Chapter 155: The influence of the Temple of Hades in the future
Plesinas was obviously well prepared. He then calmly said, “Don’t forget that Hades is also the one in charge of Elysium, a place filled with sunshine in which you won’t worry about death, clothes, and sorrows. It is a place that any Greek would like to go after death! Besides, Hades, as the king of underworld, controls the wealth of the underworld and can protect the mineral resources of our Union’s territory! As for his terrifying and dreadful nature, it is aimed towards the enemy, because he will bring death to the enemy, while bringing us victory!”
“That’s right, all hail Hades!” Cheered Amintas.
“I agree with building the temple of Hades! Because he had already brought us victories, and he will bring us more!”
“Our Archon is the descendant of Hades, and having Hades as our protector, he will protect the Union more!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The former mercenary statesmen expressed their approval one after another, and have created a huge momentum.
Bolus could only sit down bitterly, and the others weren’t able to stand against the momentum.
Davos tap his thigh with his left hand, and watched them calmly. He did not talk about it with Plesinas in advance, and because he was very busy this time, he wasn’t able to think about it at all. However, he did not expect that Plesinas would give him a huge surprise, which made him realize that there are many things that can be done.
His brain started to quickly think about the pros and cons of this, and then he stood up, which made the gaze of everyone focused on him, “Gentlemen, when we are helpless, we pray to the gods. When we are lost, we pray to the gods. The gods doesn’t only possess powerful divine powers, but can also enlighten us in wisdom and mind. Hades is a god who can give us a lot of help, not only can he bring victory to our army, but he also can enlighten us.
Look, good people can go to Elysium and live a happy life after death. However, those who did evil before their death could not escape the trial of Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, and they will in the end suffer in hell. Hades is an impartial and selfless God. Once his temple is established in the city, it will always remind the people that even if the wicked manage to temporarily escape the restrain of the law, they will not be able to escape the punishment of the underworld after death, which will force them to repent and do good while they are alive. And for the people who do good and worship Hades will also encourage them to not give up the good in their heart due to temporary grievance, because the beautiful Elysium will call them…in this way, the morality of the people of our Union will become better, the order of the city-state will be more orderly, and the citizens will get along more friendly! Isn’t that right?”
“I agree! With the temple of Hades, my work will be much easier!” The inspector, Antonios, immediately echoed.
While some were still hesitating, Davos continued, “For the construction of the temple of Hades, I suggest that there can be one main temple and auxiliary temple. The main temple should be painted with bright and cheerful colors, and the happy images of Elysium be drawn on it, which shows that Hades is gentle and kind. But the auxiliary temple is dark and terrifying, surrounded by the images of hell, and shows the indifference and majesticness of Hades. In addition, we can also build a memorial hall for our heroes in the main hall, and the citizens who died for the Union and the city-states should have their names engraved on it and enjoy the people’s respect and worship! And their heroic souls will be together with Hades in Elysium!”
When Davos said his idea with emotion, it has moved the statesmen, specially the last sentence, and so, they finally decided to build the temple of Hades.
Then, Davos proposed that the construction of the temple will be entrusted to Plesinas and it got passed.
Letting Plesinas be in charge of the most important public building project of the Union is not only because of the good intentions of Davos, but also because of his proposal in constructing the temple of Hades, and without a doubt, Plesinas would work twice harder to build it.
When the meeting was over, Plesinas came to thank Davos in private, and Davos had also reminded him to discuss it with Heracleides.
The next agenda is “about the distribution of the land in Thurii”. Melanseus had slaughtered the nobles and rich merchants in Thurii, and among the remaining citizens, there were almost no people that owns a lot of lands except for a few people, such as Burkes, Bolus, Ariphes, Enanilus, Marsyas and so on.
Because of the destruction of the city of Thurii, the newly established Union Senate have redistributed the lands to the native citizens of Thurii, in order to avoid disputes and ensure fairness. Basically, each family is guaranteed to have 3,333 square meter* of land, and only a few people have expressed their objection. Among them, Bolus is the one who opposed it the most. His reason is very simple, because his family used to have more than 333,333 square meter of land, but now, only 3,333 square meter of land was allocated to them, which is not enough. (T/N: The unit here is Mu(亩) and 1 Mu is something like 666.67 square meters. So 5 Mu is 3,333 square meters)
As soon as he caused trouble, people like Ariphes, Marsyas and others just watched indifferently.
And Davos only quietly let Burkes to stand up and take the lead to give up their original land willingly and accept the new allocation of land.
At the same time, he secretly signaled Amintas and the others to stand up and attack Bolus, and even reminded him that the old Thurii has already been destroyed, and though the new city is being rebuilt, it has nothing to do with the old city. If someone insist on connecting it to the old city, then it is necessary to tell the crimes committed by some people in the destruction of Thurii to the public, and trust that the people won’t just expel these accomplices who have ruined their families!
Bolus was so frightened that he no longer dare to oppose it, and naturally, the others could only agree. In fact, this is the greed in their hearts, they did not imagine that in this war, they would not only lost land and wealth, but also a large number of clansmen and slaves. Even if more land was allocated to them, they will not even have enough manpower for it, and even they won’t be able to support so many people.
After this resolution got passed, the insufficient “land” that was allocated to some citizens of Amendolara before will also be supplemented this time.
The Sybaris plain has a vast area and fertile land. After the distribution of land to the citizens of the Union, the Senate found that they only occupied less than one tenth of the area of the Sybaris plain, and there was a large amount of land left unused. For the Thua Union, which was currently in urgent need of money and food, how could they just watch it be wasted.
After discussing it with the statesmen, Davos announced the《Land Lease Law》, that is, all the preparatory citizens of the Union can lease the public land of the Union, but the land area won’t be more than 3,333 square meter, and the annual tax is one tenth of the land’s income.
Mersis had proposed for the tax to be 1/5th, but was rejected by Davos. He believed that since one has become a preparatory citizen, then he must enjoy the benefits of the Union in advance, in order to encourage the other freeman to join the Union.
At the same time, the decree of the Senate has also announced that all preparatory citizens who actively engaged in agriculture and pay taxes can smoothly become official citizen after their preparatory period ends.
This is the suggestion from Kunogelata. He thinks that farming can show whether a person is hardworking, patient, and strong. A good farmer is a good citizen of the city-state, so this is also a kind of assessment.
The statesmen agreed with him. Later, it became a common practice that all preparatory citizens had to rent a land for two~three years.
More land, means more people will rent land. So Davos proposed that the post of agricultural officer should be establish in order to centrally manage the land allocation, leasing and farming of the Union.
The proposal was passed, and Burkes was nominated for the position.
At the same time, the responsibility of the military officer, Philesius is also very important, because only three more months left until the Crotonian captives gets released. In order to prevent Crotone from suddenly breaking the agreement after the captives return, the Thua Union must train a large number of preparatory citizens and enable them to have certain combat strength after three months. As a result, Philesius had to order more veterans to join the boot camp as instructors on training day.
The next topic is still the proposal of Davos, that is, paying the Union’s low-ranking civil servants about three obols a day in order to support their living needs.
When the proposal was put forward, Mersis stood up hurriedly, “Lord Davos, since every citizens will own a land and only pays 1 percent of the annual tax, then their income is already more than enough to support their daily needs. It is the duty of the citizens of a city-state to serve the public and it is also a kind of honor. So why should we pay them?! If, according to your proposal, a low-ranking civil servant is paid about three obols a day, then the treasury will need to pay him about 16 drachmas a month. Currently, we estimate that the Thua Union may need about 200 low-ranking civil servant, which is about a Tarant a month. This is not a small cost! We can’t follow the examples of Athens, Athens has the mines of Laurion, and so they can produce three tarants a day, while we are spending more than what we make!”
“Rest assured Mersis. We will take our time discussing it.” Davos motioned Mersis to calm down and asked, “How many clerk do you have?”
“Five, but they are all preparatory citizens.”
“Do they come to work in the treasury every day?”
“No, because we didn’t have much revenue in the treasury. So we just asked them to come over when we needed to. The rest of the time, they will rent a land from the citizens to farm.”
“And now?”
“Now…now that there is Thurii, and with the market and the port, the tariff alone brings in a lot of money to us every day. So they will of course have to follow me to and fro between the treasury, the market and the port every day.”
“Then, do they still have the time to farm now?”
“No.”
“So, what do they live on?”