“If that is the case, I don’t stand a good chance in Syracuse and would likely be ousted by these rebels led by Herolis! For me, that would be terrible! And it wouldn’t be good for Sparta either! Phidias, I need your help now.” Dionysius said with a begging expression.
“Tell me, what do you need me to do?” Phidias’ expression remained unchanged.
Dionysius, who was already accustomed to his personality, earnestly implored, “I hope you can meet the rebels’ leaders, such as Herolis, as you have done before. Persuade them not to have a conflict with me while Syracuse is in danger, as this would only give the Theonians an advantage and threaten the Syracusans’ survival! Instead, we should unite and get through this together! To that end, I am also willing to share my power with them and meet their demands as long as they can accept me again as their supreme commander…”
“Alright, I’ll give it a try.” Phidias simply agreed. Then he said, “Should I tell them that you are back?”
“No! I’ll show up in due course.” Dionysius immediately refused.
Seeing that Phidias left, Dionysius felt suspicious, ‘Why did Phidias agree so quickly this time?’
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In Syracuse’s city hall, Herolis, who was chosen as the interim supreme commander, was meeting with the officials of the Wartime Council from the several strategoi elected by the people during the uprising.
As a poet, Philoxenus was well-known because he contradicted Dionysius many times and was imprisoned. Hence, the people trusted him and elected him to be a strategos. At this moment, he impolitely questioned the representative of the port sailors and the poor, Tethytes, “Tethytes, why didn’t you blockade the island of Ortygia with your warships?! We already discussed that yesterday!”
“Ye…yesterday, we were tasked with clearing out Macias’ defeated troops. Currently, there are thousands of sailors searching for them in the mountains, so where could we spare the men to blockade the island of Ortygia?!” Tethytes complained about his suffering.
“Tethytes, stop quibbling. You have enough people in the port area to block the island of Ortygia while wiping out those mercenaries. After joint deliberation by the Wartime Council, you accepted the order issued. Yet you still haven’t implemented it? Do you think the people just want you to come here for fun when they elected you to be a strategos?!!” Kias, another nobleman from the city, a close friend of Herolis and was also newly elected strategos, loudly criticised.
Although Tethytes was a newcomer in the political arena, he had wandered on the sea for decades and had abundant life experience. So instead of getting angry when faced with criticism, he helplessly said, “Besides not working together to do things, you city people couldn’t even gather enough people to build the wall, so you needed us to provide manpower. Moreover, our port area has a large population from different origins, so how do you expect them to obey my orders completely?! If you have a problem with me, then take my position away. For the sake of my position as a strategos, I have to talk to many people every day and be misunderstood! I had long wanted to quit as my work isn’t as comfortable as when I was just a sailor!”
Tethytes’ threat to resign resulted in several strategoi immediately stopping their criticism as they understood that Tethytes was good at persuading the people at the port. If he were to be replaced by other people, it would be harder for them to cooperate. Moreover, they urgently needed the strength of the port people as the War of Magna Graecia took away many citizens from the city.
“Lord Tethytes!” Herolis broke the silence in the room. At this moment, he was much more haggard than before the uprising. Although his voice became hoarse, his eyes were sharper, “If you encountered any difficulties, we should discuss them now and solve them together.”
Tethytes still respected Herolis, so he promptly said, “The port’s people wanted to participate in the ecclesia to discuss the various laws decided by the council and for the allocation of the land that you promised to the port people as they began suspecting that the Wartime Council is swindling them. In addition, they had taken on a lot of tasks compared to the city people, so they felt it was unfair and were no longer willing to obey my orders…”
“How is it unfair?! The port people were originally-” Another strategos, Steisikus couldn’t resist arguing again but was interrupted by Herolis. After he thought about it, Herolis said earnestly, “Lord Tethytes, we overthrew the tyrant rule of Dionysius and will implement a democratic system. However, Syracuse is not Athens, so not all citizens can participate in the ecclesia, but…to put it simply, citizens who can afford at least one set of heavy infantry equipment and can serve in combat at any time are eligible to participate in the ecclesia. That was the political tradition of Syracuse, and we will not change it easily! That’s why besides the poor people in your port area, the city also has many citizens who cannot participate in the ecclesia.”
“But last time-” Tethytes still wanted to argue.
However, Herolis waved his hand to stop him and said seriously, “Hear me out first! Why didn’t we immediately allocate the land that we promised? It’s because we do not know how many of the Syracusans who fought in Magna Graecia will return alive, so we are not sure how much land will be vacated. Moreover, we also need personnel to re-measure the land before distributing it fairly and justly to the landless citizens of the port and the city.
But since the ‘land’ became the port’s people’s biggest concern, which even affected our unity. However, you should remember that we still haven’t taken Ortygia. Dionysius and his mercenaries may come back at any time and put the chains back on the freedom we gained with blood!”
At the end of his speech, Herolis’ tone became intense to remind Tethytes and the several other strategoi, including Philoxenus. He then continued, “I, therefore, propose that we distribute first the land owned by the 5,000 mercenaries led by Macias and the thousand mercenaries stationed in the city to the port people.” (These mercenaries were already citizens of Syracuse. However, the victorious rebels and Herolis refused to recognise their citizenship as they were the loyal dogs of Dionysius.)
“Those mercenaries occupied a large area of land!” Philoxenus warned loudly.
“For Herolis’ proposal, I think it is acceptable.” Steisikus, on the contrary, expressed his approval. Unlike the straightforward Philoxenus, who knew nothing about politics, Steisikus realised Herolis’ intention as soon as he announced his proposal. The villages established by these 6,000 mercenaries weren’t within the traditional territory of Syracuse but rather the territories that Dionysius got from expanding outwards following his conquest of south-eastern Sicily, which naturally included the lands of their neighbouring city-states that he forcibly occupied. The villages of the 6,000 mercenaries were just southwest of Syracuse and adjacent to the small subordinate city-state of Syracuse, Akrai, which was a necessary route for the city-state’s troops from the south coast to reach Syracuse. With Herolis arranging the port people there, they would not only make these greedy and timid people continue fighting the mercenaries who fled into the mountains for the sake of their land but also guard against possible hostility of the city-states on the south coast to the new Syracuse government. Moreover, the land was far enough from Syracuse that its distribution would not cause the city’s people to protest but also diffuse the discontent of the port peoples and make them feel the sincerity of the Wartime Committee.
Thus it wasn’t only Steisikus who realised the benefits of Herolis’ proposal, but also the several other strategoi agreed.
Herolis continued while remaining indifferent, “However, Dionysius gave the mercenaries too favourable conditions to win them over, with each mercenary having 6,666 square metres of land, which is a bit too much. So I would like to instead temporarily allocate 3,333 square metres to each of the port people, and only those who have taken an active part in the rebellion against the tyrant are eligible. Lord Tethytes, what do you think? You should provide the list so we can begin the distribution as soon as the city hall’s staff verifies it.”
Tethytes didn’t think about it that much. He was already overjoyed at the fact the council agreed to distribute the land immediately so that the public would no longer question and criticised him after he returned to the port every time. Thus he said with great relief, “I agree!”
Herolis then said, “The port people who owned land could then accumulate wealth to buy weapons and equipment and serve as heavy infantry. Afterwards, it would only be a matter of time before they could participate in the ecclesia. So, Lord Tethytes, what you said about ‘the port people’s request to participate in the ecclesia’ would no longer be a problem as long as the land is allocated, right?”
“Right! Right! You are right!” Tethytes answered.
“Now that we solve the problems.” Herolis turned serious, “I want you to immediately have the ships moored in the great port, all of which are on the verge of decaying, sail back and seal off the entire island of Ortygia completely, without allowing a single ship to enter or leave the island! Although we cannot invade Ortygia for now, as far as I know, the food stored on the island is only enough to use by two thousand mercenaries and the residents for three to four months at most. At that time, they will have to open the gate and surrender.”
“Lord Herolis, you can rest assured of that! With the promised distribution of land, the port people will participate in droves!” Tethytes readily agreed while receiving the contemptuous gaze of several strategoi, ‘The port people are indeed a crowd of bootlicker!’
