Crotone and Theonia have a bad relationship because of the previous war, but the reason why he didn’t go there is because he knows that the enemy of Crotone is not only Theonia. Their relationship with Locri is much worse, and Locri is an ally of Syracuse, the ally of Sparta in Magna Graecia. If he were to go to Crotone, Syracuse would file a complaint to Sparta. Though it was to take his revenge on Theonia, he didn’t want to be exiled like Thimbron, and what is more, compared with Crotone, Syracuse is a much better partner.
Phidias had heard that the Sicilian Tyrant was a little bit overbearing and so in order to get along with him, he learned his lesson of being too outspoken in Magna Graecia, so he changed his approach to achieve his own goal.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The new Cheiristoya’s restaurant in Thurii is located in the southwest part of the city and is near the port. Compared with the other Cheiristoya’s restaurant that is next to Thurii’s market, its customers are mainly the citizens of the union, foreign envoys and rich merchants, so they offer high-end dishes, such as hotpot beef and mutton. And so, a part of the restaurant was specially partitioned into an open-air small courtyard, so as to exhaust the smoke while barbecuing.
Timasion, Xanticles and Cleanor were invited into the courtyard by Agasias, and they were not unfamiliar with the dishes that are in front of them, for they had already enjoyed these dishes in the house of Davos.
Cleanor was interested in the price of the hotpot, and so he asked the slave that was serving him, “How much does it cost to eat this?”
The slave thought for a moment and said, “Distinguished guest, it depends on how much you eat. Usually, a person pays about two~five drachmas.”
“It is so expensive!” Cleanor exclaimed in surprise, “I couldn’t even earn one drachma a day now!”
“It is more expensive than ordinary dishes, but it’s worth it!” The slave patiently explained, “First of all, the beef and mutton in our restaurant is purchased from Nerulum and Lucania, which is famous in all of Greece, and the price is not cheap. Secondly, the restaurant also needs to send people to the top of the mountain in the west to collect unmelted ice and snow in order to freeze the meat, which is a very risky thing! Then, there are also some slaves that are good at cutting meat to constantly slice the meat for you, and the restaurant has also hired chefs from Egypt to prepare various condiments for you. Finally, I will serve you….you see, there are so many complicated processes and so many people needed to make the hotpot that you like. Do you still think that this is expensive?!”
“You have a smart mouth!” After hearing what the slave said, Cleanor couldn’t help but sigh. Then he once again sighed and frankly said, “It is a pity that you are a slave!”
“Though I am a slave now, my merciful Master still pays me every day. According to the slave act of the union, ‘A slave can become a freeman as long as he has worked hard for his master for more than four years, and raise enough money to redeem himself while also having the consent of his master.’ And our master, Cheiristoya, is as kind as Lord Davos, and has made a sacred oath in front of Hades! Therefore, I think I can become a Theonian citizen in ten years!” The eyes of the slave sparkled with gratitude and hope.
‘Davos, you always win the support of the populace! Aren’t you afraid that the owners of the slaves will be against you?’ Cleanor, who was watching the slightly excited slave, did not utter what he was thinking and casually asked, “What is your name?”
“Tanarus.”
“I hope that your wish will come true.” Cleanor said contrary to his thoughts.
Tanarus happily replied, “Thank you for your blessing, kind guest!”
“Look, there is finally a man that praise Cleanor!” Timasion jokes..
“Timasion, you are just jealous, aren’t you?!” Cleanor held up the beer mug and pretended to be angry, “Come on, let’s drink!”
“Ho, you want to challenge me with only that much?!” Timasion did not take the mug, and took up a jar, “Come on, let’s finish this in one drinking.”
“Let’s drink!” They looked at each and drank it.
Xanticles cried out, “You two, drink slowly. Agasias spent a lot of money to treat us to dinner.” Then, he jokingly said to Agasias, “This restaurant should be the property of Davos. So you should have a discount when you check out.”
“Erm….don’t worry about Agasias, he is a statesman, so how can he not even have dozens of drachmas?” Cleanor, belch, and said loudly with sourness in his words.
“Cleanor is right. You don’t have to worry about money, and let’s eat and drink tonight!” Said Agasias loudly, as if he had not heard the sarcasm of Cleanor.
“Give me another beer!” Timasion then said to Tanarus, “This is a good liquor. I love it!”
“Give me another mug as well!” Cleanor followed.
“Please wait a moment.” Tanarus rushed to the door and called out the needs of the guests to the waiter in the lobby.
The banquet lasted about half an hour, and everyone was slightly drunk.
“A year ago, we fought with the Persians every day, and every day, we saw the stiff bodies of our comrades. At that time, we didn’t even have much hope that we would be able to return to Greece alive, let alone to drink and eat so happily like today….” Xanticles said with emotion, “It wasn’t easy! We really have to thank the gods for their protection and blessing!”
“Let’s drink to the fact that we can be together alive!” Timasion raised his mug,
“Thank Zeus(Hades) for his blessing!” The others also responded.
Xanticles put down his mug and said, “Agasias, you didn’t call us to just eat and drink, right?” Xanticles who was attentive, has long noticed that the expression of Agasias was a bit depressed.
Agasias stretched out the spoon to scoop out the meat and paused in the air. A short while later, he put down the spoon, wiped the stains from his mouth with his hands, then he looked at the three people who were looking at him and said, “Today, the envoy of Sparta came and asked the union to capture you and hand you over to Sparta….”
The information about the arrival of a Spartan warship in Thurii has long been spread in the port. Of course, Timasion knew that the envoy of Sparta had come specially for them.
“How did you answer the Spartans?” Cleanor asked urgently, and the other two were nervous as well.
“Don’t worry, even though the Spartans have threatened us with war, Davos still firmly refused the envoy!” The reply of Agasias made the three people be relieved.
“Davos is worthy of being the leader who always wins every battle. He isn’t even afraid of the threat of the Spartan at all!” At this moment, Cleanor praised Davos.
“In fact, the Spartans are not frightening. We have followed them to fight in Asia Minor for more than half a year, so we know about them. Though their strategoi are really experienced in combat, there are too few Spartan citizens that can be sent to the battlefield. They mainly rely on the army of their allies and us, mercenaries to fight. In fact, their combat strength is not very strong and it is very difficult for them to deal with the Persians alone. I don’t think that they have the spare strength to wage war against the union!….” Timasion also consoled him.
These words didn’t seem to have much effect on Agasias. His gaze were fixed on the ground that was in front of him and his face was full of apologies and murmured, “It was I who had forced Davos to bring you here from Asia Minor….and in order to attract you all to come, I have also offered you some conditions that the union did not gave, because I wanted you all to live a peaceful life like us, but when you came, I didn’t expect that….there will be so many conflicts and disputes that made you suffer so much and also the dissatisfaction of the union’s citizens….Alas, Sparta is now even hostile to the union! For this reason, Davos was also blamed by the statesmen! I….am I really wrong in this matter?”.𝙘𝙤𝙢