‘What do you mean with your help?! It’s as if you Rhegians had taken part in the naval battle!’ Seclian sneered inwardly but did not show it on his face. After all, Athelycus was not only an important figure in Rhegium but also the father-in-law of King Davos.
Fortunately, Davos already knew his father-in-law’s personality was. Thus before the fleet set out, he specifically told Seclian, “Theonia is grateful for Rhegium’s great assistance as our ally, and we will soon return Rhegium’s ship!” Seclian answered without hesitation. After all, Theonia currently has hundreds of captured intact or slightly damaged triremes that were left idle because there were not enough sailors. Furthermore, they even had to transfer some of them to the commercial port due to their numbers.
“Can the returned ship be equipped with that kind of ‘wooden drawbridge’ you just said?” Said Athelycus, which immediately caused Seclian to be taken aback as he did not expect that the polemarchos of Rhegium would make such a request.
Although the corvus seems simple to install, he once heard his majesty Davos say that it involves the application of advanced pulley knowledge and complex mechanical production, allowing the several corvus operators to easily rotate the corvus’ base, to pull up and down the drawbridge. Seclian even remembers the scholar Marticoris proudly claiming that ‘Except for Theonia, no second Greek city-state could make a corvus unless they had a deeper knowledge of pulleys!’
“What? You can’t do it?!” Athelycus asked again without fear when he saw that Seclian had not spoken.
Seclian just said, “Only his majesty Davos can make this decision. Besides, the corvus is only one of the reasons why we can defeat the Syracusan navy. The most important reason is our legion’s powerful heavy infantry, especially when we fought with the Syracusan navy for the second time. Although Syracuse sent heavy infantry almost equal to our number on each ship, they still lost miserably…”
With that, Seclian bluntly said, “Theonia and Rhegium are allies. With us protecting the sea, the enemies will not harass Rhegium on the sea, so you don’t have to spend money to equip the navy.”
After hearing that, Athelycus’ expression sank. He then looked directly at Seclian and angrily said, “In his letter, Davos hopes that we Rhegians could send troops together with your fleet to attack in Hipponion and somewhere else in the south of Magna Graecia to attract and hold back the Syracusan army, creating openings for your offence. However-”
Athelycus’ expression further sank as he continued, “Earlier, we the people of Rhegium took the initiative to attack the city of Medma to help you. As a result, we suffered heavy losses and no longer had the strength to do such risky actions. Therefore, please tell Davos that we are really sorry! Anyway, Theonia is already so powerful, so you should be fully capable of defeating Syracuse on your own!”
Afterwards, Athelycus stood up and said, “I still have some things to do, so enjoy your time.” with that, Athelycus unexpectedly left.
The guests looked at each other, and Seclian became even more embarrassed. Although it should have been a lively banquet, it ended in displeasure.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the evening, in the inner yard of Athelycus’s residence, Alkibidas criticised Athelycus, “Father, you were too aggressive at the banquet and left the worst impression on the visiting Theonians! What if they were to return and spread the story? It would affect not only Agnes but also our family’s business in Thurii!”
“Do you think I was furious due to that lowly Theonian?” Athelycus’ angrily stared in the direction of the banquet that had long ended. He then said to his son, “I did that for my son-in-law.”
“For Davos? What do you mean?” Alkibidas looked puzzled.
Athelycus felt somewhat helpless: As one of the ancient families of Rhegium, he ruled the city-state for decades, and his family has always played an important role in Rhegium’s politics. However, he doesn’t know why his two children did not inherit the political talent of the family. Fortunately, his daughter Agnes had married the archon of Theonia…should be the king of Theonia now and became the queen consort and the chief priestess of the influential Temple of Hera in Thurii. However, even though she has a high status, her mind was simple since childhood, resulting in her not being a match for the other queen consort, who is shrewd and influential. And his son, Alkibidas, was smart, but he used it in business and was not interested in politics. Even his current position as strategos was forcedly given by Athelycus.
Although Alkibidas remained indifferent to political matters, as his successor, Athelycus often gave him an earful of lectures in hopes that he would wake up one day. This time is no exception, “Now that Syracuse has lost the sea, it would be difficult for them to retake it in just a short time. Furthermore, as long as Theonia carefully deals with the war, they will not lose. So once the Syracusans retreated to Sicily, the Theonia Union, which did not suffer heavy loss in this war, will certainly become an unshakable overlord in Magna Graecia. Hence if we don’t want to become its vassal, we must make our stance known!”
“There is nothing wrong with becoming Theonia’s vassal.” Alkibidas said unconcernedly, “And only by becoming a vassal can we get trade concessions. According to what you said, Theonia’s territory is already so big and will certainly become even bigger in the future, which will be more helpful to our family’s trade! With my brother-in-law being the ruler of this powerful country, my sister will definitely not let me suffer!”
Athelycus did not expect his lazy son to hold such an idea. He became angry for a moment but soon felt helpless as he vaguely felt that Alkibidas was not the only one who held such thoughts in Rhegium. Since Rhegium allied with Theonia, the Rhegians felt safer and benefited greatly in trade and commerce. Furthermore, Rhegium had more merchants and fewer farmers due to their environment, so they were very likely to give up the city-state’s independence for their own interests, just like when they aligned with Carthage before joining the Theonian Alliance. Apart from fighting Syracuse, the Rhegians were attracted to Carthage’s huge trade market that they could even ignore the ethnic conflict between the Carthaginians and the Greeks.
“Even if we become a vassal, we still have to become a powerful vassal so that Theonia value us.” After getting discouraged, Athelycus sighed and reminded his son, “Do you know why I insist on getting those unique ships of Theonia?”
“Why?”
“Messina!” Athelycus looked at his son and said in an aggrieved tone, “Once Davos defeats Dionysius, there will be great chaos in Syracuse. By then, he won’t have the spare energy to protect that new city-state across the strait, allowing us to take it and make it a colony under Rhegium’s control! With the port of Messina under our hands, it would allow us to control the strait, which is great for the city-state and your business!”
Alkibidas was greatly impressed that his eyes flickered at imagining the significant gains from capturing Messina. However, he soon calmed down, “Father, you think my shrewd brother-in-law couldn’t see Messina’s importance? There is a popular saying among us Greek merchants ‘Great profits comes with great risk.’ The reason my business is going so well is that I never do anything beyond what I can. Could it be that Rhegium is ready to take risks to seize Messina?”
Athelycus froze. After learning about the continuous victory of the Theonian fleet, he was ecstatic at the thought of Messina that his desire blinded his reasoning for a moment. He almost forgot that the city of Messina was the target of everyone, with Syracuse, Carthage, and now Theonia staring at the strait.
After contemplating for a while, vitality returned to Athelycus’ face as he said with relief, “Alkibidas, I now realise that you are an excellent strategos!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
On the following day, Seclian led the sailors to the port and boarded the ship.
Seclian thought that the event at the banquet last night would lead to the Rhegians’ attitude changing towards them. But to his surprise, not only did the people’s enthusiasm remain the same, but Athelycus also came to see them off with an even more enthusiastic attitude than when they met yesterday.
Athelycus did not even mention a word about the discord yesterday as he positively expressed to Seclian that Rhegium is willing to perform the duties as their allies and fully cooperate with Theonia to defeat Syracuse. For the specific actions, he could discuss it with strategos Pheidon, who was in Taurania.
At the same time, Athelycus also asked Seclian to bring a letter to Davos.
Although Seclian couldn’t understand Athelycus’ sudden change, it’s undoubtedly wonderful. Seclian was in a great mood that his voice was particularly loud when he gave the order, “Go to Messina!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In 715 B.C., the Cumae colonists from Greece’s island of Euboea and the Chalcis of north-central Greece allied to build a city on the lowlands of the strait between Sicily and the Apennines, naming it ‘Zankle’ because of the shape of its harbour, which resembles a farmer’s sickle for harvesting grain.
