“It seems that Davos is indeed blessed by the gods, as he had created another miracle!” Archytas sighed, his eyes were sincere without a hint of jealousy, but more on curiosity, “I want to know how Davos manage to beat Crotone!”
Marigi briefly told them about the process of the battle, and he emphasized that it was a night attack, and that the Crotonians were too proud and unprepared. They not only did not build a camp with seriousness, but also were drunk, which have made their surprise attack easier.
However, the statesmen of Taranto were still shocked by the military talent of Davos. It was clear that the victory of the young Archon against the Lucanians was not a fluke, nor did he rely on the reinforcements that Taranto had sent.
The statesmen of Taranto became even more cautious to the envoys of Amendolara.
One of the Archon, Umacas, said, “Amendolaran, since you have already won, then what are you doing here in Taranto? Are you here to flaunt your achievements?”
“We, people of Amendolara, have always been filled with respect to Taranto that have saved us! So we never dare think to show off!” Marigi bowed to them to show his respect, and then said, “We are here because Thuriii, who have lost their home, and Amendolara have formed a Union. Therefore, it is necessary to revise our agreement with Taranto.”
“What do you mean?!!” There was an uproar in the Council, “The people of Thurii have formed a Union with you? What Union?”
“You sure that you, Amendolarans, have not taken the land of Thurii by force? Just like how your leader have taken over Amendolara!” Exclaimed one of the statesmen.
“I protest to what his lord has said!” Marigi shouted out angrily, “This is not only an insult to our Archon! But also an insult to Amendolara! I can’t believe that this came from Amendolara’s closest ally!”
“Lord Diaomilas, what you have said is not right! On the day of the ecclesia in Amendolara, I was there and witness it with my own eyes on how the people of Amendolara warmly invited the mercenaries to become their citizens!” Archytas stood up to defend Amendolara.
Despite the affirmation of Archytas, Diaomilas still strongly retorted, “If it wasn’t for the coercion of Amendolara, then why would Thurii choose to unite with the weak and poor Amendolara, rather than the rich and powerful Taranto?”
“Diaomilas is right. If it wasn’t for Amendolara’s threat, then Thurii would have chosen Taranto!” Many of them immediately agreed.
The people of Taranto think that they are the best! Marigi sneered in his heart, and immediately wanted to refute them, but he was held back by Ansitanos, who stood up and said, “Esteemed statesmen of Taranto. I am Ansitanos, I was originally a strategos of Thurii, and I have visited Taranto a lot of times in the past. Some of you should know me, such as lord Umacas and lord Disitimas…”
The statesman that he had named had to nod.
“As a citizen of Thurii, I swear to Apollo that Amendolara did not threaten Thurii with force! On the contrary, when the city of Thurii was occupied by Crotone, that it even made the people of Thurii thought that they had been abandoned by the gods and have even given up struggling. However, only the weak Amendolara is the only one that have not yielded to the powerful Crotone, and even though the powerful army of the enemy came to their border, they still adhered to their treaty with Thurii! When the city of Thurii was burned down, and we, the people of Thurii have lost our homes, and were threatened by wounds, disease and hunger, it was the people of Amendolara that have come in time to hep us selflessly! Seeing the atrocious crime of burning the city, that the Crotonians have committed, which is unheard of in the history of Greece, plundering all our things that we use to depend on in order to survive, without any punishment. When they left, no other city-state of Magna Graecia came out to uphold justice. Only the weak Amendolara had dared to fight against the powerful Crotone, the enemy of Thurii and avenged us!
What other city-states can do the things that Amendolara did to Thurii?! We, the people of Thurii, regard Amendolara as our hero that have saved us, and we even regarded them as a family. Therefore, from the bottom of our hearts, we are willing to share one Archon and a Senate with the people of Amendolara, and share the rights and obligations as its citizens. They are like a brother in a family, without making any distinction between us. Hence why it is a natural choice for us, the people of Thurii!…”
After listening to Ansitanos’ warm words, the Council of Taranto fell into silence, and some even felt ashamed.
After a while, the Archon, Umacas, said coldly, “Both Amendolara and Thurii have united, and their strength is greatly stronger than before, and the prestige of Amendolara alone can make the other city-states not dare invade them. It doesn’t seem to make sense for you to talk about alliance with Taranto.”
Marigi put on a sincere expression and said, “Before we came, Lord Davos had told me again and again that ‘Taranto is the great benefactor of Amendolara when we were in our most difficult situation! And if there would be any changes in Amendolara in the future, our gratitude to Taranto will never change. I hope to have a long-term alliance with Taranto and to always be friends. We hope to have the opportunity to repay this kindness in the future!’”
The council of Taranto became quiet again.
Another archon, Disitimas, stood up and said, “Now, let us have the two envoys from Amendolara and Thurii to leave for the time being while we discuss about the alliance.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Everyone, it is rumored that the Archon of Amendolara, Davos, is a very young man. Young men are always energetic and full of ambition. He was a mercenary leader more than half a year ago, and now he is the Archon for life of two city-states. With such a fast rate of promotion, he is very similar to that man in Syracuse, Sicily! Hence why I don’t trust him very much!” Diaomilas expressed his concern, “I am afraid that if we were to form an alliance with them today, then one day they will turn their spear against us, Taranto!”
The words of Diaomilas made the statesmen laugh, “Diaomilas, you are too timid! As for the three~four thousand citizens of Amendolara, as well as the thousands of citizens left in Thurii, I am afraid that they will only have less than ten thousand people, will Taranto be afraid of them?!! Are you really a man of Taranto?!”
“It is even a question whether Amendolara and Thurii can survive the wrath of Taranto*. Do they still have the time to think about other things?” (T/N: This should be Crotone)
In the laughter of the statesmen, Diaomilas sneered at them, “Everyone, when Thurii was founded, our ancestors in the Council of Taranto have also mocked them like what you are all doing today. What is the result? We were defeated twice by the people of Thurii! But it seems that we have not learned our lesson!”
After hearing the words of Diaomilas, some of them were thinking, while the others were not worried, and some have even rebuke him, “That Thurii had the strong support from Athens, otherwise, we would have been the final winner! The current Amendolara and Thurii are far from being compared with the old Thurii. Diaomilas, if Taranto even has to worry about this, then what are we still doing here? It would be better for us to immgrate as soon as possible!”
“I am just reminding everyone that Taranto needs to be vigilant against Amendolara! Amendolara has such an Archon with a shocking military talent, and now they have merged with Thurii. In the future, they may become a strong city-state in the northern part of Magna Graecia, and cause trouble to Taranto. In order to prevent such a situation to happen, we must not support them, but should deliberately limit their development!” Said Diaomilas patiently persuading them.
Archytas stood up immediately and said in a loud voice, “Since lord Diaomilas is afraid of Amendolara, then it stands to reason that we should make them our ally more, because their Archon has always kept his promise. Whether it was when he was still employed by Thurii, in where he had still led the mercenaries to stay and then turned defeat into victory, even though Thurii was miserably defeated and faced the danger of encirclement by the Lucanian alliance. When the army of Crotone reach their city, they still didn’t give up on their treaty with Thurii. All this shows that once the alliance with them is formed, Davos, as the archon for life, will not harm Taranto, but will even lend a helping hand when Taranto gets in trouble one day!”
Then, Disitimas said, “Archytas is right, statesmen, don’t forget who is the greatest threat to Taranto? It is not Amendolara, it is not Thurii, but the Messapians who surround Taranto! The Messapians are hard to deal with, and those damned Athenians have taught them the tactics of the hoplites and armor making. Now, it is more and more difficult to deal with them every year. How many people they have killed, and how many farmlands that they have destroyed every year! Our roots and temples are here, not in Amendolara, not in Thurii! We should know that Taranto has only one city, while the Messapians occupied most of Apulia. If they are allowed to grow in this way, we may lose all our lands outside the city and be trapped inside. This is the real reason why we advocate the establishment of the Magnra Graecia defensive alliance! So, isn’t it a good thing that Amendolara and Thurii united?!”
There was a long silence among the statesmen, and most of them became serious.
In the end, “The Taranto – Thurii-Amendolara alliance” proposal was passed. When the two sides concluded the treaty, although Taranto had promoted this new alliance as an ally with relatively equal strength, Thurii-Amendolara still proposed that Taranto should still be the leader in future joint military operations.
Marigi and Ansitanos did not raise any objection. Hence, the treaty was concluded.
