Chapter 299: Pride and Prejudice
In the arena, the audience seats were already crowded as the excited people await the start of the preliminaries eagerly. Players from various city-states entered the arena one after another and were met with the cheerings of the audience.
However, the referee is still at the entrance arguing with someone, which delayed the match. The audience began to clamour with discontent, so a Corinthian official, who is responsible for maintaining the order of the competition, rushed to the entrance and asked the referee, “What’s going on? Why haven’t you started the game?”
“Look, this guy is saying that he is a runner in this group race and also had a number. But he is not a Greek!”
The Corinthian official looked at the place where the referee’s finger is pointed: The athlete has shoulder-length brown hair, deep sunken eyes, a tall nose, thick lips, slender body, strong muscles and even though his naked upper body was coated with olive oil, the fairness of his skin could still be seen…his appearance is clearly not a Greek.
The official was taken aback, “How could the priests of the temple allow him to participate in the competition?!”
“I think it was the officials of his city-state who registered for him, as the priest doesn’t know that he is of foreign race.” Replied the referee.
The official snarled, “Which city-state player is he from? Don’t they know the registration rules for the Isthmian Games?!”
“Theonia! We are from Theonia!” Adrian squeezed over and exclaimed, “Although Litom is a Lucanian, he is a citizen of Theonia, so according to the rules of the Isthmian Games, as long as he is a citizen of a Greek city-state, he can participate, so he is eligible!”
Theonia?! The official thought that the name seemed familiar, but he could not recall where he heard it and thought that it was not a large or powerful city-state, so he lectured him with a stern face, “It is a well-known fact that only Greeks can take part in the games because no Greek city-state had ever given citizenship to a foreign race! Stop blocking here and delaying the games! Leave now, or I will send someone to throw you out!”
Adrien became speechless. He was born poor and grew up as a mercenary, so he had never participated in a single Greek Games and naturally did not understand its rules. This time, the Senate of Theonia had decided to send a team to take part in the competition, and they had thought it would be best to have a statesman as the leader to show that they attached importance to the Isthmian Games. The reason why Adrian had actively signed up because he likes sports. Apart from this aspect, there were only a few places in the Senate where he, a statesman who only knows how to fight and cannot read nor write, could use his talents. Therefore, after taking charge of Theonia’s team, he went to Crotone several times to ask for advice from the experienced athletes. He also led the team and departed together with the Crotonian team to Corinth. But now it seems that Crotone are hiding something, and he fears that their goal is to see Theonia making a fool of themselves.
When Adrian was feeling regret, Litom shouted, “Lord Davos, the archon of our union, said that ‘No matter what race, as long as they are a citizen of our union, they should enjoy the same rights!’ Therefore in Theonia, whether they are Greeks, Lucanians, Thracians, they can all play rugby together!”
The Corinthian official was taken aback by Litom’s strange pronunciation and then laughed angrily. He raised his head and shouted to the audience above the arena, “Everyone, is this foreign race correct?!”
The audience, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, rushed to the lowest floor of the audience seat and shouted, “What ridiculous fallacy! Those who can say these kinds of words can only be the leaders of your barbarians!”
“Barbarian, get out of the arena! Go back to the city-state that had given you citizenship and allow you to compete! That place could only be dirty and terrible!”
“Get out, savages! Don’t defile the sacred place of our Greeks!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mockery and swearing struck Litom and Adrian like swords.
Adrian’s face became pale.
Litom, on the other hand, was furious as he was a person who loved competition and never gave in to defeat. Ever since he became a citizen of Theonia and heard about the Four Great Games, he had been eager to compete with all the athletes in Greece because he thinks that no one can run faster than him! When the news of Theonia sending players to participate in the Isthmian Games reaches his ears, even though it was already a bit late, he still hurriedly went to sign up for it. But he was not allowed to compete just after he had reported his name!
Looking at the bustling arena, he was not reconciled. After giving a sudden roar, he ran out.
“Hey! What are you doing?!” Exclaimed the referee.
“Catch him! Catch him!!” The Corinthian official screamed with impatience.
Litom opened his legs with force, waved his arms vigorously and roared like a wolf. He ran on the soft soil barefooted, and he was as light and fast as the free mountain wind whistling in the wilderness, as he darted with all his might, leaving the Corinthian official and men who tried to catch him far behind.
The Corinthian officials’ anxious shouts alerted the athletes who were still waiting at the starting line to start chasing the wild barbarian.
Instead of feeling afraid, Litom became more excited.
The audiences were amazed at seeing: In the face of the players’ encirclement and interception, the barbarian, who was moving as agile as a civet cat and as fast as a cheetah, flashed past them one after another…
Even though the race has become a chase and capture, most of the audience had not only not complain but also felt the excitement that made some of them even stand up to cheer for the “lone hero” on the field.
As one of the best running back in Theonia’s Rugby Games, Litom uses his skills to skillfully dodge while maintaining his forward speed for one…two…three laps…
The cheers grew louder and louder, and it was only when the Corinthian officials called in more people to blocked the space on the field that they manage to hold him.
The panting Corinthian official came near to Litom and punched him without saying a word.
Litom struggled to break free, but there were too many people holding him, and he could only glare at the Corinthian official.
“Stop! Stop!…” Adrian came in a hurry and grabbed the first raised by the Corinthian official, “Let go of our citizen, or I will protest to the Council of Corinth!”
“Protest?!” The Corinthian official looked at him and sneered, “Arrest him as well! Disrupting the sacred Isthmian Games is a major crime!! Lock them up first and let your weird city-state make reparations, then have them come to collect you!”
After this, a group of men escorted Litom and Adrian off the field.
At this time, Litom struggled and roared, “I, LITOM, A CITIZEN OF THEONIA, IS THE CHAMPION OF THE ISTHMIAN RACE!!!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The game resumed after the order on the arena was restored, but the audiences were still talking about the farce that had just taken place.
“That guy just now did run very fast. Unfortunately, he was a barbarian. Otherwise, he could have really won the championship!”
“What race is he? He said that he was a citizen of a Greek city-state, so which city-state that had actually granted citizenship to a barbarian?!”
“I think he said that it is Theonia…is Theonia even a Greek city-state? How come I have never heard of it?”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The audience of the Isthmian Games had come from all over the Mediterranean, and of course, there were Greeks from the Western Mediterranean, who naturally became the ones to answer these questions.
“Theonia is a city-state union located in the north-central part of Magna Graecia and had been founded only last year, and its main city is Thurii. That barbarian just now should be a Lucanian, as Theonia had occupied a lot of land of Lucania, and they had also wantonly granted citizenship to the Lucanians living in their territory.”
“In other words, this Theonia Union had not only given citizenship to one barbarian?!”
“Yes, it is not only the Lucanians, but also Thracians, Egyptians…as long as they are willing to become citizens of Theonia, they will be able to become a formal Theonian citizen after a few years, and they will also be able to get an ‘allocated land’!”
“Oh wise, Athena, have I gotten dizzy and misheard it?! Not only can barbarians become citizens, but they can also get an allocated land?! This is simply…simply…is Theonia really a Greek city-state union?!”
“Iabycus, you Peloponnesians are indifferent to what is happening in the western Mediterranean. As long as you arrive at the Gulf of Taranto by ship, the most frequently heard word is Theonia. There are not only thousands of freemen flocking to Theonia to become citizens, but the councils of all the city-states of Magna Graecia are watching the movements of Theonia…”
“I can still understand the freemen wanting to be citizens and get an allocated land. But why is it that even the top officials of the various city-states in Magna Graecia-”
“Because Theonia is already the most powerful city-state union in South Italia!”
“What?! Are you kidding me?! I still remember that the powerful city-states of Magna Graecia were Crotone and Taranto?!!”
“Haha, not long ago, Crotone twice lost to Theonia in a war and has long lost its former glory. And Taranto…just when I came to Thurii, heard that it was forced to ask Theonia’s help to drive the barbarians, who were invading their territory, away with Theonia promising to send reinforcements. You won’t even be able to imagine how big Theonia’s territory is! Theonia now controls Thurii, Amendolara, Krimisa, and Lucania, with Laos and Roscianum becoming affiliated city-state, and they are also allied with Taranto. In addition, Crotone, Terina, Scylletium and Caulonia had also allied with Theonia…now tell me if it is still not the most powerful city-state in Magna Graecia!”