Chapter 434: Wolf And Sheep
Dionysius would naturally not demoralise his men for the sake of a Spartan. He only wanted to know how to deal with the Theonian infantry, so he smiled and said, “Of course, after this disastrous defeat, it is hard to say whether the Theonians would still have the chance to fight us again.”
It was now the turn of Phidias to be puzzled, so he asked directly, “Why do you say that? After all, the Theonians did not suffer heavy casualties, and with its strength, they could still organise an army that is not weaker than Syracuse.”
Dionysius smiled and said, “Phidias, you are talented in the art of battle, but defeating and destroying a city-state is not done by battles alone.”
He raised his head as if his sharp eyes could penetrate his quarter and saw the archon of Theonia that was trekking in Lucania…with a mocking sneer on his face, he proudly said, “The invasion of the Samnites is enough to give the Theonians a headache, and with today’s victory, it would have a great impact on Magna Graecia! Thus the trouble of Theonia had just begun. So now that Theonia can’t get out of its trouble and concentrate all its troops to stop us, we need to quickly conquer the other city-states of the South Italia Alliance, invade Theonia, make its people panic and shake its affiliated cities due to anxiety…” Dionysius then said decisively, “And finally, conquer it!”
“Milord is right! Conquer Magna Graecia early, and we could go home earlier!” Phacipessas echoed loudly.
“Let’s toast for the early conquest of Magna Graecia!” The usually low-key Leptines became a bit excited because of Dionysius’ encouragement.
“We should kill more Magna Graecians and take more spoils!” Acilita said with a big grin and a slightly frightening expression. After all, he was not even interested in conquering Magna Graecia as no amount of occupied land would be distributed to his tribe. Hence he needed more food, money, and even slaves to strengthen his tribe.
The Celtic leader Gaba shared the same thought.
When all the others picked up their mugs, Phidias reluctantly stood up as he was not sure whether it would be good or bad for Sparta for Syracuse to easily defeat Theonia.
The celebration in the commander’s quarter didn’t last long because a Scylletian envoy came.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
During the battle, the soldiers of Scylletium suffered heavy losses and have now sent an envoy late at night. Thus anyone can easily guess their purpose.
Dionysius deliberately did not immediately appear, seemingly neglecting the envoy and making him fidget. So as soon as Dionysius appeared, the envoy immediately requested the tyrant of Sicily to accept the Scylletian surrender.
Dionysius had already longed planned this, so he deliberately dismissed their surrender and angrily said to the envoy, “Scylletium had always been actively against Syracuse and its ally, Locri. But now that you suffered a crushing defeat and your city is about to be captured, you wanted to surrender? It just shows that you are not sincere at all! And if you want me to feel your sincerity, Scylletium had to pay the price for what you have done before!”
This envoy was obviously not as young and arrogant as the previous envoy who had delivered the letter of challenge and immediately pleaded in a low voice.
Dionysius then said with a slightly calmed expression, “If you want us to accept your surrender, you must send a thousand sheep, fifty cattle, and 30,000 kilograms of grain to Syracuse’s camp tomorrow morning. Only then will we accept Scylletium’s request for a truce.”
As soon as the Scylletian envoy heard this, he immediately cried out and said that Dionysius was asking was a huge amount. And Scylletium could not gather that much in just half a day, so he hoped for Dionysius to reduce the amount.
Dionysius then coldly said, “This is the time for you to show your sincerity, so if you can’t deliver my request tomorrow morning, Syracuse will attack Scylletium in the afternoon!”
The Scylletian envoy could only hurry back to the city and informed the council of Dionysius’ unyielding request.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
‘That is still much better than our people dying!’ After a heated debate, the Scylletian statesmen, facing the Syracusan army’s pressure, decided to agree to Dionysius’ condition, sending several strategoi led by Phrytinas to Syracuse’s camp for negotiation again and determine the Scylletian’s treatment after their surrender.
After Dionysius made some concessions, the two sides signed an agreement and swore to the gods.
Phrytinas and the others became temporarily relieved and hurried back to the city to prepare the supplies. It’s not that Scylletium could not take them out, just that after they hand over these things, the Scylletians will have a harder life in the second half of the year. However, no matter how difficult it would be, it is still much better than getting destroyed by Syracuse. Moreover, Dionysius also gave Scylletian some conditions to win them over, making the Scylletians surrender and join the Syracusan army to fight their former allies, which made Phrytinas interested. For example, he would give the eastern part of the Ophemia plain to which the Terinians owned to Scylletium…
In this battle, Syracuse won a massive victory with absolute advantage, making the Scylletian council feel that the South Italian Alliance’s future to be bleak. And as the first city-state of the South Italia Alliance to defect to Syracuse, Scylletium would gain a lot.
Thus the whole city of Scylletium was busy from afternoon to evening.
Early the next morning, the Scylletians drove out of the city in an endless stream with flocks of livestock and wagons loaded with grain. Of course, several strategoi, such as Phrytinas, and their attendants accompanied them in order to discuss with Dionysius where they would be dispatched in the war and other matters.
But when the long caravan was only half out of the city, a large number of cavalries appeared in the open field and began killing the unarmed men.
The sudden blow made the Scylletians panic as they ran for their lives, but the countless livestock and wagons caused the city gate to be blocked, resulting in their inability to close it and pull up the suspension bridge.
“Dionysius lied to us! He just wants to take our city!!” Phrytinas just now realised it. However, it was already too late.
Dust filled the front, and rumbling footsteps could be heard ahead as the large forces of Syracuse rapidly approached the city wall…
“Dionysius, you broke your oath and deceived the gods. I curse you for your eyes to be gouged out and your heart and your bloodline to be cut off!…” Phrytinas was then stabbed in the forehead by a javelin of a Numidian cavalry and fell off his horse, turning his hatred into a vicious curse before dying.
The Syracusan army easily broke through the defenceless city of Scylletium, and the army composed of Sicilian Greek city-states, mercenaries and foreign races did not stop…
The panicking Scylletians wanted to escape the fallen city, but they had nowhere to run as the port was filled with Syracuse’s fleet, and countless cavalries were galloping outside the city.
As a result, the atrocities once committed by Syracuse in the city-states of Sicily, such as Catania and Naxos, are now happening in Magna Graecia’s Scylletium – a massacre of the city.
Dionysius did not stop his soldiers. On the contrary, he even let them indulge. After all, they were all under his strict control for some time, and after continuous rapid march and battles, they needed a place to release their desire…naturally, this is only a minor reason.
The more important reason is that he is short of money! Seriously short of money! It is already difficult for him to pay three months of the mercenary salaries, and looting is the quickest way to get the money.
In addition, he needed to magnify the impact of the battle and shockingly tell the Magna Graecians that those who opposed him would have such a tragic end!
Syracuse’s army ransacked the whole city. Of course, more than half of the looted wealth belonged to Dionysius.
Besides the countless Scylletians killed during the looting, he also decided to turn all the nearly 70,000 captured Scylletians, including the freemen in the port, into slaves and transport them to the slave market in Syracuse for money.
Except for a few who were neither killed in the looting nor sent away as slaves because Dionysius had specially asked the guards to find and protect them. They were Saliseus, the Scylletian envoy who had threatened him before and his family.
Dionysius took them to the Scylletian square. In front of tens of thousands of Scylletian captives, he cruelly slashes Saliseus and his family, covering their bodies with countless wounds.
Amidst the dying curse of Saliseus, Dionysius proclaimed in a loud voice, “This is the fate of any Magna Graecians who insults me and Syracuse*!” (T/N: Just trying to convey Dionysius’ arrogance.)
He then cut off Saliseus head with the sword in his hand.
The tens of thousands of Scylletians were reduced to silence.
He did not destroy the city of Scylletium as he did to Catania because the position of Scylletium was more important than Terina. Not only because of its large area that could accommodate more than 70,000 troops(Syracuse suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the battle.), but also the east coast of Magna Graecia was the main direction of his attack. He will use Scylletium as an important forward base for Syracuse to attack Theonia and Crotone. It is where he would concentrate the Syracusan army, navy and especially the food supplies, which is the springboard for the next march northward.
Although Dionysius had no desire to attack the west coast with its high terrain and rugged road, which is unfavourable to the march of the army and are occupied by foreign races, for the time being, he also had his plan for it.
He found dozens of soldiers from different Bruttian and Lucanian tribes among the captives, met them with an amicable expression. He then told them through an interpreter that Syracuse had come to Magna Graecia not to enslave them but to liberate them from the harsh rule of Theonia, giving them the freedom they once enjoyed. Moreover, as long as they are willing to rise against Theonia and fight for themselves, Syracuse will give them more fertile land, such as Ophemia plain and Sybaris plain, once the war is over…