Chapter 388: Spartas Move
In the early morning, at the legatus’ residence in the city of Aprustum, the adjutant knocked on the room of legatus Epiphanes. A few whiles later, the door was opened by a naked young man.
The already accustomed adjutant shouted towards the rooms, “Legatus, I received an urgent letter from the Senate!”
“Okay.” Said a lazy voice in the room.
After a while, Epiphanes came out of the bedroom naked and took the letter from the adjutant.
The young man stretched out his head trying to look, but Epiphanes patted him on the face and said intimately, “Go back first. I will look for you later.”
The young man then went back inside the room and put on his clothes, and before he left, he didn’t forget to kiss Epiphanes.
“Such a nice young lad. He is a noble and an educated man from Taranto. Unfortunately, his family is ruined.” Epiphanes looked at the man’s back as he left and said to the adjutant with a bit of bragging.
The adjutant didn’t speak as he didn’t want to comment on his strategos’ hobby.
“You should first read the letter.” Under the urging gaze of the adjutant, Epiphanes opened the letter. After reading it, he whistled, “Lord Davos asked our fourth legion to reach Scylletium before October and meet up with the army of the South Italia Alliance and then prepare to attack Locri.”
“Wonderful!” The adjutant said excitedly, “I will go and inform the Praetor of Aprustum and Krimisa to issue an order as well as inform the legionnaires in the two cities to assemble and report at the square of Krimisa tomorrow.” (The square in Aprustum is too tiny to accommodate 8,000 legionnaires.)
“There’s no need to be in a hurry. The letter states that we only need to reach Scylletium by October, which means Lord Davos does not urgently want to go to war with Locri. So it would just be a waste to go early, and we would just end up eating all our rations. And a 10-day preparation would be just enough for me to have a good discussion with the two praetors about the delivery of military rations and some other preparations, and also to wait for the return of the soldiers that joined the Rugby Finals.”
The adjutant could only nod helplessly at the reasonable explanation of Epiphanes, “Okay, you are the legatus here, so you have the final say. But I fear that Drakos has already led the fifth legion too early and would pretty much curse at us if we are late.”
“That seriously stubborn donkey, but to be honest, I am afraid that he is really going to be mad.” Epiphanes shrugged helplessly, and both men laughed.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Drakos is currently supervising the training of the soldiers in the fifth legion’s camp outside Consentia.
Davos wanted to recall him back from the legion the year before last, but he refused to comply with several orders, arguing that he was only good at fighting and not at clerical work, even if he were to work harder. But according to the military law, a legatus can’t serve in the legion for too long(mainly because Davos is afraid that if Drakos were to stay too long, the soldiers would become dependent on him, which would weaken his prestige in their eyes.) so he had to send him to Consentia as the legatus of the newly formed fifth legion. Drakos, however, did not let down Davos’ expectations, and in just a few years, he managed to train the unruly Bruttians to become competent legionnaires.
“Legatus, the Senate sent a letter!” The guards came in a hurry.
After reading the letter, Drakos immediately became thrilled and shouted, “Herald! Herald!”
“Here, legatus.”
“Immediately send your men with this letter and go to Vergae, Clampetia and Anbania to inform the soldiers of the fifth legions to assemble at Consentia’s square tomorrow. And those who are late will receive 30 beatings!”
“Yes!”
“Legatus, will there be war?!” The adjutant asked excitedly.
“What’s there to be happy? Some time had already passed since our declaration of war on Locri, yet only now the mobilisation order has been issued!” Drakos said with some dissatisfaction. He then asked his adjutant, “Stay here and supervise their training. I need to immediately go to Consentia and discuss the dispatching of the troops with Praetor Philesius.”
Remembering something, the adjutant reminded Drakos, “Legatus, some of our soldiers are still playing rugby in Thurii, you see-”
“Oh, I almost forgot about that.” Drakos thought for a moment and said, “Find the soldiers of the reserves to take their place first, while sending someone to Thurii urging them to return quickly. Otherwise, don’t blame me if they were to miss the battle.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Agesilaus was currently laying on his tent with a dignified expression at the stalemate of the Spartan coalition and the anti-Spartan alliance in Corinth, as the enemy kept repelling the Spartan’s offence with the sturdy defence of the city of Corinth, leaving him at a loss.
Even though Agesilaus wanted to open another battlefield, he couldn’t do it due to the severe damage of the Spartan fleet. While the Athenian Conon led the huge fleet prepared by Persia directly into the port of Piraeus and handed over the whole fleet to Athens, causing Sparta to face the same dilemma decades ago – they lost the sea.
‘Damned Persians, they are definitely stirring up some trouble in the dark!’ Agesilaus cursed inwardly, but he obviously forgot that his actions in Asia Minor led to this problem.
At this time, someone opened the tent and said, “King Agesilaus, I have arrived.”
“Phidias.” Agesilaus was about to sit up, but Phidias stepped forward daringly, held him down, and said with concern, “Don’t stand up. I heard that you are in poor health these days that you even fainted yesterday.” Then Phidias sat down on his legs.
Agesilaus, without any pretence and, still half lying on his couch, said, “It’s just an old problem of mine. It will get better after a few days of rest (in fact, it is due to polio.) The reason why I called you this time is that the Gerousia has sent an urgent letter.”
Agesilaus became serious, “Syracuse is about to attack Magna Graecia, so Dionysius asked for our helped and asked us to send a strategos proficient in warfare to help them defeat Theonia.”
“What?! Is Dionysius about to launch a war in Magna Graecia at this time? What about the assistance he promised us?!” Phidias said in surprise.
“Of course there is…” Agesilaus sighed helplessly, “According to Syracuse, it was Theonia who first declared war on Locri, which forced them to fight and protect their allies…but you and I all know that someone tried to assassinate the archon of Theonia more than ten days ago. And even though Theonia claimed that it was Locri who did it, the truth is probably not that simple.”
“Damn Dionysius! That bastard couldn’t even keep his promise!” Phidias shouted angrily, “If we Spartans had not supported him at the beginning, how could he hold his position as the tyrant of Syracuse!…”
“Although the behaviour of Dionysius is troublesome, Theonia and Athens had strengthened their ties some time ago. As you should know, Athens was the one to establish Thurii, and they had always been allies of Athens…” Agesilaus gazed at Phidias and seriously said, “Therefore, since this war in Magna Graecia is inevitable, we should not allow Theonia to win! That is why I have recommended you to the Gerousia. Although I know full well of your ability, I still hope that you can put aside your resentment of Dionysius and do your best to help him in winning this war for the sake of Sparta!”
After hearing this, Phidias nodded heavily and said, “King Agesilaus, there is no need for you to worry. I will go and help Dionysius defeat Theonia as soon as possible and then have him send troops to help Sparta!”
Agesilaus reminded him with caution, “Don’t be careless, let alone underestimate the young archon of Theonia, Davos! As far as we know, he has never lost in battle. Otherwise, the Theonia Union would not have risen so quickly, much more than we Spartans had expected! And it is precisely because of this pressure that Dionysius turned to us for help, as even when he fought the Carthaginians before, he did not take the initiative to seek our help like this time! To the point that he even said that once there was a war with Theonia and the South Italia Alliance, he was willing to let a strategos of Sparta take command.”
“Dionysius is really not good at warfare, but Davos-” After carefully thinking, Phidias excitedly said, “Although I don’t like this man, I have to admit that he is indeed a great opponent. Still, I am confident in beating him!”
Agesilaus stared at him for a while before nodding and saying, “That’s right. We Spartans must be fearless. Now, return to your team and prepare the handover. Afterwards, immediately go to Syracuse.”
“Yes!”
As he watched Phidias leave, a trace of worry rose in Agesilaus’ mind. The young archon of Theonia, who he had never met but had always been victorious, has not only put pressure on Dionysius but even gave an invisible pressure to the Spartan King who had been paying attention to Theonia…
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
At the same time, in the residence of the Polemarchos of Athens, Thrasybulus was talking with Isocrates.
The simple and noble Isocrates was quite respectful when facing Thrasybulus, as he was a person worthy of his respect in his heart.
During the reign of the “Thirty Tyrants”, many Athenian citizens were persecuted and had to flee everywhere. Thrasybulus, who was a Democrat, did not escape and had instead led a group of Athenian citizens to establish a resistance base at the junction of Attica and Boetia (at that time, although Athens were enemy of Thebes for many years, they still funded this team against Athens that Sparta controlled), in an attempt to overthrow the tyrant’s brutal rule and restore Athens’ independence and democracy. Under the leadership of Thrasybulus, this small team manage to defeat the tyrants’ powerful army.