Phidias' words, filled with threats, immediately making everyone tense.
Steisikus asked cautiously, “What is your proposal?”
“Stop your confrontation with Dionysius and sit down together and negotiate! Of course, Dionysius was too dictatorial, which made everyone in Syracuse dissatisfied, so I suggest that Dionysius should remove the position of supreme commander and re-implement the ‘Twenty Strategoi System*’. For the time being during the war, he will be the polemarchos to avoid greater war losses due to the changing of commander in the middle of the war.” (Syracuse has too many people and thus needs more strategoi to run the city-state's matter. When Syracuse was running a democracy, they practised this system half the time.)
Phidias' proposal silenced the strategoi.
But Heloris asked loudly, “Is this your proposal or Dionysius?!”
“It's the result of my negotiation with him.” Phidias lied without blinking an eye.
Heloris then cautioned the others, “As his friend for more than ten years… Knowing him as I do, even if he agreed to these proposals of the Spartan envoy because of the current situation, who knows whether he will return to his authoritarian rule after the crisis is over and execute us who resist him today! We must not forget the painful lesson we learned five years ago!”
At that reminder, everyone's expression suddenly changed: Four years ago, after Dionysius defeated the Carthaginian army, he immediately arrested all the rebels’ leaders on the charge of ‘treason’ and executed them without trial. He also confiscated their properties and captured the family members, turning them into slaves…these atrocities frightened the Syracusans that they no longer dared to object to Dionysius' actions. Thus for the next few years, everyone was obedient. So if Dionysius hadn't led his army to a crushing defeat and left the city defenceless, and with Heloris and the others leading the way, how would the people dare rise again against Dionysius?!
At the uncovering of this painful memory, the expressions of all the strategoi showed fear and anger.
Phidias naturally doesn't know this, but he pretends to solemnly say, “I can pledge an oath in the name of Heracles and promise you-”
“Damn your Heracles! Screw your pledge!” Someone in the crowd cursed angrily. He rushed up near Phidias, pointed his finger at him and shouted angrily through his gritted teeth, “So it's you! It's you! If it weren't for your promises, my brother and the others wouldn't have spared Dionysius, which resulted in their beheading, my sister-in-law becoming a slave and sent to who knows where, while his two children were stabbed to death by those wicked mercenaries and my parents-”
Kias became angrier and angrier as he spoke. He stretched out his hands, wanting to grab Phidias' clothes but was pushed by Phidias instead, causing Kias to fall to the ground.
He tried to lunge at him again but was stopped by Steisikus, Tethytes and the others. So he could only curse angrily, “Damned Spartan! You have killed my family, one day…one day, the goddess of vengeance will punish Sparta! And I hope I live to see the day when Sparta falls, and all the Spartans become slaves!”
Originally, Phidias didn't care about Kias as he killed too many people in his life and would have long collapsed if he cared about all these things. However, Kias' final curse was too vicious that it angered him, “Is this your attitude towards Sparta?!”
“Envoy Phidias.” Heloris looked at him gently as he tried to persuade him, “Kias' family was originally the earliest settlers of Syracuse and enjoyed a high reputation among the people. However, Dionysius killed his entire family and detained him in a stone prison where he might have died quietly if not for the success of this revolt…so I hope you can understand his anger! And you can also see how Dionysius could easily tear up the oath he made in front of everyone four years ago and torment the people. Even though his words were sweet as honey to the people, the blood of their dead relatives sharpened them, and they will no longer believe in any of his promises! Thus Dionysius’ fate would either be imprisoned and tried by us or flee Syracuse and never return! He has no other choice!!!”
“As long as we catch him, we will try him on the crime of treason, including his family, just as he did to us!” Kias said, gnashing his teeth.
“That's right; we don't accept peace. Dionysius and his men must be tried!” Philoxenus also spoke out his views, and the other strategoi agreed.
Phidias looked at the excited strategoi in front of him with a gloomy expression as he coldly said, “In that case, you will face Sparta-”
“Envoy Phidias!” Heloris interrupted him in time just as he was about to utter his threat, “You had followed Dionysius in his battles in Magna Graecia; hence you are not yet aware of the recent war situation of Sparta in the Peloponnese. The Athenians and the Corinthians have joined forces and caused heavy losses to your Spartan League. In addition, the Athenians had even invaded Arcadia, and your king Agesilaus was reported to return to Sparta to raise a new army to defend against the anti-Spartan League…”
Besides Sparta and Syracuse having close military contacts, Sparta also had to rely on Syracuse for trade, such as food. Moreover, Sparta often relied on Syracuse's merchant ships throughout the Mediterranean to collect information for them, such as when the merchants trading in Asia Minor told Sparta in advance about the Persians handing over their fleet to the Athenian navarch Colon and attacking the Spartan fleet. Likewise, what happened in Sparta was often reported back to Syracuse in time by these merchants, which is why Heloris was better informed about the Peloponnesian war.
Phidias was shocked that he could hardly keep his calm and arrogant face, “What you said is true?!”
“The distance between Syracuse to Sparta isn’t that far, and it would only take two days to go there by a fast-sailing boat. And once you are there, you will know whether it is true or not! We could also provide you with a ship.” Philoxenus' words sounded gloatingly.
Heloris hurriedly added, “Envoy Phidias, Syracuse and Sparta have always been allies and should have helped each other. But ever since Dionysius became a tyrant, Sparta often provided more help due to his selfish desires, while Syracuse provided less help to you… Now that we have the advantage over Dionysius, if Sparta continues to support Dionysius, I am afraid Syracuse’s situation would take a long time to stabilise. But if Sparta chose to support us, we would be able to quickly restore Syracuse's stability and prosperity, allowing us to continue maintaining the agreement and always provide assistance to Sparta!”
Phidias became tempted at Heloris' last sentence, which was sincere and eloquent. He then looked at Heloris for a while and asked in a hesitant tone, “What you said…the truth?”
After Heloris and the other strategoi around him looked at each other, they faced him and solemnly said, “This is what we decided after our deliberation. We can even renew our treaty with Sparta!”
Phidias looked at the crowd, and the coldness in his eyes quickly disappeared.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dionysius was looking forward to the return of Phidias on the island of Ortygia, but what he received was bad news, “The rebels refused to negotiate and must expel him out of Syracuse”. Although that was one of the worsts results Dionysius' had thought of, he still couldn't help but get angry.
He wanted to continue learning about Syracuse's situation and the rebel leaders from Phidias. However, Phidias wasn’t in the mood as he immediately asked Dionysius to send him back to Sparta on a fast-sailing boat.
Dionysius, who now needed to rely more on Sparta as an ally, could not refuse. However, he could feel a crisis from Phidias' sudden change of attitude. And as someone who knows how to manipulate people for his needs, he certainly knows that Syracuse's situation at this time is very unfavourable to his side, so he can't help but doubt, ‘Would this arrogant Spartan abandon me and choose the rebels?’
When he thought of this, he could no longer sit still. Sparta was now deep in the war, so they could not necessarily be able to send an army to support him. However, Sparta's prestige could still help him deter those bastards, stabilise the city's situation faster and dispel the thoughts of the other city-states, but if Sparta abandoned him, he, who was already isolated and helpless, would be pushed into the abyss…
Thus as someone cornered in a desperate situation, Dionysius did not talk with his two wives and children about their partings in detail but shut himself in the palace alone as he thought hard about ways to get rid of his predicament. Soon, he called the mercenary leader Megakorlis and the chief of intelligence Hipparinus to discuss in secret.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Late at night, while the people in the main city of Syracuse fell asleep and the watchers on the newly-built city wall on the isthmus relaxed their vigilance because the island of Ortygia remained calm for many days as they couldn't resist sleepiness and fell asleep.
Dionysius himself quietly led all the mercenaries out of Ortygia.
After Heloris gathered the people to build a wall, they had no time to dig trenches and set obstacles and traps on the road, so the mercenaries managed to reach the bottom of the wall quietly. Thus by the time the watchers noticed the enemy invasion, the mercenaries had already climbed up the wall with their siege ladders, quickly killed a few watchers and occupied the wall.
