“His majesty once said that even if you can conceal something for some time, you can’t conceal it for a lifetime. Apart from the law severely punishing such persons, they would also be tortured in the underworld after their death! Therefore, since the establishment of our kingdom’s examination system, there hasn’t been such a single case until now.”
After saying that, Henipolis saw the three people lost in their thoughts. Then his mischievous mind caused him to ask, “We would usually carry the kingdom’s examination in October and would rarely hold it at other times. Can you guess why we are currently holding the examination?”
Henipolis’ question made the three ponder. Then the youngest of them, Augeas, asked hesitantly, “Is it because of us?”
Henipolis looked at him as if he were an idiot, while Plato rebuked him, saying, “Augeas, don’t talk nonsense! The examination and the selection of officials is a major event of Theonia, so how can it be as casual as playing a game?! I believe Theonia is carrying the examination because there is a shortage of officials, right?”
“That’s right.” Henipolis nodded and continued, “After conquering Dauni last year, we needed to draw many officials from the other regions to go there to govern the place. Thus it resulted in a shortage of civil servants in other departments and cities. Hence we’ve been carrying out the examination since the beginning of the year until now.”
“But what you asked was only now!” Augeas said, unconvinced.
Henipolis winked, “It is naturally included during this period.”
As they joked and laughed around, they managed to reach the examination building.
Krentus, the official managing the examination centre, hurriedly rushed out to welcome them after getting notified by the gatekeeper, “Lord Henipolis, I welcome you for your visit!!” Krentus bowed.
Although Henipolis holds a low position as a statesman in the Senate, no one dares to look down on him, as the one behind him is King Davos.
“What departments are carrying the examination?” Henipolis asked directly without bothering to exchange pleasantries.
“The court and the construction.”
“Shall we go in first and rest for a while? Or should we check the examination now?” Henipolis turned to ask Plato.
“Since we aren’t that tired, there is no need to rest,” said Plato.
“Then…let’s go see the examination for the court,” said Henipolis after thinking for a moment.
Krentus immediately led them to a ‘warehouse’ with a wooden sign hung at the door, which reads ‘Court Examination.’
Krentus motioned them not to make loud noises as they entered inside.
The room was quite spacious as it could hold 100 tables. Although the room was almost filled with examinees, the room remained extremely quiet.
Only the examiner, sitting on the platform and acting as the defendant, was intentionally telling his experience intermittently and confusingly.
Then the examinees would write a smooth court record base on his statement. Thus no one looked at Plato as they were all listening carefully and noting it down on the wax plate with their iron stylus.
Besides them, three examiners are patrolling the examination room to prevent cheating.
Plato stood by the door as he watched for a while before they left the examination room.
“So who will be accepted and eliminated would only depend on the level of writing the court record?” Plato asked as he thought the examination was a little too simple.
“There is naturally more to it than that. After that, we would assess them individually for their familiarity with legal terms, and the sum of these two scores will be their final result. They are actually quite lucky this time. With all the court of the kingdom of Theonia in urgent need of people, we would accept more than 1/5th of them.”
Krentus seemed to see through Plato’s thoughts, so he said, “Don’t think they could become judges just because they pass this examination.”
“Isn’t that the case?” Augeas asked curiously.
“Of course not.” Henipolis took over and explained, “After they pass, they would need to start from the low-ranking position such as court recorder and attendant…and after two to three years, they could take another examination depending on their performance. At that time, we would not only test their knowledge of legal terms, but we would also stimulate a real court debate to assess their thinking and debate skills, as well as the use of legal provisions and the ability to manage the court…it is only after they pass all of those that they may serve as trainee judges or trainee public prosecutors. After that, they would become a judge of a demos, a judge of a city, and finally, a senior judge…that process would take about twenty years if they don’t make any major errors in their work. Otherwise, the court would kick them out…”
Augeas exclaimed, “It seems becoming a judge in Theonia is difficult!”
“It is.” Henipolis said, “The judge examination is the most difficult among all the civil service examinations because we emphasise the rule of law. And since a judge is the representative of the law, his incompetence will affect the implementation of our laws!”
The three were touched listening to that. In Athens, there are no judges in all the courts. Instead, the citizens would become the jury to decide the case. And for the jury to determine the victor and loser of a case, they would need to depend on the debating skills of the plaintiff and the defendant and guide the jury’s emotions.
“I saw many different races in the room just now?” Speusippus asked suddenly.
“You mean the Lucanian, Bruttian and Messapian?” Henipolis replied with disapproval, “That’s not surprising as they are all citizens of Theonia. Hence they have the right to participate in the examination to become judges.”
“Actually, besides the foreign races, there is also a liberated slave participating in the examination,” Krentus interjected.
Liberated salve?! Plato and the other two were shocked.
As the head of the examination centre, Krentus knew the identity of each candidate as well as their origins, so he explained, “His name is Perika, from Libya under the rule of Cyrenaica. He was a slave in the Syracusan army who came to invade Magna Graecia. After the Syracusan army’s surrender, he became a slave of our kingdom. But he later got his freedom after performing excellently and making outstanding achievements during the war to conquer Messapi as a member of the logistics brigade.
He then obtained his citizenship last year, And from the letter of attestation issued by the city hall of Thurii, which says that over the years, Perika worked as a worker in Thurii’s court, a cleaner in the library…and so on. Besides behaving well, the money he earned has either gone for his study in adult classes or to read books in the library…”
Henipolis was moved after hearing that. He then sighed and said, “Those citizens who were former slaves are diligent and hardworking. Now, this guy even dares to come to take the examination for the judges. With the exception of the court, there are now citizens who were formerly slaves joining the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the city hall and other departments in the kingdom. So if he could successfully become a judge, he could set an example for others, showing that any official position in the kingdom is open to citizens of any birth as long as they work hard enough!”
“You said it well, Lord Henipolis!” Krentus praised.
Augeas and Speusippus, on the other hand, were a bit at a loss at how non-Greeks and slaves could hold any important position here, which was utterly beyond their understanding.
Plato then remembered Davos’ indirect criticism when they met as he believed Plato’s thinking was too narrow due to him excluding the slaves and non-Greeks in the 《Republic》. Davos believed that they should give equal opportunities to all people so that the whole society could advance upward…
Plato thought and sighed while looking back at the examination room, ‘Is this the bearing of a powerful kingdom?!’
Then they went to watch the examination held by the department of construction.
The written examination of the candidates here is lower, only requiring the candidates to be able to read and do simple writing. And the most important test would be held in the open space, requiring the candidates to bring two-three slaves from the kingdom. Then they would use the materials provided to build a wall, a road, or make a piece of siege equipment within the specified time…this is to test the candidates’ hands-on ability and ability to supervise and lead their men.
This unique examination opened their eyes and inspired Plato, who realised that the Theonian examination of the kingdom’s civil servant was the practical realisation of his idea in the 《Republic》: The first principle of establishing an ideal city-state is the strict social division of labour.
Just after he left reluctantly, Henipolis regrettably told him, “Tomorrow is the celebration of Heracles in the kingdom of Theonia, so please forgive me for not being able to continue guiding you temporarily! But I suggest you join this celebration tomorrow and relax; you might even find this celebration very interesting!”
After being reminded, Plato, who had been busy with his tour, realised that the celebration had something to do with the increase in pedestrians and overflowing inns in Thurii in the past few days.
Although there are many Greek gods and goddesses, most Greek city-state worship different patron deities, which led to many celebrations in each city-state all year round. For example, the Panathenaia in the Greek world is unique to only Athens. But even though Sparta also celebrates Heracles, the Spartans’ frugality and prohibition of hedonism made them hold only simple celebrations. Hence Plato didn’t care much about it.
But the following day, they found that the celebration of Heracles in Theonia was quite unusual.
Early in the morning, the parade to participate in the celebration departed the Temple of Heracles in the outer area of Thurii. At the forefront was the winner of the Heracles competition held at last year’s celebration, who wore a lion skin, holding a large club, was topless and posing in various poses that showed his muscles as he played the role of Heracles.
