Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1126: Persian Mediation

Pelopidas's proposal gained the support of Epaminondas. Having studied under Lysis of the Pythagorean School of Taranto, Epaminondas knew a bit more about the Kingdom of Daunia than the rest of them.

However, the other Theban leaders strongly opposed the idea. Their reasoning was simple: the Theban government had never made contact with the Kingdom of Daunia. Their enemy, Sparta, on the other hand, had maintained a twenty-year peace treaty with the western kingdom. Rashly inviting Daunia into the conflicts of the Greek Mainland without knowing their true intentions was too dangerous. If Daunia changed its mind and backed Sparta instead, Thebes would be ruined before they could even weep. Furthermore, Persia's might was universally acknowledged. Daunia likely wouldn't risk offending Persia—Sparta's current backer—just to support Thebes. (The Thebans had no idea that the Kingdom of Daunia had actually fallen out with Persia during the Western Mediterranean War.)

Most Theban councilors preferred to seek Persian support. Although Persia nominally backed Sparta these days, the various Greek city-states had dealt with Persia enough to know that they were fickle and unpredictable. Their current support for Sparta was purely out of self-interest. After all, not long ago, Sparta had beaten the Persian armies half to death in Asia Minor. If the Theban envoys played their cards right, they might just win Persia over.

After a heated debate, the Theban government decided to dispatch an envoy to Persia as well. Pelopidas, the highly charismatic Theban leader, was chosen for the role.

By the time Pelopidas reached Persia and arrived in Babylon—the capital where the King of Persia, Artaxerxes, currently resided—it was already the twenty-second year of the Sacred Kingdom of Daunia (372 BC). Entering through the main gate, he stepped onto the famous Processional Way. Colorful glazed bricks paved the ground beneath his feet, and the resplendent, golden streetscape dazzled his eyes.

The sheer magnificence stunned Pelopidas for a long moment. Looking ahead, the first thing to catch his eye was the most breathtaking structure in Babylon: a colossal ziggurat. Standing a hundred meters tall, it loomed over the very center of the metropolis, gazing down upon the vast city. Every Babylonian looked upon it with deep reverence. This was Etemenanki (also known as the Tower of Babel), which the locals called "the temple between heaven and earth."

At the end of the Processional Way stood the magnificent palace of the King of Persia. It too was built from colored bricks, intricately inlaid with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, ivory, cedar wood, and other precious materials. Its brilliant splendor flaunted the wealth and extravagance of the Persian royal family. As Babylonians passed by, they lowered their heads and averted their eyes to show their submission to royal authority.

Pelopidas had heard that the Spartan and Athenian envoys had already been granted an audience with the King of Persia. He worried that this immensely powerful Eastern monarch might refuse to see him due to whatever poison the previous two envoys had poured into his ears. To his surprise, not only did Artaxerxes receive him, but the king also listened earnestly as he recounted how Thebes had suffered under Spartan oppression for years, and how they had been forced into war simply to avoid annihilation.

Pelopidas spoke with sincere emotion and grounded realism. He was neither as boastful as the Athenian envoy nor as arrogant as the Spartan envoy. This won Artaxerxes's deep favor. The king praised him for carrying himself like a true noble and even showed genuine interest in briefly discussing what terms Thebes might demand if a ceasefire were brokered with Sparta...

Pelopidas was greatly encouraged by the amiable attitude the King of Persia had shown him.

When the Athenian envoy, Timagoras, and the Spartan envoy, Luticles, caught wind of this, they grew anxious and quickly began maneuvering behind the scenes.

In truth, Artaxerxes's friendliness toward the Theban envoy had only a little to do with Pelopidas's personal charm. His primary motivation was his desire for peace on the Greek Mainland—a goal that would be impossible to achieve without compromises from Thebes, one of the main belligerents.

It had been nearly thirty years since Artaxerxes ascended the Persian throne. Aside from the initial turmoil caused by Cyrus the Younger's attempted usurpation, domestic politics had remained fairly stable. His performance in war, however, had drawn heavy criticism from the Persian people.

When Artaxerxes first took power, a tiny mercenary army of Greeks had carved a bloody path right through the Persian heartland, and the mighty Persian empire had been entirely powerless to stop them. This had thrilled the Greeks and humiliated the Persians. Following that, the Egyptians declared independence, expelled the occupying armies, and confiscated the fertile lands distributed to numerous Persian nobles. Then, the Spartan king Agesilaus led an army to invade Asia Minor, utterly routing the forces of several Persian governors. Later, Artaxerxes finally managed to organize an army to re-subjugate Egypt, only to run into a rare, massive flood on the Nile. Compounded by discord among his generals, the campaign ended in total failure...

Because of this widespread public dissatisfaction, when the Ducetians in the Armenian Mountains to the north of Persia revolted the year before last, the king finally decided to personally lead an expedition. He wanted to conquer these savages to showcase his martial prowess. He marched with only 30,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, but the Armenian Mountains were dominated by treacherous peaks that made passage incredibly difficult. Thick fog constantly blanketed the region, sometimes lingering for months. Furthermore, the land was barren and yielded little food. Not only could they not forage enough to fill the soldiers' bellies, but shipping in adequate supplies from elsewhere in a short time was impossible. Their only option was to slaughter their pack animals for meat... Toward the end, even Artaxerxes didn't have enough food for his own meals, and he narrowly avoided being encircled by the Ducetians. He only managed to escape thanks to the help of his minister, Tiribazus.

Artaxerxes was already sixty years old. The terror of the battlefield caused him to fall severely ill and temporarily extinguished his grand illusion of personally achieving peerless martial glory to cement his place in history, just like his ancestor Darius. Upon recovering, he immediately took a new consort, using the joyous occasion to dispel his depression. This young consort was his own biological daughter, Amestris.

Naturally, the Persian populace didn't see anything wrong with this. It was a tradition within the Persian royal family. For instance, King Cambyses had once married two of his own sisters. Later, the usurper Darius married them as well, and they eventually gave birth to the incredibly noble fourth King of Persia, Xerxes.

Now, the successive arrivals of the Spartan, Athenian, and Theban envoys presented Artaxerxes with a golden opportunity delivered right to his doorstep—a chance for Persia to better control the Greek Mainland without ever needing to go to war. Thus, he hosted all three envoys with equal grandeur, showing no outward favoritism.

A few days later, he summoned the three envoys together and appointed his most trusted minister, Tiribazus, to preside over the meeting.

Though called a meeting, it was more akin to a small banquet. A dining table sat before each of them, laden with exquisite delicacies, with beautiful Persian handmaidens sitting by their sides to keep them company. Yet not a trace of relaxation could be seen on the faces of the three envoys. They all understood that, after several days of contact, the Persians were finally going to reveal their stance and decide who would receive the lion's share of their support.

Tiribazus observed the tension on their faces. In comparison, Pelopidas, the Theban envoy, appeared somewhat more composed and steady. he thought,

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Tiribazus cleared his throat to draw their attention, then spoke in a clear, ringing voice. "Esteemed envoys, before we begin our gathering, the Great King specifically instructed me to express his gratitude to you. He thanks you for your trust in him, and for traveling thousands of miles to seek his aid. Since his ascension to the throne, the Great King has consistently shown tremendous goodwill toward the various Greek city-states. This remains true even though Greeks once aided that vile traitor, Cyrus the Younger, in throwing Persia into chaos, and even though Spartans later invaded Persia's domain in Asia Minor—"

Although Tiribazus didn't specifically stare at the Spartan envoy while saying this, Luticles still felt profound embarrassment, as Spartans were directly or indirectly involved in both of those incidents.

"But the Great King did not harbor any resentment, nor did his goodwill toward the Greeks waver. Therefore, when the Corinthian War broke out and the Greek city-states slaughtered each other out of hatred, completely disregarding the people who were displaced and torn from their families... the Great King expended immense effort to bring the warring factions to the negotiating table. That is what led to the signing of the King's Peace. The city-states that signed that treaty included Sparta, Athens, and Thebes.

"But your peace in Greece lasted only a few years before war erupted once more, and it remains unresolved to this day. This deeply pains the Great King! Fortunately, you have recognized the harm of this war and are actively seeking a solution. The Great King's opinion is—"

Pelopidas and the other two instantly straightened their expressions, listening closely.

Pleased with their reaction, Tiribazus said with greater emphasis, "The Great King hopes that all warring factions will enter negotiations as soon as possible to restore peace! Furthermore, within this peace agreement, every effort should be made to guarantee the independence and freedom of all participants, and to safeguard the interests of every city-state—"

Before Tiribazus could even finish, Luticles couldn't sit still any longer. He immediately interjected, "Safeguard the interests of every city-state? What does that mean? The Thebans shamelessly declare that 'the entire Boeotia Region should belong to Thebes,' and they've used this as an excuse to attack multiple city-states within the Boeotia Region. Are we supposed to support such an arrogant demand?!"

"Lord Tiribazus surely knows," Pelopidas said, "that decades ago during that great war, when the mighty army of the esteemed Persian King Xerxes entered Central Greece with the help of us Thebans, the Boeotia Region centered around Thebes was a single, unified entity. It was only due to the frequent wars of recent years that it became fragmented. Today, Thebes merely wishes to restore it to the way it was."