Chapter 96: Davos Thoughts

Despite the absence of Davos and Archytas, the victory celebration of Thurii was still held, and the whole city temporarily suppressed their grief and celebrated their hard won victory.

In particular, the banquet held by the strategoi had lasted until late at night. Ansitanos, who had drunk many pots of wine, had been sleeping until the sun went up, and so it was almost noon when he left the city. However, when he arrived at the empty camp of Davos, he was suddenly dumbfounded. Fortunately, Taranto’s reinforcements were still in the camp of the mercenaries, and they then learned from them that the mercenaries had gone to Amendolara.

The mercenaries recaptured the city of Amendolara! This astonishing news had once again shocked Ansitanos and Burkes.

They immediately went northward, as they were eager to see Davos. But halfway through, Ansitanos suddenly halted their march, “Let’s return immediately.”

“Strategos, why?” Asked the puzzled Burkes.

Ansitanos, who had calmed down, sighed, “The mercenaries were so anxious in capturing Amendolara last night. And today, even their slaves and supplies have moved into the city. What does this mean?”

With an “Ah”, Burkes exclaimed in surprised, “They…they want to occupy Amendolara?!”

Ansitanos nodded, and said with a bit of melancholy, “More importantly – Archytas had also went to Amendolara, so what does this mean?”

After getting reminded by Ansitanos, Burkes came to his senses and once more exclaimed, “Taranto supports the mercenaries in their occupation of Amendolara?!”

“Maybe it is just Archytas’ personal wish…” Ansitanos comfort is not only for Burkes, but also for himself, “If Taranto truly supports the mercenaries, then can Thurii refuse? Taranto and the mercenaries are the heroes who saved Thurii…” Ansitanos sighed again, worriedly, “Ah…and from now on, the troops of Taranto can now cross over Heraclea and get to the plains of Syberis!”

“Then…what should we do?!” Asked Burkes anxiously.

“Of course, it is to go back and discuss a countermeasure, and then…” Said Ansitanos, judging from his helpless expression, he obviously doesn’t think that Thurii had any good way to obstruct the mercenaries from taking over Amendolara.

On the way back to the city, he kept murmuring to himself, “Alas…only half a year had passed and Thurii was reduced to this…teacher was right that a ‘War is the quickest way to change the rise and fall of a city-state.’ What Thurii currently lacks is a military talent like Davos and Archytas!…”

Hearing this. Burkes remembered that he didn’t even got the chance to invite Davos to join Thurii. And now it seems that even if he did, Davos would not agree. He remembered that his slave, Moras, had led Davos to scout the surroundings of Amendolara. He fears that at that time, Davos already had intention for this mountain city! Before the situation could even be resolve, he had actually began planning on capturing Amendolara and finally achieved it, is this luck? No, He had led the mercenaries to win these two battles, which he finally achieved with his own effort!

Although the force occupation of the mercenaries on Amendolara infringed on the interest of Thurii. But in the mind of Burkes, he was not sure whether he should resent him more or be amazed…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos accompanied Archytas on his visit to Amendolara.

As he listened to how Davos was able to capture this mountain city last night. Archytas inspected the route that the mercenaries took when attacking and enthusiastically tried to use the grappling hook.

After entering the city gate, Archytas saw a lot of bloodstains along the way, and every few steps, he saw mercenary soldiers and their faces were filled with the same excitement and pride as Davos. He hesitated again and again, and decided to put forward his suggestion to Davos, “Davos, I think that it is better for your mercenaries to get the consent of the citizens of Amendolara if they want to join the city-state successfully.”

“Okay! Okay!” Answered Davos.

Archytas saw his perfunctory answer and thought about it, and prepared to persuade him, “If a city-state wants to have a good order, it must not only have strict laws, but also abide by them all the time. After a long time. the law will form a good tradition for the city-states and it will naturally become its cornerstone, and it will bring security to the people, and bring development to the city-state. If you harm it since the very beginning…” Archytas stopped, then pointed at the strange shaped pine tree growing on the hillside, and meaningfully said, “It will become like this pine tree, if it’s crooked since the start, no matter how desperate it grows, it will never become a towering tree.”

Davos, of course, understood the metaphor of Archytas, which made him ponder. The Chinese historical tradition is in emphasizing the result that no matter what means are to be used as long as it succeed in the end, everything that has been done before will be forgiven and finally be acknowledged. This is why there is “The winner is the king”, “Act first, talk later” and other popular saying. However, Davos, who had graduated from the University of Political Science and law in his previous life, and knows that in the Roman Republic, which is known as the “Son of Law”, it’s law and traditions restrict the excessive behavior of the officials. Even if there are many disruption, the country will not have any great turmoil. Caesar, who crossed the Rubicon, did not allow the army to enter Rome because it was a tradition. Mark Anthony, who doted on Cleopatra, did not agree on her request to merge the Jewish kingdom into Egypt, because it was the duty of every Roman citizen to not damage the interest of Rome. Octavian, who was in power, did not immediately change the Roman Republic into an empire, because it was a deep-rooted tradition that the Senate and Comitia* were the center of power of Rome, and he could only slowly change the Roman constitution gradually for decades…However, the leader of the guard, out of public interest, assassinated the one that he had been guarding since childhood, the radical Roman Emperor, Caligula. As a result, a bad tradition of frequently assassinating the Roman Emperors by their guards was established…

It was fine if Davos was only a leader who only cared for immediate interests and sought immediate pleasure, but his ambition was not limited to the small Amendolara. The advise of Archytas woke him up like a sudden blow to his head. The actions of the mercenaries should not only consider the feelings of the people of Amendolara, but also be favourable for his future rule. Considering that the mercenaries are outsiders, this act of plunder by taking root in Magna Graecia will make the feelings of the surrounding city-states to be obviously unwelcome and will be easily isolated.

Davos decided to change his previous approach of being impatient for quick success and instant benefits. At the same time, he will also need to change his behavior afterwards. And so, he began to think from the perspective of a real Greek.

“Archytas, thank you for reminding me!” Thanks to Archytas, Davos decided to immediately put one of his ideas into actions, “I heard that the Pythagorean school situation in Magna Graecia is not good.”

When Archytas heard this, his expression became dim and complicated, “Yes. Many of the people in the city-states in Magna Graecia does not agree with the idea of our school. They suppressed our members by various means, so that most of our disciples had to leave Magna Graecia and go back to mainland Greece. Now, only Taranto is the only one tolerant of our school.”

“I agree with your school ‘All is number’. I think that if you use ‘number’ in managing the city-state, it will be more elaborate and efficient. I also agree with your school’s encouragement of self-control, abstinence, purity and obedience. At the same time, you dare break the customs of this world by allowing women to take part in studying, which is even more a pioneering work!” Davos then added sincerely, “If the mercenaries becomes the master of Amendolara. I will certainly invite members of the Pythagorean school here to train students, set up schools, and get funded by the city-state.”

The reason why Archytas was so frank about the present situation of the Pythagorean school was because Pythagorean school is famous in Magna Graecia, and before that, Davos had also expressed his favor for the school. However, he did not expect that Davos was so fond of the school that reached such a level and couldn’t respond for a while, “What you say is true?”

“Should I pledge to the gods?”

“On behalf of the school, I am grateful for your support! I will tell the members of the school about your proposal as soon as possible!” Said Archytas excitedly.