Seclian’s heart tightened as he tried to ask, “Milord, are we going to war?”
“That might not happen, however, we should still be prepared. I believe you have heard the public trial in the Nike Square about Syracuse’s desire for our Theonia.” Davos was satisfied with Seclian’ vigilance as a navarch. He then gazed at Seclian and said seriously, “If a war is to happen, what is the chance of our whole Greek navy winning against the Syracusan navy?”
Seclian’s expression also became tense and serious. Still, he manages to keep his head clear and speak fluently, “Due to the previous war with Locri, Crotone could at most send out 20 triremes, 10 in Scylletium, 8 in Caulonia and about 5 for Terina. As for the city-states in Theonia Alliance, Rhegium has the most triremes at about 30. And for Heraclea and Metapontum, it would already be good enough if they could put together 5. On the other hand, Laos has not mastered the technology of building triremes, while Roscianum and Elea have no triremes and were only using small and medium-sized warships….oh, and Taranto, I almost forgot about them, has about 25 triremes…”
‘Taranto!’ This reminded Davos of how its relationship with Theonia became strange, but Davos decided that it was better to improve their relations in the face of a greater threat.
“If we concentrate all the naval forces of the city-states in Magna Graecia, we would have about 130 triremes, plus small and medium-sized warship…bringing it to nearly 250. And according to previous information, Syracuse has nearly 400 triremes, and the total number of warships they have will probably be more than 600. Although the gap is huge, fighting Syracuse is not impossible, but-” Seclian became melancholic, “The point is that these warships are too scattered that the enemy could attack them individually. And even if we were to gather them together, the lack of training and unified command could easily lead them to fight on their own.”
Davos thought for a moment and then said, “If all these warships of Magna Graecia were to received unified training and command, do you think this combined fleet will have a chance to defeat the Syracusan navy?”
‘A fleet that had just been formed and had no experience of naval warfare was trying to defeat the mighty navy of Syracuse?’ Seclian was not shocked from hearing Davos’ question. Rather, after seriously thinking about it, he decisively said, “I think it’s possible! First of all, the sailors of our navy are very high-spirited. As you know, milord, the quotas of soldiers of the various Theonian legions are now full, and many of the registered freemen and some of the preparatory citizens are unwilling to wait in the reserve legion, so they transferred into the navy. And these young men are eager to build up their merits and shorten their years of service to become a citizen as soon as possible and obtain their allocated land. Thus they trained hard and eagerly looked forward to the outbreak of war, and they are more eager than anyone else to fight and win.”
Seclian clenched his fist as if to cheer himself up and continued to say loudly. “Secondly, although Syracuse has a lot more warships, they are not gathered together but are anchored in Syracuse, Agrigento and Catania respectively…oh, there is also Messina, so it would be extremely time-consuming for Syracuse to gather all its ships together. So we could seize the moment and break one or two of its sub-fleet quickly, changing the naval strength of both sides…”
Davos gazed at the young man. He is intelligent, capable and energetic, and is courageous and has the zeal to fight stronger enemies. And from judging his systematic analysis, he had thought deeply about naval warfare and was not confined to the position of a sub-fleet commander, who only trains his men, patrolling, and so on. This is a true naval talent!
After finally making up his mind, Davos said in a deep voice, “You have spoken well! Our Theonia infantry has always fought against the strong, allowing us to have the Theonia Union we have today. So I hope the navy will also have this spirit of not being afraid of powerful enemies!”
“Rest assured, milord. The Theonia navy will never be worse than the infantry!” Seclian immediately pledge.
Davos looked at him and said in a deep voice, “Seclian, despite your youth, you have always performed greatly, both in training and in managing the fleet. You even have a high reputation among the navies. Given the imprisonment of Enanilus for breaking the law causing the entire Theonian navy to have no commander, this situation cannot continue…”
At Davos’ words, Seclian’s heart beat violently.
“So I have decided to propose to the Senate that you take over as the Navarch of the navy. I believe that this appointment may be made tomorrow.”
Great happiness came crashing down just as Seclian had hoped. He was so excited that he didn’t know what to say and simply expressed his gratitude by saying, “Many thanks, milord! Thank you, milord! Thank you-”
“Don’t thank me yet. You should first understand that this appointment is not an honour, but a heavy responsibility! If a war between Theonia and Syracuse ever comes. In that case, Theonia’s long coastline will be under attack by Syracuse’s powerful navy, so the fleet you lead must do everything possible to defend the union’s land from the enemy and the citizen from losing their properties. Therefore, your responsibility is great!” Said Davos with a serious expression.
Under the gaze of Davos, Seclian’s expression brimmed with determination, “I understand, milord!” he then gave another military salute with great strength.
The next day, the Senate voted in approval to the appointment of Seclian as the Navarch of the navy, along with two additional bills: First, the warships of the allied city-states of Theonia will be integrated into the Theonian navy, both in training and sailing together; Second, increasing the construction of triremes from five to ten a year.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In Athens, at the amphitheatre of Dionysus, the god of wine, a new play by the famous playwright, Aristophanes, is being staged. It is called 《The Theonians》, and it is about a non-Greek Theonian citizen taking part in the Olympic Games. In the play, Aristophanes uses exaggerated playfulness to portray the non-Greek Theonian citizen as someone who is extremely ignorant of Greek tradition and culture and was ridiculously stupid. Since its release, it has been highly praised by Athenian citizens causing the theatres in Athens to be often filled.
For example, the referee is currently announcing the athletes’ entrance in the centre of the theatre; then, a strangely dressed non-Greek person refused to be naked. So when the referee came to asked him why, his answer was, “There are many snakes and insects in our mountains, so we must wear good clothes else we will get bitten if we are not careful-”
“Hahaha…” The audience burst into laughter.
“I like this part so much. It’s so ridiculous!” An audience covered his stomach and laughed until tears came out.
“The following part is much more ridiculous. I have already watched this several times!” Another audience said excitedly.
Hearing a whistle on the field, the actor acting as the Theonian non-Greek citizen had tried his best to run. However, the referee stopped the game and asked him why he ran into the circle of the track, to which he replied innocently, “The people of our tribe always take shortcuts when tracking our prey because only in this way can we catch our prey.”
After the referee told him the rules of the games, he grumbled, “These rules are stupid! No wonder I didn’t see you dressed in animal skins and feathers, for you aren’t able to catch some preys.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The audience laughed almost from beginning to end.
In the end, the non-Greek person won the race championship, and the temple’s priest gave him a laurel. However, he threw the laurel on the ground and said angrily, “Our archon lied to me. He had said that there would be a reward for winning the championship, but these branches are not worth anything at all!”
So he then turned to the priest and asked for the golden cane in his hand.
The greed of the non-Greek and the anger of the priests became the finale of the play.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The audience got up and applauded.
Afterwards, an old man with a grey beard stood up and waved his thanks to the audience. He is Aristophanes, a respected playwright in Athens. Despite his age, he still sat among the audience, as he always does, at the opening of his new work in order to observe the audience’s reaction and ponder about what he could do to improve his work.
《The Theonians》 is a work he created after hearing about the farce that took place at the Isthmian Games a few years ago. Most Athenians just regarded it as a funny comedy, and only a few manage to understand the play’s meaning.
More and more city-states such as Theonia in Magna Graecia, Syracuse in Sicily, Napoli in Campania, Thessaly in northern Greece, Macedonia and others began accepting non-Greek into Greek society, which started to impact Greece’s own traditional culture. That is what Aristophanes, who has been committed to defending Greek traditions, is worried about. Thus he used this ridiculous play to warn the Athenians and even the whole Greek world to be vigilant, but he was unsure how much it could change things.
With the help of the slaves, he walked out of the theatre and down the mountain path while the crowd took the initiative to make way for this respected old man.
Just then, a burst of cheers rang out from the front.
“What happened?!” The audience tapped each other on the shoulder and asked curiously.
“Win! We won! Conon led his fleet and defeated the Spartan navy in Knidos!!” The people ran around shouting, and some even cried with joy.
