Chapter 230: Senate meeting after the war (I)
After that, the ecclesia held an election for the position of the polemarchos, and Lysias, who had brought peace to Crotone, had been elected. Although many people criticized him for ceding their territory, the more than 10,000 citizens who returned to their family were grateful to Lysias for rescuing them from hell in time, so most of them have voted for him. At the same time, there was also the strategos Sisticos, who had participated in the peace negotiation together with Lysias. For a long time to come, the conservatives in the council of Crotone clearly had the upper hand.
Crotone’s newly formed ten strategoi was very clear that their top priority is to defeat Locri and rescue their allies. After careful consideration, they decided to appoint three strategoi with rich combat experience that had been previously captured by Theonia to lead them.
As a result, the soldiers who had just returned to Crotone had to go out again in their armors. In addition to the soldiers(including the 10,000 hoplites), they had also recruited freemen. After they had prepared the rations, they immediately set out for Caulonia.
However, the council had objections and demanded that more citizens must be left to protect the nearly emptied city of Crotone.
Although Lysias was a conservative, he was not cowardly. He not only did not agree, but had even sent envoys to Aprustum to tell the Theonian defenders that the city of Crotone was almost empty, and so they hoped to get help from them, their allies, when needed.
While receiving a clear response from Asistes, Crotone’s fleet, under the leadership of the navy strategos Askamas, sailed to Caulonia with both large and small warships.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Just as Crotone was about to fight with Locri, the senate of Theonia voted for five candidates from Krimisa to enter the senate, which included Androlis, Eurypus and Pleitinas.
This matter is just an appetizer for today’s long senate meeting, followed by rewarding the soldiers who had taken part in the war with Crotone. As the number of people involved in the war were too many, Philesius, the military officer, and Raphias, the senior census officer, had only roughly set a rough figure at the meeting: About a number of official citizens will receive lands according to their merits in the war. The statesmen headed by Davos had suggested that the land should be allocated to the city where the citizens live as much as possible. Naturally, if they voluntary want to change their land, then they should satisfy their wish;
The second is the registered freemen who had participated in the war, due to winning several successive battles, more than half of them will directly start the evaluation period of becoming an official citizen in accordance with the law. Because a large amount of land and acquiring two cities in this war, so it has made them in urgent need of people to quickly occupy these lands and defend the new cities. Therefore, although their official citizenship evaluation period is not yet over, the senate still decided to grant them 3,333 square meter “Allocated Land” in Krimisa, Aprustum and the northern plain of Crotone, because they still have not yet become official citizens, so the tax they will pay during this period of time is still land income tax and it is only when they become official citizens that the land tax be reduced to 1%;
For the nearly 6,000 freemen who took part in the war, the evaluation period for them to become preparatory citizens will be reduced by half, and they will be given the priority to rent the land of the city-state, of course, the tax burden will remain unchanged;
For the soldiers who died in the war, whether they are citizens or freemen, as long as their relatives are still alive, the senate will give them the rewards of normal soldiers, and at the same time give them generous pensions, mainly from the spoils they got in the war. (T/N: Hmm, no mention of the preparatory citizens)
The whole reward and distribution will be mainly decided by the agricultural officer – Burkes and the census officer – Raphias, with the assistance of the three legatus of the army, Kapus, Drakos and Hieronymus.
“The citizens of Theonia have come when they were called to perform their duties and fought bravely for the union. The senate, as the helmsman of the union’s ship, should also give them corresponding praise and fair care. We should not let our warriors shed blood and tears at the same time! Only in this way can more people contribute to the prosperity and strength of the union!….” At the end of the day, Davos reminded Burkes and the others of what they should do with a passionate speech.
After that, the next topic was about discussing the candidates for the position of praetor for the city of Krimisa and Aprustum.
There are many statesmen who have signed up to run as praetor of Krimisa, because it is a port city with excellent conditions. Although Krimisa is adjacent to Crotone, they have now become an ally after all, and Aprustum is in the middle, which naturally made the governing environment to be relatively safe.
The result of the final voting was that Scambras got the highest number of votes, which had surprised some people. However, when they thought carefully about it, though Scambras is a hot tempered old man, he is a straightforward person and if he makes a mistake, he will correct it. He also doesn’t scheme much and is willing to help the younger generations. Therefore, many people are willing to associate with him.
According to the law of Theonia, Davos has the power to veto over any proposal of the Senate, but as long as the proposal is reasonable, he seldom uses this power. Just like now, he thinks that the elected praetor of Krimisa is not bad, and the forthright and friendly character of Scambras may even win the favor of the Krimisians who are hostile to the Theonians. For this reason, he was the first to congratulate Scambras.
“Archon, rest assured. I will make the Krimisians recognize Theonia as soon as possible, while coordinating the relationship between the locals and the new immigrants….” Scambras gave an enthusiastic pledge to Davos.
Scambras, who is over 50 years old, had already grasped the two major problems that he needs to devote his energy to solve after he becomes the praetor of Krimisa, even before taking office, “With you in Krimisa, the senate has nothing to worry about!”
As for the candidates for the praetor of Aprustum, Davos said in advance, “Aprustum is different from Krimisa. It is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Neto river. So from time to time, it is harassed by the Bruttians to the north and it is also necessary to guard against and deter other Greek city-states in the south from coveting the northern plain of Crotone, and to also coordinate the relationship with the Crotonians.”
In addition, Davos told the statesmen that there are a number of Lucanian warriors who are willing to move to Aprustum. As a result, in addition to the Lucanian region(which included Nerulum of course), Aprustum has the highest proportion of Lucanian residents in the cities of Theonia. Therefore, the requirements for the praetor of Aprustum is relatively high. First of all, he should have relatively strong military strength, while making the Lucanians who have not been in Theonia for a long time and are still somewhat free and loose to obey him.
Letting those statesmen who have suffered from the war with the Lucanians, such as Amendolara and Thurii who always had an unforgettable fear in their hearts to deal with them independently. And Vespa and Hemon who likes to make active suggestions on issues concerning Lucania, but when it comes to the affairs regarding the Greeks, they will always just calmly watch and only act as voters. While most of the statesmen who were former mercenaries were either unwilling to deal with administrative matters, or they are not capable of doing them, while those with stronger administrative ability, such Antonios and Alexius, also hold important positions and could not leave. Therefore, when the rotating chairperson, Cornelius, announced that those who would like to be the praetor of Aprustum to raise their hands, no one responded for a while.
When Davos saw this, he was a little surprised. But then, a person’s name came into his mind – Asistes. However, Asistes was not a member of the Senate and according to the law, he was not allowed to serve as the praetor of a city: He had now realize that those who did not become a statesmen of the Senate before the promulgation of the 《Theonia’s Civil Service Law》, had made it harder for them to enter the Senate. For those guys who only wanted to fight, it was undoubtedly impossible for them to enter the administrative affairs and raise their position step by step. So it seems that he needs to add some special articles to the 《Civil Service Law》 for the strategoi of the legion to enter the Senate….
Davos, who was thinking about it, then saw a man in the crowd raise his hand. He was once the squad captain of Davos and also his most reliable follower – Hielos!
For quite some time, Davos was busy with his affairs, while Hielos served as the patrol captain of Amendolara, so apart from the meeting in the senate, they didn’t have many opportunities to meet with each other, but he still learned about his performances. With the prosperity of storage, accomodation and food in the city of Amendolara, a large number of immigrants have poured in, but there has still been no major conflict, which proves the performance of Hielos to be very great. And his ability to deal with emergencies and the fairness of coordinating and solving the conflicts between the residents and the outsiders have been highly praised by the people of Amendolara and also the praetor, Cornelius. As for his military strength, Davos evaluated him as good at using hoplites, which is suitable for Aprustum, which was in a special geographical position. So Davos believes that Hielos will not have a big problem winning over the Lucanians with his rich experience as a mercenary. As for administrative experience….
Davos thought that he could just let Asistes stay in Aprustum for a period of time to help Hielos deal with government affairs. And he believes that with Hielos serious learning attitude, he will soon be able to govern the city independently.
After a long wait, Hielos was the only one to raise his hand. So Cornelius could only helplessly announce Hielos to be the only candidate for the praetor of Aprustum.
“As Hielos is the most suitable person, I agree of him becoming the praetor of Aprustum!” Davos had first made his support clear.
Afterwards, Kapus, Antonios and the others also agreed, and so the selection of the praetor of Aprustum was determined. Only Cornelius sighed, “Although I would like to congratulate Hielos, I still have to express my regret for Amendolara’s loss of a good patrol captain!”