Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1125: A Greece Eager for Peace

But the Ministry of Military Affairs had long studied Gallic tactics, and Leotychides and Patroclus had run specific drills to counter them. First, the legions' light infantry charged out ahead of the main line, launching a ranged volley at the chariot horses. The heavy infantry phalanx then quickly shifted into a checkerboard formation, widening the gaps between detachments to leave clear lanes for the surviving Gallic chariots. Even when the chariots plunged into the ranks, they failed to disrupt the overall formation and were swiftly wiped out.

Instead, the charging Gallic warriors met a concentrated volley of javelins from the Daonian Heavy Infantry, suffering heavy casualties.

In close-quarters combat, the Gallic warriors swung their greatswords fiercely, but they faced the elite soldiers of Daionia's First, Second, and Third Legions. The Fourteenth Legion and Twelfth Legion, having defeated Gallic invaders several times in Etruria, were just as fearless. The entire front line stood immovable. Meanwhile, more soldiers swiftly attacked the Gauls' flanks, gradually encircling them...

Sustained by the belief that they were defending their homeland, the Gauls fought bitterly for over two hours before finally breaking...

The Daionian Army seized the opportunity to slaughter the routing enemy, with the two cavalry legions in relentless pursuit.

The Gauls fled in a total rout, leaving behind countless dead, wounded, and captured.

Following this, the Daionian Army swept forward with crushing momentum, occupying the entirety of Cisalpine Gaul in just over two months.

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It was now the twenty-first year of the kingdom (373 BC). The Sacred Kingdom of Daunia's conquest of Gaul shocked the entirety of northern Italy. The Veneti, Umbrians, and even some Ligurians proactively sent envoys to request alliances or offer goodwill to Daionia. The allied states in central and northern Italy grew even more determined to follow the Kingdom of Daunia. Seeing the Roman soldiers of the Fourteenth Legion acquire massive tracts of land after the war, many Latin allies clamored for their city-states to be absorbed into the Kingdom of Daunia so they could enjoy the same benefits.

The naval expedition to Corcyra was the first campaign commanded by the renowned Athenian general Iphicrates following his return from fighting for the Persian king in Egypt. The battle went seamlessly, and the Spartan army stationed on Corcyra Island was utterly routed. Soon, however, Iphicrates ran into a severe lack of military funding. To keep his men from starving, he was forced to have them work the fields of the Corcyrans.

At the same time, Iphicrates had to seek help from his close friend serving in the same army: the Athenian chief general Callistratus.

Callistratus realized that dragging the war on in this state would be fraught with difficulties. He decided to return to Athens to persuade the citizens: either provide regular funding for the fleet, or make peace.

Yet upon returning to Athens, he found the citizens' energy entirely consumed by a single event: the trial of Timotheus.

Blaming Timotheus for the previous fall of Corcyra, and fueled by accusations of corruption and dereliction of duty during his expedition, the excited Athenian citizens immediately threw him on trial. They completely forgot that it was Timotheus who first led the army to recapture Corcyra Island and brought the Corcyrans into the Athenian Alliance. They also ignored the fact that Athens had provided very little funding during that campaign, leaving Timotheus to raise most of it himself.

The trial dragged on for months without a verdict, largely because Timotheus enjoyed a stellar reputation across the Greek Mainland. He commanded a level of powerful support ordinary men could never hope to attain; even Jason, the tyrant of Thessaly, and Alcetas, the monarch of Epirus, traveled to Athens in person to testify to his innocence.

It was precisely through Timotheus's tireless efforts that these two monarchs had temporarily joined the Athenian Alliance, and through them that Timotheus had secured the loans for the Corcyran expedition. Between out-of-pocket campaign costs and the staggering legal fees of a prolonged trial, Timotheus was nearly bankrupt. Now, in order to host his two noble guests with the food and lodgings their status demanded, he was forced to request help from his wealthy neighbor, the banker Pasion.

When the trial finally concluded, Timotheus was acquitted. This was not due to the backing of Jason and Alcetas—the Athenian citizens actually looked down on these powerful figures from Northern Greece, viewing them as barbarians. The true reason for his acquittal was Callistratus informing them that Corcyra had been retaken.

Although Timotheus regained his freedom, the financial officer of his former army was placed on trial for corruption and dereliction of duty, ultimately receiving a death sentence.

The Athenians no longer trusted Timotheus, and he in turn felt completely disillusioned with Athens. Possessing brilliant command talents—especially in naval warfare—the Athenian soon left his homeland to serve Persia instead.

Following consecutive defeats at Corcyra, the Spartans' disappointment deepened by the day. Their land offensive against Thebes continued to stall without any progress. To make matters worse, several earthquakes struck the coastal areas of the Peloponnese that year. In a panic, the Spartans hastily dispatched envoys to Delphi to seek an oracle.

The priests of Delphi had long grown sick of the endless wars, as the fires of conflict had already spread into Phocis (the region where Delphi was located). Thus, they instructed Pythia to deliver the oracle: this was Poseidon's wrath at Sparta's ceaseless warmongering.

And so, Sparta finally decided to seek true peace.

They hoped to bring peace to Greece through the mediation of the Persian king, just as they had during the Corinthian War. Although the Kingdom of Daunia was not far from Sparta and possessed ample strength to act as a mediator, the Spartans, out of a peculiar sense of pride, never even considered them. Instead, they dispatched their envoys to the Persian court.

Coincidentally, the Athenians harbored the exact same plan. The protracted war had turned military expenditures into a crushing burden, to the point where they were at risk of cutting the citizens' theater allowances.

Another crucial factor was that Thebes had not weakened during the war. On the contrary, propped up by Athenian aid, Thebes had grown increasingly powerful. Not only had they consolidated control over more than half of the Boeotian city-states, but they were also gradually gaining the upper hand against the Spartan Coalition. This display of strength began to terrify the Athenians; after all, prior to the Corinthian War, Athens and Thebes had been mortal enemies for decades.

Especially this year, when Thebes launched a surprise attack on Plataea in southeastern Boeotia.

Plataea was a disaster-ridden, mountainous little state. Having steadfastly supported Athens during the Peloponnesian War, it had been besieged and ultimately destroyed by the Spartan Coalition. At the outbreak of the current conflict, Sparta had allowed Plataean exiles to return and rebuild their homeland, aiming to keep Thebes in check. Plataea occupied a critical strategic location: it sat right on the vital land route for any Spartan coalition force marching through the Isthmus of Corinth, over the mountains, and into the Boeotia Region. Thebans had long sought to absorb Plataea into the Boeotian League. Sensing that Spartan offensives were weakening while their own strength grew daily, they repeatedly sent envoys to coax Plataea into joining.

The Plataeans outwardly stalled, claiming they needed to carefully consider the offer, while secretly dispatching envoys to Athens in hopes of rejoining the Athenian Alliance.

Thebes uncovered the plot. Acting on Pelopidas's advice, the Theban Army launched a surprise attack on Plataea. They swiftly captured the city, expelled the Plataeans from their homeland, and forced many to flee as refugees to Athens.

Upon learning of this, Isocrates immediately penned an oration titled "On Plataea," expressing deep sympathy for their tragic fate while fiercely condemning the Thebans' wicked actions.

While the incident did not cause these two powerful city-states of Central Greece to formally become enemies, it undoubtedly alienated them further.

Callistratus made good use of these reasons in the ecclesia. He successfully persuaded the public to sue for peace with Sparta and stop the war.

The Athenians likewise never considered inviting Daionia to mediate. Firstly, they felt it was beneath their dignity to let a former sub-state host a peace conference, and Isocrates's incessant campaigning over the past few years had left Athens highly wary of Daionia. Secondly, acting as a mediator required ample strength and profound influence in Greece. Daionia had never set foot on the Greek Mainland, and it still held a long-term peace treaty with Sparta. Persia, on the other hand, despite being thousands of miles away, had constantly meddled with the mainland city-states, using endless wealth to buy off one while crushing another. The successful signing of the King's Peace several years prior was proof enough of Persia's influence in Greece.

Therefore, Athens also sent envoys to Persia.

Once Thebes learned that both Sparta and Athens had sent envoys to seek Persian backing, they grew anxious. During a discussion, Pelopidas proposed for the first time the idea of seeking support from Daionia.

Thanks to their surging strength over the past year or two, the Spartan Coalition could no longer keep Thebes blockaded. Consequently, the Theban leadership had begun receiving far more news from the outside world. The most shocking revelation was that Daionia had defeated Carthage to become the hegemon of Magna Graecia and Sicily. (In the minds of mainland Greeks, only those regions and Carthage counted as civilized lands in the western Mediterranean; everywhere else was a barbarian wasteland unworthy of notice.) It was clear that the Kingdom of Daunia possessed immense power. Furthermore, they were located relatively close to Thebes and had already shown goodwill by selling grain to the Thebans during their most difficult time. If Thebes could secure its support, they would have absolutely nothing to fear from a distant Persia.