Chapter 41 The Secret Hidden in the Legend

"The information that follows will be interesting." Davos showed a mocking smile: "Decades ago, Dorius of the Spartan royal family (remember him, the famous king of Sparta Khloe) Omenes' elder brother, after failing to compete with his younger brother for the throne, was expelled from Sparta by Cleomenes on the grounds that he sent him to colonize the Western Mediterranean) and brought his clan to Sicily, claiming that he was On the grounds of the direct descendants of Hercules, he demanded that the Eryxians return the land, but the Eryxians refused, so he led his troops to drive away the natives and established a colonial city near Eryx. At that time, Eryx had begun to become the religious center of the Carthaginians in Sicily. Of course, the Carthaginians would not allow aliens to occupy their core areas, so they led an army to counterattack. Most of them died."

"This is from Herodotus' "History", and it should be a fact. Ancitanos is quite familiar with these historical events that happened in the Western Mediterranean.

"Look at this again, it's the unfortunate Spartan prince Dorios, who should have tried to move westward from Cyrenaica to the Libyan coast within the sphere of influence of Carthage before he went to Sicily. Build a colonial city on the grounds that Hercules killed the giant Antaeus in Africa, but was expelled by the Carthaginians... There are some things like this in this book. Lord Ancitanos , as a historian, if you put aside your Greek identity and analyze this material from a neutral standpoint, you may be able to find the problem." Davos reminded softly.

"Aside from being a Greek, stand on a neutral position..." Ancitanos whispered, as if he had realized something. He took the book and started reading again. Gradually, his eyes lit up: "I understand! I understand! These activities of Hercules in the Western Mediterranean provide us Greeks with the opportunity to develop colonies in the Western Mediterranean. Rationalized proof!  …”

Davos smiled: "It should be said that in a distant era, Hercules was the first hero among us Greeks to open up the Western Mediterranean. To synthesize all the stories about him, take a look at his itinerary in the Western Mediterranean. , many routes are repeated, even unreasonable, and unnecessary. It can be seen that some stories have actually happened (Davos certainly cannot deny the existence of Hercules, because that is equivalent to denying his identity as a God-Blessed One) , and some may be made up by later Greeks, so as to provide moral support for them to invade other people's land and establish colonial cities..." Davos pointed to the material and said: "So the former Kumai people even The pig skin of the huge wild boar killed by Hercules was invited from the Peloponnese to Italy at all distances, and it was solemnly stored in the Temple of Apollo in Kumai to prove to the indigenous people that Kumai The legitimacy of the land occupied by man... And there are actually several theories about the place where Hercules and the giants fought, one of which happened in Greater Greece, and the Hercules many times in the Carthaginians There are legends left on the land under their control, and I can only say that the Greeks who were eager to find a new home in the Western Mediterranean were very daring to attack the Carthaginians..."

At this moment, Ancitalos was immersed in joy: "My lord, thank you for your awakening! I finally realized what Thucydides said, 'Standing on a neutral position, writing the truth with an impartial attitude That wonderful feeling of history'!"

"You should be able to do better than him! Once you get rid of the barriers between countries and races, you will look at history from a higher position, and I believe you will write a great work!"

Davos's encouragement made Ancitaros a little embarrassed: "My lord, I feel that there is still a gap between myself and Thucydides."

Davos did not continue discussing this issue with him, but on another issue: "Before you came, Kunogolata came, and he told me that the messenger of Athens came and visited him …”

"The messenger of Athens has come to Turii?" Ancitanos was a little surprised,

Then he thought of something and asked, "Are they looking for allies for this anti-Spartan alliance?"

"It should be." Davos said, "Kunogolata also mentioned that there is a person you are familiar with in the embassy in Athens."

"Who?" Ancitanos thought.

"Lysias." Davos looked at him and said slowly: "Kunogolata told me that he is a very talented person, but because he is not an Athenian citizen, his life in Athens is not very good. , I hope I can try my best to keep him, what do you think?"

"Stay! Of course I want to keep him!" Ancitanos said excitedly: "I had frequent contacts with him when I was young, and I knew that he was extremely gifted in prose rhetoric and speech! His articles read It is natural and not boring, although simple but not lacking in interest, it is very easy to arouse the public's resonance. I still treasure three articles written by him when he was young, and I often use them to try to figure out the writing skills and rhetorical techniques... If he can stay, I suggest that he be the dean of the Faculty of Letters, which is the best place for his talents."

Hearing this, Davos greatly praised Ancitanos in his heart. He did not have the slightest jealousy or slander of Lysias' talent, but praised him without reservation and from the bottom of his heart, and even took the initiative to let the wise man , This kind of humility and real scholar realm made Davos awe-inspiring, and he felt ashamed for his subtle temptation just now. He coughed lightly and said, "... uh... this task of retaining Lysias. I'll leave it to you. I can make a promise here, as long as he will stay, I will immediately propose to the Senate, for him to come to the citizenship of Dionia, get the land and become the Dionysian College Dean of the Faculty of Arts."

"I will do my best to keep him here!" Ancitanos also promised without hesitation.

"If the Dionysian Alliance wants to become the center of the Western Mediterranean, it is not enough to have a strong military force. It also needs a brilliant culture to make those races who have just broken away from ignorance admire and make other city-states worship!" Davos Set the tone for this retention.

"Sir, you are right! Only a city-state with a splendid civilization can go through the years without being forgotten!" Ancitanos, who is familiar with history, sincerely praised.

"In addition, the messenger of Athens this time is called Isocrates, are you familiar with it?" Davos asked again.

"Isocrates?! He was a student of the Athenian sage Protagoras." Ancitanos exclaimed: "Of course I know him, he is a rhetorical genius no less than Lysias, and he is not only in the He has deep attainments in rhetoric and speech, and also has a lot of experience in teaching students. Many young people from the city-state came to Athens to worship him as a teacher. What is going on today?! Two scholars of Greek literature and language came at the same time Turii!" Ancitanos looked excited.

"Can that be given to him—" Davos asked hurriedly.

"That's impossible!" Ancitanos shook his head and said, "Isocrates was a citizen of Athens, and it is said that he often preached in his speeches to young people that the Greeks, especially the Athenians, were superior to other races. , so it is almost impossible for him to stay in our alliance of various ethnic fusions..."

Davos sighed regretfully. Although he did not have a detailed understanding of Greek history in his previous life, he was familiar with the names of two ancient Athenian orators, Lysias and Isocrates. Who asked him to read them? It is the University of Political Science and Law. In the course of "Western Legal History", when it comes to ancient times, the names of these two people cannot be bypassed.

You can get one of the two. He thought expectantly.

…………………………

The next day, Isocrates, who had learned the general attitude of the Dionysian Senate from Lysias, still had great enthusiasm, made careful preparations, and came to the Dionysian Senate—this It is a grand venue that can accommodate thousands of people.

But there are only less than a hundred elders sitting leisurely here, so it looks very empty.

If he saw this situation before he got to know the Dionian Alliance seriously, Isocrates would probably laugh at the wastefulness and blind vanity of the Dionians.

But I stayed in the city of Turii for more than a day, watched the ball game, tasted the delicacies of Turii, worshipped the Temple of Hades, and visited Dio with Lycias under the leadership of Ancitanos Nia Academy even pretended to be ordinary people, mixed into the tavern, and chatted with the people of Dionia... He already had some understanding of the Dionia Alliance, and he knew the composition of the members of the Senate, so when he saw When the largeness of the venue and the small number of elders were so clear, he did not feel amused, but felt a chill in his heart, because he seemed to realize Dionia's ambition.

He quickly pressed the irritating thought to the bottom of his mind so that he could concentrate on the next speech.

At this time, he felt someone watching him, very penetrating, and when he followed his gaze, he saw a young man sitting in the front row facing the center, turning his head to look at him, and giving him a gentle smile .

Isocrates also smiled in return, and he knew in his heart: this young man is the founder of the Dionysian Alliance - Archon Davos, there are too many rumors about him in the streets of Turii, what Hades? Descendants of his descendants, famous generals who have never been defeated, doctors who can bring the dead back to life, incomparably smart wise men, great inventors... When you really see yourself, except for the citizen who is far beyond his age, other people have nothing to do with ordinary people. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine that he proposed and planned to build this grand and grand meeting hall.