Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 375: A speech from a historical figure

Isocrates was unable to stop himself from looking at him again.

Scambras, the rotating chairperson, knocked on the table with a wooden mallet, officially starting today's meeting.

Scambras then loudly announced, “We only have one topic today, and that is, the envoy of Athens has come to Thurii, so let us listen to their request.”

‘Upon hearing this, some statesmen who had not heard anything in advance became lively: Athens, a great and famous city-state in the Mediterranean, had actually sent an envoy to our Theonia Union!’

Amidst the curious gazes, Isocrates walked towards the front. He then stood calmly in front of the crowd and gave a graceful and firm salute to them. He then stood straight with chest up and began his speech, “Esteem statesmen of Theonia, I am Isocrates, an envoy of Athens. Even though this is the first time I have set foot on the land of Thurii, I could feel its warmness. Fifty years ago, Pericles, the great strategos of Athens, had extended a helping hand to the exiled Sybarites, promising them to rebuild a new city. And this city inherited Pericles’ ideal that he pursued all his life – that all Greeks can live regardless of region and races*, and live together in peace and friendship. (*‘Greeks’ is just a bigger and broader name and concept, as it can actually be divided into different races.)

Not only did he mobilise Athens, but he also called on the whole of Greece to take action in establishing a beautiful pan-Greek city-state. Naturally, we Athenians have contributed the most, as we had not only used our wealth in our treasury to buy stones, grain, and other materials for the new city and invited the great Greek architect – Hippodamus, to handle the construction planning of the new city. We also sent two of our strategoi to manage the new city, and they had even invited my teacher, Protagoras, to make laws for Thurii. Even the historian – Herodotus and the rhetorician – Tisias settled here to plant the seeds of Greek culture and wisdom on the immigrants…

With such all-out support, Thurii became the brightest peal of Magna Graecia as soon as it was built. While we Athenians had returned to the eastern Mediterranean without asking for anything in return and allowed the newly born city to grow independently and freely…” Isocrates dream was to become an orator, but his voice being hoarse, which is a fatal defect in Athens, where speeches are popular and demanding. Thus he rarely exercised his oratorical talents on large formal occasions and could only reluctantly turn to teach rhetorics and eloquence. Therefore today is the rare time that he could give speeches in public, making him excited.

The Theonians, however, doesn't pay much attention to such details. Instead, they felt that Isocrates’ emotion merging with his hoarse voice has a unique attraction. Especially those Lucanian and Bruttian statesmen, who don’t know much about this history, listened with great interest.

However, the well-informed Kunogelata, Burkes, Davos and the others knew well that Athens was not as noble as Isocrates claimed. Thanks to Athens and the majority of Athenians among the immigrants, their descendants dominated the political situation of Thurii for the first few decades. However, it is also true that Athens did not force Thurii into joining the Delian League or becoming a sub-city-state of Athens, and they had never put forward unreasonable demands to Thurii.

“And when I set foot on this land, where we Athenians had devoted our efforts, today, I was surprised to find that the ideal of strategos Pericles has been realised. I could even say that the current Thurii has exceeded his expectations! Here…not only are the immigrants from the various Greek city-state living in peace but there are also other races getting along well with the Greeks.” Saying until here, Isocrates felt a bit uncomfortable. However, his voice was still filled with emotion, “Theonia, the wonderful city-state union, showed a bright prospect of peace for the Mediterranean world filled with ethnic conflicts and wars! To this end, I would like to pay my highest respect to you who led the people, made great efforts and achieved this grand goal!” With that, he bent down and bowed respectfully.

The statesmen such as Cornelius, Scambras, Burkes, Vespa, Hemon, Baripri and Sedrum and even Kunogelata and Marigi were moved by his sincere words.

Even though Davos already knew from Ansitanos that Isocrates was an “Athenian Supremacist” and that these words of his were to achieve his purpose of winning the favour of the statesmen. But out of politeness, he still led the statesmen to stand up and return warm applause.

Isocrates, on the other hand, did not show complacency. He calmly waited for the applause to weaken and then continued to say, “It is precisely because of this unique friendship between Athens and Thurii that both sides will lend a helping hand to each other in times of difficulties!… Shortly after establishing the city of Thurii, Athens helped Thurii solve the threat of Crotone and signed a peace agreement between Thurii and Crotone; It was also with Athens' assistance that Thurii defeated Taranto in the Siris Plain and reached a settlement with Taranto.

After the war broke out between Athens and Sparta, we had sent an army to capture Syracuse. While we were passing through the city-states of Magna Graecia, only Thurii helped us by sending troops to war!

A few decades passed by, both Athens and Thurii suffered a misfortune. During the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian region of Attica was utterly reduced to ruins, from which it has not yet been able to recover fully. At the same time, Sparta had occupied the city of Athens and supported a group of tyrants who hated democracy and advocated dictatorship. These people ignored the law, wantonly hurt the citizens and robbing our properties. Thus we Athenians, who loved freedom, were forced to flee and suffer the pain of leaving our homes…

While Thurii has also suffered from cruelty, as the Crotinians used tricks that led to the sacking and burning of the city of Thurii that was founded by the sweat of us, Athenians and Thurians with countless people perishing in the fire…

When this alarming news reached Athens, the whole city fell into silence, with many of the people who had fond memories and feelings for Thurii fell into tears, including my adjutant, Lysias…” Isocrates was filled with grief, causing many of the statesmen to be touched.

“Fortunately, both us, Athenians and Theonians, manage to stand bravely from this huge blow, wiped out our tears, buried our loved ones, and rebuilt our homes with our hands…

Even though the past is now gone, we must not forget it. The current Greek world is still restless, with the powerful running rampant and bullying the weak. Sparta in the East and Syracuse in the west are coveting their surrounding fellow Greeks with greedy and ferocious eyes, just like hungry wolves coveting fat sheep. Thus the weak sheep should unite in order to deter the powerful wolves and avoid reencountering misfortune!

That is why I have come here. We in Athens stretched out our hands from the east, wanting to once again hold hands with our former brother in the west, Thurii, and connect Greece and Magna Graecia like a bridge. We will not only strengthen trade and cultural exchanges that will allow the lives of the people of both places to benefit more but also reach an alliance and cooperation with each other in military affairs in order to closely defend our precious freedom and rights that were once robbed!”

After Isocrates' speech, the Grand Senate Hall was shrouded with silence.

Davos had to admire the Athenian orator for his euphemism and provocative statement about the alliance. He had even played the emotion card and even ignored the fact that Thurii had expelled the descendants of Athens, not to mention the fact that Athens used the Delian League they formed to suppress many allies that opposed them. He also places Athens and Thurii in the position of victims in an attempt to relate with the statesmen.

Unfortunately, Isocrates had forgotten one thing. This is Theonia and not the ecclesia. Any decisions and affairs of Theonia are not decided by the ecclesia but by the statesmen led by Davos. And these statesmen are either veterans who have been in politics for many years, those capable of dealing with complex affairs or the chieftains who have led the lives of thousands of tribe members. It could be said that they are the elites of Theonia Union, and they certainly won't consider the issue like an ordinary citizen making a decision based on impulse. Perhaps they might be moved for a moment, but when deciding the union’s future, they must think more from the perspective of interests.

After Isocrates was asked to leave the conference hall, Petaru, Bodiam, and several other former Bruttian chieftains first rose to express their support in allying with Athens to fight against Sparta and Syracuse. However, the truth is, this is not what they wanted, but due to Pollux being sentenced and denounced as a “traitor” by all Theonians, Petaru and the others kept feeling uneasy even though they were not involved in these matters and were safe. So they took this opportunity to express their innocence and determination.

While the other statesmen basically opposed it. Although they learned Dionysius' ambition in the trial of Pollux, the gap in strength between Theonia and Syracuse made them unwilling to take the initiative to provoke this Greek hegemon in the western Mediterranean. Moreover, Syracuse and Theonia had just signed a friendly agreement.

Even though Davos is wary of Syracuse, he did not think this was a good time to confront them.