Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

“She…she kicked again!” Cried Cheiristoya with a happy smile

Azune hurried out of the garden, wiped the dust from her hands on her dress, and joined Cynthia in helping Cheiristoya to sit down.

After the three had their fun, Cheiristoya felt a bit hungry, “Cynthia, your brother has returned and is playing with little Kro upstairs. Go and tell them to come down and get ready for dinner.”

The “brother” that Cheiristoya referred to is Cynthia's biological brother, Adoris, who is now eight years old and is also studying at the Akademia in Thurii.

After giving an “Oh” sound, Cynthia got up to go upstairs, but she suddenly noticed a plate of black stuff on the wooden table beside her. She then curiously asked, “What is this?”

“This is from your aunt Andrea. According to her, this dried beef meat was salted and smoked. Your father was the one that suggested it and was sent from Grumentum to let us have a taste first.” Said Cheiristoya.

Cynthia then grabbed a small piece and took a bite, “It's a bit hard.”

She chewed it hard for a while, swallowed it, then said, “After chewing it for long, the taste is not bad. It is just a bit salty and is suitable as a snack.”

“Your father planned to use this dried meat as a part of the soldiers' rations.” Cynthia's casual remark brightened Cheiristoya because she only cared about how it tastes. As for the use of too much salt, she didn't care much about it because the production of sea salt has greatly increased since the time Davos had the people of the Akademia come up with a way to improve the salt drying method, causing the price of salt to become extremely cheap.

Cynthia then shoved a whole piece of dried meat into her mouth then detour past the garden.

On the other side of the garden is a small altar with a stone statue of Artemis holding a bow in her hand and smiling. The statue is just a person tall, but the carving is lifelike. After the pearl of Rhegium, Agnes, married to Davos, she could not forget the time she served as the priestess of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, even though Davos made her the chief priestess of the Temple of Hera. So, with her husband’s consent, she built a small altar for Artemis in the backyard. Unknowingly, Cynthia had become a devotee of the goddess. It might be because the Greeks regard Artemis as the goddess of the moon, and the night is her world, and the name “Cynthia” originally means the moon, which naturally has a sense of closeness. And so, Cynthia prayed devoutly to Artemis before entering the main dwelling.

Seeing Cynthia entering the house, Azune hesitated and said to Cheiristoya, “Madam, are we not going to wait for lady Agnes to come back for dinner?”

Cheiristoya smiled and said, “She is preparing for tomorrow's Marriage’s Day. And she will probably be busy in the temple until late at night, so we don't have to wait for her. And with her nature, she will not care much about this.”

“What about master?”

“There is no need to wait. The Senate has been holding a meeting these two days that I don't even know when it will end. We could only blame those nobles and merchants who are causing trouble in the square…and that damned Pollux!” At the mention of this matter, Cheiristoya became a bit irritated.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Esteemed statesmen, not only in Thurii but also Krimisa, Pyxous, Amendolara and the other cities have many people coming to protest in the square. Please open the door and listen to them – listen to their shout, ‘resume the ecclesia!’”

Pollux' passionate speech was immediately interrupted by Antonios, “As far as I know, there are only a few people protesting in Thurii and Krimisa, and not the ‘majority’ as what you said! Besides, there is no such thing happening in Amendolara and Pyxous!”

“Yes, as an Amendolaran, I can confirm the words of Antonios' are facts!” Said Scambras.

Pollux already expected this, so he sneered and said, “Just because they did not speak does not mean that no one has objections. The citizens are just hiding their dissatisfaction in their hearts and dare not vent it. It's funny to think that their request is so simple and not excessive, yet we have to be so nervous? You all should know that as long as a city-state is established by the Greeks, there will always be an ecclesia! Even if we go back in time to the era of monarchy hundreds of years ago where there were kings, the ecclesia still existed! Only those city-states that are under the rule of tyrants, who are afraid of the masses and thus suppress them, dare not have an ecclesia, such as Syracuse.”

Pollux then turned to look at the seated Davos, and with courage, he asked, “Milord archon, is our union ruled by a tyrant?!”

This sentence shocked all those present.

Davos remained calm as if he had no idea that Pollux was targeting him, “Of course not. Theone Union is under the joint management of the statesmen of the Senate.”

“Then is there a provision in the Theonian law that prohibits ecclesia?!” Pollux became bolder and continued to ask questions.

“There is naturally no such thing.” Davos still replied calmly.

“In that case, it's reasonable for the people to ask for an ecclesia! Therefore, I hope the Senate will consider this matter carefully and don't let the citizens down!” Pollux saw that Davos fell into the trap he laid. Thus he took the opportunity to speak out.

“Lord Pollux. it is not that easy to hold an ecclesia.” Kunogelata stood up and said, “The situation of Theonia Union is vastly different from that of other Greek city-states as our citizens are not concentrated in one city-state, but are all over the union, which would take us time and energy just to gather them alone! Besides, the citizens of Theonia are not only Greeks but also Lucanians and Bruttians, who doesn't know what an ecclesia is, and have never participated in one. So rashly holding an ecclesia would not only make them at a loss but also make the ecclesia chaotic and become a joke to our neighbours…”

Kunogelata recounted the difficulties of convening an ecclesia in Theonia. In fact, he has his own selfish idea. As one of the powers of the Senate, he doesn't want the resumption of the ecclesia as he was already tired of having to curry favour with the citizens and attack his political enemies in order to be elected in Thurii…and so on. Suppose he ends up making even the slightest mistake after being elected. In that case, there is a risk that his political enemies would incite the citizens to force them to step down, which is far less practical than now as they only needed to take care of the Union and…Davos.

And there are actually a lot who have the same ideas as him, such as Cornelius, Scambras, and some statesmen that are always responsible for the important affairs of the union.

“Lord Kunogelata is right! We Bruttians don't care about any ecclesia. We are already satisfied as long as we have food, women to sleep, and wine to drink!” Sedrum said aloud, pretending to be indifferent, “We Bruttians would gladly obey those who are more capable and have bigger fist!”

“It's the same with us, Lucanians. The ecclesia is too troublesome for us to even be interested in it!” Hemon immediately added.

The opposition of the Lucanians and the Bruttians, the two other major forces in the Senate, made Pollux’ expression unsightly. Still, he does not intend to give up and continues, “Just because it's difficult to hold an ecclesia, we have to give up? Is this the way we Theonians do things?! For example, building the Thurii-Laos road over the tall mountains is very difficult, but in the end, we still manage to build it after several years of hard work!

Our citizens have been looking forward to the resumption of the ecclesia for a long time. If during the time when Theonia was first established and is facing the threat of survival, it is understandable that we needed to temporarily suspend the ecclesia that consumed a lot of time and energy in order to unify our people and focus on defeating the enemy. But now that Theonia is stable and prosperous, and the people becoming more wealthy and laid-back, as a Greek, who has always had a strong tradition of participating in the politics of the city-state, the Theonian citizens' demand of convening the ecclesia will only become more and more intense as time goes by! As the most distinguished representatives of the citizens of Theonia, I hope that you can deeply realise this and make the right choice in time, and not wait until the citizens' discontent has reached a dangerous level before making a hasty decision, which is not good for the Senate and Theonia!”

Pollux' words, which are both emotional and threatening, made many turn pale.

While Davos just looked at Pollux as if thinking of something.

“Now, it's up to everyone to vote on whether or not to pass this bill of the resumption of the ecclesia!” The rotating chairperson, Cornelius, announced loudly.

As usual, the statesmen serving in the legion expressed their opposition, and so did the statesmen, who are Lucanians and Bruttians. Even most of the powerful among the statesmen also disagreed, while most of the statesmen, who were mostly from Thurii, that supported Pollux were not reappointed. But among those in favour, Davos saw Burkes, Petaru, and even the navarch of the Theonian navy, Enanilus.

Davos narrowed his eyes, and a faint gleam of coldness flashed through his eyes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When they came out of the Senate Hall, it was already late. On a spring night, it was still cold, but the chiton that Pollux was wearing was drenched with cold sweat from his questioning of Davos.

Although his proposal was rejected again, Pollux became more confident from seeing an increase of people supporting him.

‘Davos could not even do anything. So next time…’ Pollux excitedly thought, his footsteps becoming stronger, and he spoke more loudly with the statesmen who were travelling with him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“I don't know why this timid guy suddenly became more and more rampant!” Marigi stood on the steps outside the Senate Hall and looked indignantly at the laughing Pollux in the distance. He then said to Davos with some worry, “Milord, you can't let him continue to be arrogant!”