Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 222

Chapter 222

Sisticos stood blankly with his mouth wide open.

While Davos stroked his beard and was lost in his thoughts: ‘Becoming an ally will indeed be excellent!’ Because the biggest obstacle to getting the Crotonians to agree in ceding the land on the north bank of the Neto river and Aprustum is the security of Crotone, so by becoming an ally, it will make that obstacle to no longer exist. Because the current Magna Graecia all know that the archon of Theonia is known for always keeping his promise, and Crotone, after this war, had weakened and needed to take shelter under the protection of Theonia. So does Theonia need this alliance? Of course! With so much new land, just immigrating, administrating and forming a new defense force…will take a long time. And their only biggest worry is that the immigrants will clash with the Crotonians near the border, or even provoke another war. But with this alliance, the Theonians can slowly annex, assimilate and stabilize this piece of land, so an alliance with Crotone will naturally be the best choice for both sides!

Davos looked at Lysias complicatedly and thought, ‘In the face of the enemy he hated, he is still able to come up with a clever proposal to form an alliance with the enemy, even though his own city-state is being pressured. Without a strong determination, it is difficult to keep calm and still be rational!’

Lysias, seeing that Davos was silent, kept looking at him, and had become a bit flustered, so he urged, “Does Lord Davos agree with this proposal?”

Davos regained his composure, “What kind of alliance is it?”

“Theonia Union and Crotone will form a separate offensive and defensive alliance!” Said Lysias in a deep voice.

As soon as Davos pondered a bit, he realized that Lysias was playing a clever trick. He didn’t want Theonia to enter the alliance of Crotone and influence the allies of Crotone such as Scylletium, Terina and Caulonia. In this regard, Davos does not care, because he believes that as long as their strength is strong enough, there will naturally be city-states running to them.

“Theonia Union can only form a defensive alliance with Crotone!” Davos calmly responded, it isn’t a problem for Theonia Union to protect Crotone, but to help Crotone expand such as: If Crotone were to attack Locri in the future, according to their agreement, Theonia will have to lead their army to participate in the attack…naturally, Davos would not do such a stupid thing, and Lysias, who was in a weak position, could only agree…

The negotiation lasted until the afternoon and manage to work out a preliminary draft: 1) The Theonia Union will form a defensive alliance with Crotone. 2) Theonia will release all the captured soldiers of Crotone and its allies and let them return to Crotone. 3) Crotone will transfer the city of Aprustum and half of the land of the northern bank of Neto river (mainly the land near the side of Krimisa) to Theonia Union. 4) Crotone will pay 500 Tarants in one payment in order to help the Theonians to migrate to Aprustum….

Finally, the alliance will last for five years. The original requirement of Davos was that the duration of the alliance should be two years, but Lysias strongly demanded to increase it to five years, comparing it to when they were negotiating an armistice half a year ago, the situation now is completely the opposite, which shows that the strength of both sides has switched.

Krimisa wasn’t mentioned in the pact because Davos thinks that Krimisa is a neutral city-state and does not belong to the alliance of Crotone, so Crotone has no right to discuss on behalf of Krimisa. Lysias, on the other hand, considered how to minimize the stimulation of the people of Crotone due to these agreements and had even re-word the reparation payment into aid. So naturally, it is better for them to not discuss Krimisa. In fact, one with discerning eyes can see that the city of Aprustum and half of the land in the northern bank of the Neto river now belongs to Theonia, which means Krimisa is already surrounded by Theonia, so do the Krimisians even have any other choice?!

Lysias and Sisticos then returned to Krimisa. 

Milo then immediately asked Lysias about the negotiation, however, Lysias was afraid of creating more trouble, so he just said that the negotiation had just begun, and some of the conditions put forward by the Theonians could only be decided after discussing it with the council, and he then hurriedly boarded the ship and left Krimisa.

Milo felt uneasy in his heart: The fall of Aprustum and the declaration of war by Locri had made Crotone to only have few options and now it only depends on how harsh the conditions of Theonia are.

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

However, the one that is more disturbed is the people of Krimisa, even though they are trapped in the city, the things that are happening outside couldn’t escape their ears and eyes through the port. Lysias has appeared many times in the city, so why has he come? They also know in their hearts that a small city-state like them could only struggle to survive amongst the big city-states, so they are quite sensitive to the situation.

Androlis, the polemarchos of Krimisa, had once taken the initiative to find Lysias. However, Lysias evaded the subject and didn’t talk about the fate of Krimisa in detail, and Milo has been avoiding him. Intentionally or unintentionally…all of these had made Androlis feel that this peace negotiation is very unfavorable to Krimisa. Even though Krimisa fully supported Crotone, in the end, they may be abandoned! Androlis felt heartache when thinking of these.

Therefore, after secretly discussing it with Eurypus, Pleitinas and the others, he decided to no longer sit still and took the initiative to contact Theonia and find a way out for Krimisa.

Although the defense of the whole city was handed over to the Crotonians, the Krimisians were the local snakes. Their men sneaked out of the city in the middle of the night, crossed the blockade and came to the camp of Theonia. After showing his intention, the guards then brought him to Davos.

“Krimisa wants to surrender?” With a teasing smile, Davos then said, “Your whole city is under the control of Crotone. So what good will your surrender bring me?”

The visitor was unable to respond for a while. After seeing the indifference of Davos, he gritted his teeth and said, “We, Krimisians, still have more than 300 citizens who can fight. Once you attack the city, we are willing to attack the Crotonians from the rear to help you capture Krimisa, and then-”

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“Then once the war is over, Krimisa will continue to remain neutral!” Said Davos playfully.

“No! No!….” The visitor shook his head in a hurry. By then, Krimisa would have already offended Crotone, so how can they remain neutral! “Krimisa is willing…willing to join the alliance of Theonia!”

“It’s already too late!” Davos then said seriously, “We don’t need Krimisa to do anything nor join the Theonia Alliance. For Krimisa, there is only one option!”

In an emphatic tone, Davos said firmly, “Become part of Theonia Union! The people of Krimisa will become citizens of Theonia Union! Then the land and property of the Krimisians will be protected, while the strategoi and statesmen will be elected by the senate of Theonia, and some of them will then join as members of the senate!….”

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

When reading out the draft of the pact at the council of Crotone, Lysias and Sisticos thought that it would arouse their indignation and disagreement, but in fact, there were only a few that objected. Just before Lysias came back, the Theonian army had once again appeared in the core area of Crotone and destroyed a village outside the city. The members of the council witnessed all of this, and at the request of the masses, they hastily assembled thousands of people to get out of the city to stop them, but they were easily defeated and could only flee back into the city in embarrassment. Fortunately, the Theonian soldiers did not take advantage of this victory, and had taken the initiative to retreat.

The frustration of the Crotonians is conceivable. Besides that, this is literally not an armistice agreement  for the defeated, but an alliance agreement of mutual help, although part of the land has been “transferred”, most of the Crotonians are happier to be able to welcome back the captured Crotonian citizens and form an alliance with Theonia. Because they were now deeply afraid of Davos, the archon of Theonia, and some of them have even started believing that the rumor regarding “Davos is a descendant of Hades” and  “Favored of Hades”. So everyone was relieved that they will no longer be enemies with Theonia who has Davos, and has instead become an ally. Some have even put forward that, ‘Now that the alliance agreement has been signed, we should ask Theonia to send troops to the south together with the army of Crotone to repel Locri….’

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

At the end of January 398 B.C. the archon of Theonia, Davos, and the strategos of Crotone, Lysias, had formally signed an alliance agreement after offering a lamb to Apollo outside the city of Krimisa and the second Crotone war came to an end.

After the news of the end of the war spread, many Crotonian soldiers in Krimisa had cheered. In the past, they have always been invincible, but during the period of time they were fighting Theonia, they were always defeated, this huge contrast had made their morale drop sharply and their depression can be conceived, but they can now finally drop this huge rock in their hearts.

“Look, this is the voice of the citizens! They are tired of fighting Theonia!” This situation made Lysias sigh, and it is also in response to the complaint of Milo of Lysias compromising too much in the negotiation.

Through the window, Milo watched the soldiers throw away their shield and spears, and ran to the bars to drink alcohol, as if they had won a battle.

At this moment, the guard came in, “Strategos, Androlis asked us when we would leave.”

“Damn Androlis, don’t think that just because Crotone has lost you Krimisians can disrespect us!” Milo suddenly yelled at him and vented his anger, “Go and tell them to not annoy me, or else I will make the city of Krimisa become a ruin at my command!”