Chapter 98: Ecclesia
Chapter 98: Ecclesia
“THURII AGAIN! Selfish Thurii! May the goddess of misfortune curse them!” Said Cornelius as he gnash his teeth.
Davos can guess the reason (Archytas told him) why a good man who had always been kind to others can hate like this, but he pretends to be curious, “Lord Cornelius, I seem to remember that Thurii and Amendolara were allies, but you seem to hate them very much.”
“The Thurians forced us to leave Amendolara temporarily to help them defend Thurii, otherwise they would not help Amendolara if the Lucanians besieged them. At that time, the Lucanians were invading the south and the north was safe, and so we had no choice but to carry a large amount of supplies and opened the city gate to prepare to move to Thurii….as a result, we were unprepared…the Lucanians had taken advantage of the situation and took a risk by drifting down from the river Sinni…over the past six months, we have suffered a lot…the temple was defiled, the women were assaulted, the children were starved to death, and the citizens were slaughtered…” At this point, Cornelius was in tears, “All of these came from the selfish decision of Thurii, whose own city is still intact! Every one of us, Amendolara, hates the Thurians more than the Lucanians!”
“Alas!…” Davos sighed, and doesn’t know what to say.
“I heard that your soldiers said that it was your own decision to take back Amendolara, and not the order of Thurii?” Asked Cornelius, while he wipe his tears.
“Yes.”
“That’s good. It means that we don’t owe Thurii anything! As long you will stay, we will pay twice the salary Thurii had offered to hire you.” Said Cornelius decisively.
Davos helplessly said, “Why? This is not necessary. We numbered 3,000, our food consumption and salary every month won’t be a small amount, neither is Amendolara a wealthy city-state. Moreover, even if we accept your employment, we will only be able to leave once our deadline with Thurii is over. We are people that have no home, and we need to constantly leave to accept employment and earn money to make a living…” On the contrary, his words reminded Cornelius, “No home…” He then blurted out, “Then stay.”
As soon as he uttered it, he seemed to have gotten encouraged and said it a loud, “Yes, all of you stay! Become a citizen of Amendolara!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previously, the square in Amendolara was used by the Lucanians as the location for their camp, and it is the only place in the city where the mercenaries met with a decent resistance last night. This afternoon, the square has been cleaned up, and only the remnants of blood on the marble floor revealed that there had been a battle.
In addition to the young children, the remaining people, including the women and minors have gathered in the square.
At this moment, standing on the central wooden platform of the square are the five renowned citizens of Amendolara, headed by Cornelius. Cornelius observed almost all the people in Amendolara, whether they are old and young, and most of them were women. A lot of them are still physically weak and even need the help of the mercenaries and the physicians. A year ago, there were 4,000 citizens of Amendolara (citizens of Greek city states can only be adult males), with a total population of more than 10,000. Now, there are only a few thousand of people, and they are mainly elderly, children and women, and are unable to successfully do the daily task of protecting the city, planting wheat and herding animals, which strengthened his resolved.
“Citizens, women, and children of Amendolara, I, Cornelius, a member of the council, have gathered you all here today because there is an important matter for us to decide together! More than 200 years ago, our ancestors left Sybaris to build a city here. And over the past 200 years, with the nourishment of the two rivers, and the protection of the mountain of Amendolara, we have a stable life with abundant supplies. Even when our mother state, Sybaris, was destroyed, our land was never affected by war. But…since last year, when our citizens followed the Thurians into the territory of the Lucanians, we…” Cornelius shed tears and many of the audience began to cry.
“My wife didn’t want to be assaulted by the Lucanians and so she committed suicide…and one of my children died of an illness…and you all have the same miserable experience as me…for 200 years, this is the only time Amendolara has encountered the flames of war, and this one has almost made Amendolara a thing of the past, just like our mother state, Sybaris. When we prayed for our salvation in the temple of Zeus day and night, did Zeus finally respond to our prayers and sent our saviors. They are the mercenaries from the Ionian region of Greece, our compatriots!” Cornelius then pointed to the rear of the crowd, and Davos, with his officers and some soldiers, as well as Archytas who stand as a witness, were standing there quietly waiting.
“They have defeated the ferocious Lucanians, and rescued us from our suffering, and took care of us! To be honest, I have met a lot of mercenaries before, but they are totally different, as they are just like our family!…” Cornelius’ words won the approval of many people, in particular were the emotional women.
“However, they are about to leave, and leave Magna Graecia!” As soon as he finished speaking, many people began to panic.
“If they leave, then what should we do? Who will ensure the safety of Amendolara? Thurii?” Cornelius paused, and there were a lot of swearing.
“NO! I would rather be killed by the Lucanians than get deceived by the Thurians!”
“The selfish Thurians are no longer allowed to set foot on the city of Amendolara ever again!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Taking advantage of the anger of the peole, Cornelius then said, “This time this bitter lesson had taught us that we can only rely on ourselves to defend our own homes! But Amendolara is very weak now, so what should we do?” Cornelius glanced at the people under the stage and asked this question, which caused them to think deeply.
“The archons of Amendolara are dead. As a member of the elders, I, Cornelius, have filed for an important proposal and applied for an ecclesia and vote to decide whether it will be passed. Because the number of citizen is small, and this concerns the interests of every one of us, so I specially ask all Amendolarans to vote.” Cornelius has just finished his speech, then the five other people on the stage expressed their support.
Most of the women under the stage were excited about their first vote in their lives, and naturally those who wants to oppose it couldn’t go against the flow.
“I have heard that Cornelius of Amendolara is a good man, but doesn’t care much on politics. I didn’t expect that he would make such an amazing move today!” Said Archytas to Davos, while feeling surprised and doubt. After all, it is unprecedented for women to vote for the city-state affairs. Perhaps it had only happened in ancient times. It was said that the reason why Athena could become the patron of Athens was because the women voting played a major role.
Davos laughed and said nothing. It is certainly his idea to allow the women to vote. Compared with men that valued interest, the women are more emotional and yearns for the protection of the strong. In the face of the mercenaries who saved them and have treated them kindly, their choice can be imagined.
“Since we all agree to this, then my proposal is -” Cornelius glanced at the distant Davos and said, “To accept our benefactor, all the mercenaries that have rescued Amendolara and to become a citizen of Amendolara. Then we will no longer have to worry about the safety of our city-state!”
There was an uproar in the crowd. After all, it isn’t easy for a freeman to become a citizen of a Greek city-state. Moreover, it’s very rare to accept more than 3,000 people to become citizens of a city-state at the same time. (after all, Greece is not Rome)
But after a commotion, a woman raised her right arm first, and shouted, “Agree!” Afterwards, the voice of “Agreement” rang out all over the square.