Chapter 134: Slave Disturbance
A few days later, Kunogelata, who was lying in bed and was recuperating, heard a news about some of the slaves in the quarry in Thurii had caused an uprising. They then knocked down the guards that were supervising them and escape Thurii, and some of the slaves had actually fled to Amendolara to ask for protection, and then an envoy of Thurii arrived to ask Amendolara to return the slaves.
Currently, in the council of Amendolara, the envoy of Thurii and the representatives of the slaves that have fled were glaring at each other.
Plesinas, a new strategos of Thurii, if Kunogelata was here, would surely recognize that this man was one of the main instigator inciting the people of Thurii to expel him. And right now, he is facing the statesmen of Amendolara and said loudly, “Amendolara is the ally of Thurii, is this how you treat the envoy of your ally?! This is a humiliation having a lowly slave stand in the same place as me, a noble strategos! If Amendolara does not respond in good faith to the request of Thurii, then Thurii will reconsider the agreement with Amendolara!”
As soon as he said this statement, the statesmen sitting in the wooden chairs in the city hall were in an uproar.
At this time, Antonios, the inspector, stood up and said, “Dear envoy of Thurii, we have not yet begun discussing the request of Thurii, but unexpectedly, as soon as you came in, you took the initiative to walk to the center of the council hall. So I have forgotten to remind you that your position is here.” Antonios pointed to a position at the front of the venue, “I had thought a noble envoy of Thurii should know more about diplomatic etiquette of city-states than us, and also, without any permission, foreign envoys should remain silent.”
And a burst of laughter came from the statesmen.
Plesinas wasn’t embarrassed at all and then pointed at the slaves and continues to say aloud, “I have never heard of a lowly slaves sitting in on a great discussion regarding city-states! The council is a sacred place of the city of Amendolara, how can a lowly slave desecrate it!”
“This is because, as a representatives of the slaves who had fled to Amendolara, his demands are related to Amendolara and Thurii. So I think it is necessary to let him speak out his demands, and let us noble people have a fair discussion and judge whether his request is reasonable. So, dear envoy of Thurii, are you going to keep on standing there so that our meeting can’t officially begin?!” Davos, who was sitting at the front and center of the meeting place, had a calm tone and a sense of dignity which made Plesinas sit in his seat.
“Slave, you can now say what your demand is.” Exclaimed Cornelius, the city’s praetor and the rotating chairman of the council.
The slaves bowed respectfully and said, “I am Aristocrates, your excellencies. The first thing I want to make clear is that I am not born as a lowly slave. My father was a nobleman of Cyrenaica, he is mainly engaged in Silphium, with hundreds of slaves and a large farm. Eight years ago, my father took me to Olympia by boat to watch the Olympics. But on our way, we have encountered some pirates…my father…my father was killed and I was sold to Thurii…*” (T/N: Also known as siplhion, it was a plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, or as a medicine. It was also used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant.)
Aristocrates took a deep breath and suppressed his sadness, “I didn’t complain too much in spite of my misfortune, as this might be the punishment of the gods. In Thurii, I did my best to complete the work assigned by my master and had never slack. It wasn’t until two months ago that the city-state gathered us together and took us to the mercenary camp, and you, your majesty, have stood before us and called on us to fight for Thurii.” Aristocrates saluted to him respectfully, “You also had said that ‘As long as we win, you will be free!’ For the sake of freedom, we, who have never taken arms, have taken up arms! For the sake of freedom, we, who have never killed any, have fought against the vicious Lucanians! And these vicious Lucanians are the one that have defeated Thurii, but freedom have made us fearless! We fought bravely, and when we won the war, we, who numbered two thousand has only a thousand left…”
Aristocrates inhaled gently and the new citizen statesmen were in a daze, as if they were once more in the same situation battling fiercely for life.
“We are waiting for that exciting moment to come, but what await for us were the cold swords and spears! Thurii was saved, while we were taken back to the dark and wet cave, carrying heavy ores. We protested, but we only got beatings and starvation…when we were in despair, we heard news that the slaves of the mercenaries who had fought together with us were now freeman, and might become citizens of a city-state in the future. Why are the slaves that are the same with us, and the same as us that have fought for Thurii, but the results are completely different! So we are unwilling and we then attacked the guards of the mine, and fled here just to ask your majesty, does your oath in the name of the God still count?!”
Aristocrates’ heart-warming narration moved the statesmen that are present, and the council hall was silent for a moment, and only Plesinas shouted, “He is lying! They are not the slaves who had fought in the battle at all!!”
Antonios got up immediately and said, “We have a way to prove whether they are the slaves who participated in the war. Because the freeman of Amendolara had once fought together with them and had spent a day and night together, so they are familiar with them. I have sent them to the prison where the slaves are being held for identification, and I request that the representative of the freeman be allowed to testify in the council.”
“Agree!”
“Agree!!”
The statesmen were in favor of it, and the opposition of Plesinas was completely drowned out.
Taking advantage of this free time, Davos looked at Aristocrates with interest, he had a thick beard and a few scars on his face, his skin was dark and his figure was a little bent, but it still showed his young face, and so he asked, “What you asked me just now, I will answer you in a moment. But I want to ask you this, judging from what you have just said, you are obviously well educated, so why did you became a mining slave?” Well educated slaves like Aristocrates, whose prices were generally very high, would be a waste if they only do dirty and hard labor that ordinary slaves could do.
Aristocrates laughed bitterly, “I was originally bought by a rich merchant in Thurii to help him manage his vineyard and winery. I did a good job and have won his trust, and he also said that he would give me my freedom…unfortunately, he died due to illness…his wife was soon married again, and my new master gave me away free of charge to the city of Thurii, who were in short supply of mining slaves, so they took me away…”
There must have been some complicated internal information in this, but seeing Aristocrates calm look and that he had already accepted his unpleasant situation from his expression. So Davos said with admiration, “What I think is that the gods are not punishing you, but are testing you!”
Aristocrates suddenly became excited when he heard this, as he had obviously felt something out of his words.
At this moment, the representatives of the freeman entered the council hall. After they swore an oath to the gods, they then said the answer: these slaves that have fled were indeed the one that have participated in the battle!
Plesinas didn’t agree so he stood up and retorted, “It’s common for the city-state to have their slaves participate in battles! For example, Sparta often have the Helots fight together with them, and have won countless victories. Did the Sparta gave the Helots their freedom? Obviously not! With the years of friendship between Thurii and Amendolara, and the busy trade during this period, I don’t think that archon Davos would have made that promised! This slave is obviously lying! It is a Greek virtue to return a lost property back to its owner! So once again, I will ask the council of Amendolara to return these slaves who belonged and are the property of Thurii, back to Thurii!”
The expression of Aristocrates changed slightly, and then looked at Davos.
Davos looked at the arrogant and inflexible Plesinas, and sneered in his heart, because this Thurian was subtly threatening him and Amendolara!
Then he stood up with a serious expression on his face, and said to Aristocrates, “I can answer what you have just asked me. I Davos. The promised made by the Archon of Amendolara is like the burning flames of hell, which will never be extinguished! Yes, I have promise to give you your freedom after we are victorious! Because you are the slaves of Thurii, so I had asked Burkes to testify it, and asked him to write my promise on paper and return to Thurii for the strategoi to sign it. Before the battle began, when Burkes came to try and persuade us back, so I had once again made him reaffirmed my commitment to you, but I didn’t expect that until this day, you are still in chains!”
Davos with a deep feeling of grief on his face, exclaimed, “You have saved Thurii, and Thurii owes you! You helped the mercenaries, and so Amendolara owes you! I will ask the envoy of Thurii to give back your freedom!”
As soon as Davos finished speaking, the statesmen shouted out at the same time, “Give them their freedom! Thurian, since you have sworn to the God, you should give the freedom to these poor and respectable slaves!”
Plesinas looked flustered and said, “Thurii has never seen an agreement in giving them their freedom! I haven’t seen it either! Lord Davos, you must have been mistaken! Yes, you must have made a mistake!”
Note: Silphium is said to be a kind of herb, which was abundant in Cyrenaica in ancient times, and was used as a valuable feed to promote growth of livestock, as well as seasoning on foods. Most importantly, it was said that it could improve the stamina of men. Therefore, it was very popular in ancient Mediterranean countries and became the pillar industry of Cyrenaica and made a lot of money, and it was even depicted in their coinage. Unfortunately, there were so many males in the Mediterranean who needed it that eventually, it became extinct. Now there is no real Silphium.