Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Several of those that are present had their expression change as soon as he spoke those words. Only Philoxenus would dare to compliment an archon of another city-state in public as being better than their own tyrant in Syracuse.

“Unfortunately, I have heard that Davos of Theonia had come from a lowly background and used to be a shepherd*.” Said Macias immediately. (referring to Davos herding sheep and horses in Thessaly before becoming a mercenary.)

Henipolis finally could not hold himself and said, “So does lord Dionysius born noble?! On the contrary, I heard that he was just an ordinary clerk in Syracuse before he had gotten his current position. Lord Davos had once said to me that ‘real heroes do not care about their origin, because they have relied on their own abilities and not what their family has given.’”

“Well said! That is what I admire about lord Dionysius the most!” Philistus praised loudly to cover up Macias, “And all of you here have achieved today's noble status with your own effort.”

“I agree! I agree!…” Macias chimed in, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“Everyone-” Philistus hurriedly stood up with his wine, looked around and said loudly, “For the past few days, I have been accompanying lord Dionysius in negotiating with the Carthaginians, which led me to be too busy that I could not find the time to entertain our distinguished guests from Theonia! With my friends here accompanying me, I will punish myself with a drink to show my apologies!”

“Good!” Herolis raised his mug, and so did Leptines, Macias and Philoxenus.

Ansitanos did not try to dissuade him as he knew that Philistus said these words on behalf of Dionysius, and the wine certainly contained Dionysius' apology.

After Philistus and the others’ mugs emptied their mugs, Ansitanos stood up with Henipolis. He then raised his mug and said, “I am very grateful to lord Philistus for his invitation. And I would like to also congratulate lord Dionysius on his repeated victory against the mighty Carthage, which is certainly a great victory for Syracuse and the most exciting news that the whole Magna Graecia have heard! With Carthage, the biggest enemy of the Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean, badly hurt, the people of Sicily and Magna Graecia will enjoy a long time peace!” Then he and Henipolis emptied their mug all at once.

“Well said!” Philistus raised his mug again and said loudly, “To lord Dionysius! For Syracuse's victory!”

When the others raised their mugs to cheer, Ansitanos notice the expression of Herolis was not as enthusiastic as the two next to him. And Philoxenus, rather than following what they said, instead shouted, “For the peace of Sicily!”

With a gesture from Philistus, the musicians and dancers walked into the hall. The banquet officially began.

In the beautiful melodic sound and under the gentle swaying of the dancers, the people began to drink and eat…

When the music stopped, the dancers retired, and due to the charming voice of the beautiful female slave, Henipolis had unconsciously become stuffed. He then saw Macias, who was opposite of him, was already kissing the female slave on the floor. He then looked at Leptines, who was also flirting with another female slave. On the other hand, only Herolis continued to eat in a civilised manner, while Philoxenus dismissed the female slaves on both of his sides. Henipolis then turned his head and looked at his teacher sitting beside him and saw that Ansitanos only ate a bit as he watched the music and dancing with a smile…causing Henipolis to feel ashamed of his poor self-control.

At this time, Philistus, who was on the main seat, coughed twice, attracting the attention of everyone to him, and then said, “Lord Ansitanos, since the establishment of Theonia Union, we have basically no formal diplomatic exchanged. This time, could it be that Theonia had sent you to Syracuse for friendship?”

‘Finally!’ Ansitanos had already been prepared and was just waiting for this moment. So he immediately smiled and said, “Naturally, it's for friendship. Syracuse is a great city-state of Sicily, while Theonia is also a powerful union of Magna Graecia. Previously, one of the two sides was busy dealing with Carthage, and the other was doing its best to repel the aborigines in the mountains. Due to various reasons, the two Greek powers that are so close to each other had not established friendly ties and communication, so much so that something regrettable happened-” Ansitanos deliberately halted his words.

None of the Syracusans spoke up, and it was Philoxenus who asked curiously, “What is this regrettable thing?”

Taking this opportunity, Ansitanos stepped in, “Due to several statesmen of Theonia Union were charged by the people for crimes such as embezzlement and bribery, we had sent people to collect evidence of their violation. So while investigating, we found many ‘tetradrachm’ from Syracuse in their residence, along with some letters. And these letters-” Ansitanos glanced at Philistus.

Philistus looked as if he is listening intently.

“The main content is a conversation with Pollux, a convicted statesman of Theonia, on ‘how to disrupt the order of Theonia Union, cause riots among the people and to oust archon Davos…’ And so on. And the signature signed on these letters were from – Philistus.” Ansitanos once more glanced at the host of the banquet, “The letter also mentioned that lord Dionysius was the one who ordered these, and Pollux himself admitted that the reason why he dared to carry out such bold actions against the union was due to the support of Syracuse.”

“Such thing happened?!” bewilderment appeared on Philistus' face. He then said, “I have never written a letter to someone called Po…Pollux, this…lord Ansitanos, can you bring those said letters and show it to me?”

“I have brought it with me.” Ansitanos was already prepared. He then took out a letter from his baggage and gave it to the female slave beside him.

Philistus promptly received the letter, opened it, and then showed a relieved smile, “Lord Ansitanos, if the handwriting and signature of each letter in your hand are the same, then I can guarantee you that I have not written these letters!”

“Oh?!” Ansitanos looked surprised.

“Go and bring me some of the letters that have my signature on them.” Philistus immediately ordered his slave.

“Let me have a look.” Spoke Herolis. Philistus then handed him the letter.

The banquet became temporary quiet as the slave went to fetch the letter, while Herolis took the letter and said, “…lord Ansitanos, I am quite shocked from hearing the news you have just said. However, I want to say my judgment from a neutral standpoint. Philistus is a proud and noble scholar who disdains to do such despicable acts that despicable people do. That is why it is impossible for him to have contact with such a greedy and dirty Theonian statesman called Po…Po…”

“Pollux.” Leptines reminded.

“Regarding Pollux, it is impossible for Philistus to communicate with him by letter. And lord Dionysius, as the great strategos, was thrilled to see that Theonia had an archon with similar status as himself, which made him feel that he was not alone in the vast western Mediterranean. So how could he do something to undermine the rule of lord Davos!”

“Yes, my brother would never do such a thing!” Leptines stressed loudly.

“If it is as you said-” Philistus pondered for a moment. Then he gave his serious analysis, “With lord Dionysius making the current Syracuse powerful and uniting the Greek city-states in Sicily, there are a lot who are jealous of him. I think that everyone here still remembers that when the Carthaginian army reached Syracuse, some people in the city had incited the crowd to riot and oust lord Dionysius. Although the situation had eventually calmed down, in fact, there are still rumours circulating in Syracuse over the years, and even some minor rioting and assassinations occurring. Otherwise, the great Dionysius would not be living on this heavily fortified island.

These people are just like venomous snakes that hide in the caves ignoring the peace and stability of Sicily, seizing any possible opportunity to attack lord Dionysius and our supporters. Even though we defeated Carthage, there is still the Theonia Union in Magna Graecia with similar strength to Syracuse. So if Syracuse and Theonia were to start a war, then they would have the opportunity to come out of the dark again and create unrest in Syracuse to achieve their goal…”

“Are you implying that this matter was done by those who oppose lord Dionysius and then blamed it on you, lord Philistus?” Ansitanos asked back with a faint smile.

“It's quite possible.” Philistus answered seriously.

“Then how do you explain the fact that a citizen of Syracuse, Hemis, whom we also captured in Thurii, had fully admitted that it was lord Dionysius who appointed him to bribe Pollux and the others in order to sabotage Theonia?” Ansitanos sneered.

“Hemis?” Philistus was perplexed and asked the others, “Do we have such a citizen in Syracuse?”

Henipolis was unable to hold himself once more from roaring, “Stop pretending. We have investigated him in detail. Hemis is a citizen of Syracuse who lives in the centre of the city, next to the Temple of Apollo and where the merchants gather. He has two sons, and he is also the clerk of lord Herolis, am I right?”

“Is this true?!” Philistus was shocked, and Herolis looked even more surprised. He then turned his head and looked at Philistus. After their gaze met, he hesitantly said, “…I do have a clerk named Hemis under me, but…a year ago, I was sent to Cyrenaica for a mission, and after coming back, I heard that he had been punished for corruption and lost his position…if he is really the same person you caught in Thurii, I truly did not expect him to run to Thurii. If you don't believe me, then you can go check the court records, and his criminal record was six months ago…”

“This is troublesome!” Blurted Philistus with his expression becoming extremely serious.

“What's troublesome?” Asked Leptines puzzledly.

“If the person that lord Ansitanos said was really the same person as the former clerk of Herolis, it means that those opposing lord Dionysius may have already begun lurking as officials of Syracuse!” Philistus said with seriousness.