Chapter 116: Dionysius, the Tyrant
Davos watched as Herolis, the envoy of Syracuse, leave. When he returned to the living room, he looked more grave and worried. The trees wanted to be quiet, but the wind won’t stop blowing. It seemed that Syracuse was getting ready to fight Carthage. No matter what the outcome was, Amendolara needs to develop and strengthen itself as soon as possible in order to gain a firm foothold in troubled times.
Two days later, Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse, heard the report of Herolis in his palace. At first, he was gloomy, and then he laughed, “A little mercenary leader has become an archon for life! Macias, what do you think?”
Macias, a former leader of a Campanian mercenary, stood next to him and said without hesitation, “My lord, I think that as a leader of a mercenary, he should have focused on how to win a battle, and get more gold and honor for himself, instead of doing something that he had never done. Although it might seem to be good, it can easily lead to his failure, and it will also drag down the innocent.”
“You are right!” Praised Dionysius, and then patted his throne, “I trembled everyday whenever I sit in this place, as I don’t even dare to slack even the slightest! A mercenary who is only brave and fierce dares to be a tyrant of a city!”
Herolis was unable to restrain himself and said, “My lord, this Davos is not a tyrant, but an archon for life elected by the people of Amendolara!”
“Herolis, what do you mean by that?!” Dionysius stared at Herolis with a gaze as sharp as a knife.
It was only then that Herolis realized that he had inadvertently touched Dionysius’ reverse scale. Immediately, he was wet with cold sweat, and so he lowered his head, and did not dare to speak again.
Dionysius looked at him carefully for a long time, then withdrew his gaze and said scornfully, “He is just playing a petty trick. We can only say that this young man is a bit clever, so it is no wonder that can win several battles. Unfortunately, he has only a small vision. Philistus*, do you know how many citizens there are in Amendolara?” (T/N: Philistus was a Greek historian from Sicily.)
On the left of Dionysius, a middle-aged man with elegant temperament opened his mouth, “As far as I know, they should have less than 4,000 citizens. And of course, their current number is far below that now.”
“Hearing that, even if Amendolara had not been troubled by war, they only have 4,000 citizens. They aren’t even as good as our Greek city of Syracuse that have as many citizens in a block.” Dionysius shrugged and said with a slight disdain.
The palace resounded with scattered laughter.
“If that mercenary leader named Davos had came to me quickly, then after defeating Carthage, he can then choose either Marsala, Ziz(Palermo), Eryx(Erice), Isuli Egadi, Segesta and other cities to be a tyrant. Those are a lot better than the small city of Amendolara. It’s a pity that he won’t have another chance!” Said Dionysius with great pride, and then he looked at Macias, “How is our troops preparation in attacking Carthage?”
“At present, we now have more than 10,000 mercenaries that have come to camp outside Syracuse, and we can also mobilize at least 40,000 citizen soldiers in Syracuse, including about 20,000 troops of the cities like Catania, Leontinoi, Tannurus and Pachino…in addition, there are also 2,000 cavalries. My lord, your army is a powerful army that has never been seen in the history of a Greek city-state! Even the most powerful Athens did not have such a huge military strength!” Said Macias excitedly.
Dionysius, however, has a calm expression and turned his gaze to his young brother, Leptines*, “How is the preparation of the navy?” (T/N: Leptines is a brother of Dionysius and is one of his military leaders.)
Although Leptines is the brother of Dionysius, he, however is, straightforward and frank. Because of this, Dionysius trusted his brother very much and promoted him to be the chief commander of the navy of Syracuse. He then replied, “We now have 150 triremes, and together with other warships, we have a total of 320 large and small warships.”
“Not enough…” Dionysius sighed, and his fingers began to tap on his throne, “You see, when fighting Carthage, you need 2 things – ships and cavalry, and we don’t have enough of both. Leptines, it seems that you have to urge the other cities to speed up the construction of warships. As for cavalries, Macias, send your people to the Apennine Peninsula to recruit some Celtic cavalry. Philistus, go to Sparta and ask for some Thessalians cavalry. Men, we have to speed up our progress! Once next spring comes, we are going to attack Gela!”
The three immediately responded that they will do their best to fulfill the task assigned by Dionysius.
“Macias, you need to work harder! It’s shameful that a leader of a small mercenary can wipe out those barbaric aborigines with only 2000 men, while we have the largest army of a Greek city-state, but we couldn’t even create a greater glory!” Dionysius was still thinking about the refusal of Davos, and so he encouraged Macias.
“My lord, be assured that I won’t let you down!” Macias declared immediately.
“Very well, Macias!” Praised Dionysius, and then he waved, “Philistus, stay, and you all can go.”
Herolis, Macias, Leptines, and two other courtiers withdrew, but the gaze of Dionysius was fixed on the back of Herolis, until Philistus called his name.
“Do you think that Herolis has changed a bit?” His finger tapped on the throne.
Philistus was startled, and cautiously defended Herolis, “My lord, I did not find anything wrong. Herolis is still the same Herolis as before.”
Dionysius looked at him, “I know that you have a good relationship with him. As I also cherish the help that he gave in my most difficult time, and so, I don’t want anything that can destroy our friendship!” Said Dionysius with emotion, “…Recently, I heard that he was studying the history of Egypt. I think of giving him some time off so that he can concentrate on his study…” Murmured Dionysius to himself, and Philistus sighed in his heart, “My lord, I understand…”
“This is merely a temproary arrangement…” Comforted Dionysius.
“Phili, Philoxenus* is your good friend, can you invite him here.” Dionysius changed the topic and said, “I have just written a poem and I’d like to invite him together with you to evaluate it. You know, the last time I discussed poetry with him, I had offended him by not saying anything and he haven’t come here for three months already.” (TL Note: Philoxenus of Cythera was a Greek dithyrambic poet.)
“Philoxenus is a good man, but he likes to put on airs. I will try my best to persuade him to come.” Philistus laughed and joked, “My lord, you, a great strategos, even takes your time to meet ordinary citizens!”
Dionysius also laughed and spread out his hands, “So, who said that I am a dictator!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
During this time, Davos and Philesius, the military officer, were busy with reorganizing the city-state’s army.
After the mercenaries became citizens of Amendolara, and the more than thousand soldiers of Drakos, Sesta, and Adrien, and the more than 1,800 soldiers under Davos, and nearly 300 former slaves that became freeman. In addition, about 250 original citizens of the city-state that are still in the range of the service age. The total number of people who can fight in the city is about 3,500.
Originally, the highest position of the mercenary was the brigade commander (in fact, this was the position of Davos), and the highest unit was a brigade. However, with the increase number of of soldiers, the original established unit could not adapt to the actual situation of the city state. After discussing it with Philesius, Davos decided to add a higher tier unit, which he named “Legion”, and the highest commander of the army is still Davos himself, with a strength of 7,000 men. It is composed of seven brigades (6 hoplite brigades and one peltast brigade), with a thousand people in each brigade and the highest rank commander (will later be commonly known as “Senior Centurion”). A brigade has 5 centuria with 200 people in each centuria, and the highest rank leader of a centuria (will also be known as Centurion). A centuria has four platoons under its jurisdiction, each of which has 50 people and its highest rank is called a platoon captain.
Because of the influence of Rome from his previous life, Davos had planned to cancel the platoon and change it into a hundred man unit. However, Philesius raised his objection, as he thought that a platoon was superior in a skirmish and mountain warfare, because of their mobility and flexibility, and with the support of 4 platoons, the centuria’s ability to go indepedent was greatly enhanced. After much deliberation, Davos finally agreed with Philesius. Since then, the platoon was established as a unique military unit in the city-state under the control of Davos. As the lowest ranking officer, the platoon captain played a key role in connecting the army, and was later called the “leader of the soldiers” by the soldiers. Later, many strategoi under Davos were proud of being a platoon captain. As a result, Davos issued a military order that stipulates the need for them to serve as a platoon captain for 2 years before they can be promoted to a higher rank in the legion, which made the position of a platoon captain to be more dazzling, and of course, this is something in the future.
A platoon consist of 5 squads, each of which has ten men and a squad is led by a squad leader (later, it was renamed as Sergeant, which is assumed by veteran soldiers). In addition, the legion also has a cavalry, engineering camp, medical camp, logistic camp…and the actual number of people in a legion might be as high as 8,000. Of course, these are all just assumptions for now.
Since there are currently only about 3,500 soldiers in the city-state of Amendolara, Davos had to organized them into four brigades.
The soldiers of the first brigades were all from the mercenaries that Davos had led. However, the selection of the leader of the first brigade gave Davos and Philesius a little headache. In terms of ability and prestige, Antonios is comparable to Kapus, but considering that Antonios was serving as a city-state inspector and was the third most powerful official in the city-state, only next to the archon and the praetor. So for the sake of equality, Davos, after talking to the two men, decided that Kapus would be the leader of the first brigade.