Chapter 539: Port of Syracuse
This fantastic news relieved Alexius from his worries.
But then, the Campanian League in the north sent an envoy.
While the Samnites engaged in a massive war with Potentia and Theonia, the Campanian city-states, the Samnites’ enemy, just watched in silence. It was only after the victor was decided and Theonia’s battlefront had closed in on Campania that they sent an envoy.
The envoy had come from Pompeii, a city-state only separated from Irna by a small Sorrento Peninsula, just over 20 metres apart and next to it is Mount Vesuvius.
His reason for coming was to investigate whether the Theonians would threaten Campania.
Alexius then said unhesitantly that they only came to fight back against the Samnites’ aggression. Rather, they wish to get along well with the Greek city-state of Campania without any malice or aggression.
Afterwards, the envoy happily went back to Pompeii along with Alexius’ small request to exchange their spoils from the Samnites for food.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mikalis, a Syracusan citizen and his ancestors were native inhabitants that lived here for generations. Besides owning two acres of land and a fishing boat, he even has a store in the city to sell his fishing goods, so if it wasn’t for the high war taxes levied by Dionysius every year, his family’s life should be prosperous.
When the repeated news of the victory of Syracuse’s army in Magna Graecia was announced in Apollo Square, the people cheered with mixed emotions. In his opinion, any hostile force would be vulnerable under the attack of such a large force as Syracuse, so Mikalis felt regret because the goddess of luck failed to bless him to be chosen when the citizens were assembled in the square for the campaign. Thus he lost an excellent opportunity to plunder Magna Graecia and improve his current situation.
But things have changed in the past few days. The unpleasant news of the two disastrous defeats of the Syracusan navy that they almost lost all their ships had doused the excited Syracusans with a bucket of cold water.
A never before heard Theonian fleet had defeated the Syracusan navy that roamed the Ionian Sea?! The Syracusans couldn’t believe what they heard, so they cursed the navarch Leptines and thought angrily that his foolish command led to the disastrous defeat! And that he should’ve been replaced after losing the sea battle against the Carthaginians!
Some people even shifted the responsibility of this defeat to Dionysius as they believed that Dionysius didn’t replace him because of his nepotism!
Compared to the displeasure of the people in the city, a different scene happened in the port. With the ship numbering more than 400, it needed around 90,000 sailors. So even though more than half of these sailors were from Syracuse’s allies, a small half had come from the poor and freemen of Syracuse. And those sailors’ situation wouldn’t be good whether the ships sunk or captured.
As the depressing news spread to almost every household in the port and the bay, these poor people became angrier at the oppressive Dionysius as they worried about the safety of their loved ones. For months, words of discontent against Dionysius spread in the port and the city, such as, “We are so poor because those foreigners(Dionysius’ mercenaries) have taken away the land that should be ours and occupied the various position of the city-states that should be ours!”
“Even if we earn more drachmaes, it is still not enough to catch up with the pace of Dionysius’ taxation!”
“Dionysius likes the mercenaries more than the citizens of Syracuse! Instead of being the supreme commander of Syracuse, he is more suitable to be the leader of mercenaries!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
But in the past few days, a new rumour quickly spread through the port, “I heard that the Theonians hated only the tyrant Dionysius. So if we could overthrow his dictatorship, Syracuse and Theonia could reach a peace agreement, and the 14,000 Syracusan sailors imprisoned in Theonia could safely return home!…”
The rumours were so vivid that many people in the port believed them, so they soon spread throughout the bay and to the neighbouring city-states.
When Mikalis heard the rumour, he was startled as it was an open demand to overthrow Dionysius. And he believed that it was the Theonians’ scheme!
If even he could see that, the intelligence department of Hipparinus would not remain indifferent. So not only did they increase the patrols in the port, but they also dispatched many undercover people to roam throughout the bay area to interrogate the people…however, it has instead intensified the resentment and anger of the port people towards the upper echelons of the city-state. With the people’s undisguised angry stare, the patrolling soldiers were frightened that they would patrol in groups of more than 20 people and dare not wander alone, lest they get killed.
Thus a silent confrontation between the port people and the city-state gradually appeared. And the most obvious example is the work efficiency of port labourers is decreasing, the speed of the merchant ships unloading slowed down, and the goods piled up in the dock take too long to move to the warehouses resulting in the accumulation of more and more goods, almost leading to the dock getting blocked. The merchants, however, did not dare to get angry as it would likely anger these people working with grievances, which would lead to a conflict that would still end up with them the ones suffering.
Mikalis didn’t need to worry as he travelled between the port and the market for many years. Moreover, he is modest and has a good relationship with the fishermen in the port.
He even hired fishermen to fish by using his fishing boat and would fish early in the morning. So by the time he arrived at the port in late morning, the fishing boat had already returned to the fishing dock.
For the port’s cleanliness and hygiene, Syracuse built the fisher dock in the outermost and remote location of the port. After all, the dock’s fishy smell was too heavy that flies, mosquitoes, and insects would often swarm those dead fish and shrimp.
Naturally, Mikalis did not feel disgusted. On the contrary, he felt satisfaction at walking on the dock and looking at the baskets of fresh fish unloaded on both sides of the road.
“Tethytes, how’s your harvest today?!” Mikalis waved to his fishing boat, which was moored from a distance.
Tethytes was a very experienced fisherman. Apart from his first-class boating and fishing skills, he is also good at judging the fish’s presence, so Mikalis paid double the salary to hire him.
At this time, Tethytes was sitting on the bow and enjoying the gentle sunshine as he calmly said, “Spring just came, so the fish won’t come out as much because the sea is still cold. And with Poseidon sheltering them, how can we have a good haul?!”
Mikalis looked at the two baskets of fish on the shore: mackerel and cod filled one basket, and prawns and squid in the other. He was already more than satisfied with this harvest. But he naturally knew that Tethytes had higher requirements on himself, so Mikalis jokingly said, “While there is time and the weather warmed, can you set out to sea and cast a few more nets?”
Tethytes played with the mud stain on his finger and reminded him, “I can sail out to sea again, but can you sell it in time? You should know that Poseidon punished wastefulness!”
Because there were no refrigerators in this era, they had to sell the freshly caught fish on the same day. Otherwise, it would rot the next day and get thrown away. Even though the Greeks liked to live on the seashore, their staple food was still grain, while fish was only a supplementary food. In addition, the increase of the Syracusans’ tax burden had decreased the purchasing power of ordinary citizens, which naturally affected the sales of fish. So not to mention spreading a few nets, selling the two baskets of fish before the market closed was already problematic. By then, he could only take the remaining fish home, cook them for the slaves or feed them to the pigs and dogs.
Mikalis sighed and did not reply. He then commanded the slaves to carry the wooden basket into the wagon.
But suddenly, another fisherman on the boat shouted, “Hey Mikalis, did you hear that the Theonians defeated Dionysius’ army?!”
“How is that possible?! Where did you hear the news?!” Mikalis was shocked and couldn’t believe it.
“How could that be not possible? If our navy could lose to the Theonians, then our army could also lose to them too!” Instead of grieving over their defeat, the fisherman had an odd gloating expression on his face, “This news had now spread on the port, and some merchants from Magna Graecia confirmed it. They said Syracuse lost miserably in this battle, so it’s now the turn of those city people to grieve!”
“Whether the city people cry or the port people cry, Syracuse’s defeat is not good for us.” Tethytes said faintly.
“Not true. With this loss, it’s time for Dionysius to stop the war and make peace with the Magna Graecians.” The fisherman said eagerly, “If there is no war, there will be no war tax!”
“I’m afraid that Dionysius would continue this war! Not only will he increase the tax, but…like you and me might get drafted as sailors.” A trace of worry finally appeared on Tethytes’ face.
“I will never die for Dionysius! He should end this war!” The fisherman shouted.
Mikalis didn’t have the time to listen to what they said as he walked back with heavy steps. He couldn’t feel happy that he escaped a disaster by not participating in the expedition. Rather, the news of “The Syracusan army’s defeat in Magna Graecia” weighed heavily on his mind as it reminded him of the great storm in Syracuse when the Carthaginian army reached the city a few years ago…
‘Fortunately, the war happened in Magna Graecia!…’ Then he began thinking about those tens of thousands of soldiers trapped in Magna. If they could not return, it would be difficult for the appointed officials of Dionysius to calm the populace!