Chapter 699: Syracuses Past Ten Years (I)
Chapter 699: Syracuses Past Ten Years (I)
Hanno superficially agreed to send troops to Sicily, but he believed that with Theonia’s current military strength, Carthage’s strength alone wasn’t enough to guarantee a victory. Therefore, it was necessary to gather the army in the hands of the Iberian governor Mago, who had a large army. And since they often fought with the natives of Iberia, they had rich battle experience.
Since Hanno’s request is reasonable, many elders agreed with it. However, the Magonids elders, such as Pretasdrubal, adamantly opposed it and argued that: Although Mago had an army in Iberia, he used them to defend against the invasion of the Iberian natives. So if they were to transfer them, Carthage’s newly occupied lands in Iberia might again fall into the hands of the natives.
Hearing their reason, Hanno scoffed and mocked them loudly, saying, “Does Mago still need to defend himself against the Iberian natives?! I’ve long heard that the Iberian chieftains would often visit him in Sexi and even scold them as if they were his slaves. And I know that instead of coming to Carthage more often, the officials of Malaga and Gadir would go to Sexi to see Mago more! And even though our colony in Iberia was now stable, the military expenses Mago applied to the Senate increased yearly, and his army grew more and more. That made me wonder who he is defending against?! Shouldn’t he use this army, supported by Carthage’s money, to serve Carthage?! If he doesn’t agree, does he have something else in mind?!!”
Hanno’s words made it difficult for Pretasdrubal to refute them, while the many elders who accepted Mago’s bribe couldn’t speak for him now. On the other hand, Hanno’s proposal received the support of the neutral elders.
In the end, Hanno harshly said, “If Mago doesn’t send his troops, Carthage won’t send troops to Sicily!”
Thus the meeting concluded in disagreement.
Soon after, rumours began to spread in Carthage that Hanno was so afraid of Theonia that he dared not send an army to war. And he was even determined to break their agreement with Rome, Carthage’s close ally!
However, another rumour was more widespread: Mago refused to send the troops he had recruited with the Carthaginian Citizens’ tax to fight against Theonia because he wanted to be King of Iberia!
This rumour caused a great uproar in the city of Carthage, and many people gathered outside the Senate to protest, denouncing Mago as a traitor. Then they urged the senate to revoke his position as Iberia’s governor and transfer him back to Carthage for a trial.
Mago and the others became somewhat depressed once the news spread to the south of Iberia.
They were well aware that this was the downside of not being in the centre of power, Carthage, which made it difficult for them to control the situation. And although the Magonids had become powerful in Iberia, they would become a tree without roots as soon as they separated from Carthage.
Naturally, they didn’t want the Carthaginians to abandon them, so Hanno’s action could be said to have struck at their weakness.
So after a discussion with Haka, Mago finally made a decision.
A few days later, Pretasdrubal said this at the meeting, “Esteemed Elders, as a citizen of Carthage, the Iberian governor, Mago, would certainly like to send his troops to fight. However, he hopes to serve as the commander of the attack on Sicily!”
And with Mago’s identity and military credentials, no one among the Carthaginian citizens dared compete with him for the position of supreme commander of the expedition. But Hanno wouldn’t let him, so he has Palteshmoun object, “The many fierce races in Iberia have made the situation there complex. So I fear that once Lord Mago leaves, it will lead to instability in our newly occupied lands in Iberia, especially as the new governor will be unfamiliar with the situation, resulting in wasted years of work. For this reason, it will be better for Lord Mago to stay in Iberia and send in the army.”
Pretasdrubal immediately retorted, “Fellow elders, you should all be aware of the complexity of the Iberian army, as most of them are foreign mercenaries. So if an outsider were to take command, I fear they wouldn’t follow him and would just cause confusion instead of achieving combat effectiveness. If the Senate is really worried about the security of our new territories in Iberia, I would recommend Hasdrubal, son of Himilco, to be the expedition commander!”
‘Hasdrubal replacing Mago would still achieve the same result! Mago, you have truly thought of a wonderful plan!’ Hanno sneered inwardly.
Then the Hanno faction elders all expressed their opposition, with Eshmounadon exclaiming, “It’s dangerous for an army supported by Carthage’s taxes to disregard Carthage’s orders and follow the orders of a single person! Do we dare hand over the command of the army to such a person and put Carthage in possible danger?!…”
Eshmounadon’s words were harsh, but they expressed the fear of many of the elders. The elders were already worried because, in addition to returning to Carthage a few times a year since the Magonids had gone to Iberia, they also had a large number of troops made up almost entirely of non-Carthaginian citizens. So it was clear that handing over the army’s command to the Magonids was not what the elders wanted to see.
And on this issue, Hanno and the leader of the neutral faction, Adrusbal, are in agreement.
In the end, they adopted a resolution supported by the majority of the Elders as follows: The military commander in Numidia, Milkpilles, will lead the expedition to Sicily. On the other hand, Mago wouldn’t go to war, but Iberia still had to send at least twenty thousand men.
This decision contradicted the outcome Mago and the others wanted and severely damaged their interests. When Mago received the news, he delayed the implementation of the resolution and sent envoys to Carthage with a large sum of money to lobby the elders.
As a result, the dispute between the two sides delayed the deployment of troops to Sicily.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
While the Carthaginian Senate argued over the expedition, the Council of Syracuse was also embroiled in a fierce debate.
More than a decade ago, Syracuse was the largest Greek city-state in Sicily. In fact, it was the most powerful city-state in the entire Greek world. Under the rule of the tyrant Dionysius, the Syracusans defeated the mighty Carthage, conquered most of Sicily and became the overlord of the island. In an attempt to expand his territory, Dionysius even led nearly a hundred thousand troops north to attack Magna Graecia across the sea.
But after six months of warring with the then-rising Theonia Union, the obviously superior Syracuse eventually suffered a crushing defeat in both naval and land battles. Consequently, the Theonian troops even attacked Sicily, leading to a rebellion in Syracuse that overthrew the rule of Dionysius and the eventual murder of Dionysius and his family by Sparta’s treachery.
The Syracusans, liberated from Dionysius’ dictatorship, decided not to repeat the same mistakes. So they entrusted Herolis, who played a leading role in overthrowing Dionysius, in forming a new democratic government.
Unfortunately, Herolis had other ideas. Having held important positions in the city-state during Dionysius’ reign and having studied Theonia’s political system carefully, he opposed Dionysius’ excessive cruelty and oppression of the people. However, that doesn’t mean he fully approved of the democratic system. On the contrary, he believed democracy was too free and lax, inefficient and prone to chaos. Especially as Syracuse had just suffered a disastrous defeat and urgently needed to regain its strength, making it more important to centralise the authority to quickly decide various decisions that would benefit the development of the city-state.
Hence he delayed the formation of a new government and instead used his position as the wartime leader to frequently issue resolutions, which he often decided alone without consulting others. Naturally, it received people’s criticism.
During this period, two events caused his popularity to plummet.
The first was when Theagenes returned to Syracuse with a few ships and soldiers after Dionysius’ rule was overthrown. Theagenes, an important democrat in Syracuse, was arrested and threatened with execution for his opposition to the rule of Dionysius but escaped with the help of his friends and fled to Sicily.
The populace gave him a warm welcome for his previous heroic deeds of defying Dionysius. They then elected him as a strategos in the ecclesia, hoping he would join Syracuse’s Wartime Council and check the growing power of Herolis.
But Herolis vetoed the election results of the ecclesia, insisting that any decision required his approval. Naturally, the people were furious with him about this.
But since Herolis passed a resolution to distribute the fertile land that Dionysius had given to the mercenaries to the freemen of the port and to grant them citizenship, he had the full support of the people and freemen of the port.
In addition, the members of the War Council, such as Phalekus, Steisikus…and others, were friends and supporters of Herolis, so it seemed as if his authority was unshakable.
But the second event was that although Theonia agreed to release the captured soldiers and sailors of Syracuse, Davos attached conditions, demanding that Syracuse pay war reparations to make up for the damage the Syracusan army had done to Magna Graecia, as well as a ransom for those captives.