Chapter 632: Argument in Carthage

After signing the ten-year treaty, Cheirisophus mentioned to Davos that the Gerousia was worried and dissatisfied with the frequent war launched by Theonia in Apulia.

But Davos responded, “The matters concerning Apulia belonged to the western Mediterranean’s affairs, which, according to our agreement, does not require Sparta to worry about. Just like how Theonia strictly abided by our treaty by refusing the envoys of Thebes and Corinth who came to Thurii in the later part of the Corinthian War in hopes that Theonia could intervene in the war to stop the Persians from controlling Greece using Sparta. Furthermore, our kingdom’s Greek citizens were dissatisfied with Sparta, our allied city-state, kneeling to Greek’s former sworn enemy, Persia, and you obeying that goddamn contract you made. Moreover, they became even more outraged after Sparta destroyed Mantineia with brutal means by flooding the city and committing atrocities similar to those done by the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius.

Yet even with that, we in Theonia still abided by the treaty and respected Sparta, our allied city-state. Thus after the signing of this treaty, you can be assured that we will abide by following the treaty’s content. And in exchange, we hope the Gerousia will also handle the relationship between the two countries in strict accordance with the treaty, especially on reconsidering and dealing with the issue of ‘accepting the natives who escaped from Apulia’. Theonia keeps her promises faithfully, so we would treat any city-state that violates their promises as enemies…”

Davos’ words caused Cheirisophus to be both ashamed and alarmed, so he seriously stated, “Your majesty King Davos, Sparta cherishes the friendship between our countries, which is why they took the initiative to send me to renew the treaty. You can be reassured that Sparta will continue abiding by the treaty’s requirements so that the peace between the east and the west Mediterranean continues!…”

One day later, after seeing off Cheirisophus, Thurii welcomed the Carthaginian envoy, Eshoumodon.

But he didn’t come to renew the treaty. Instead, he came to protest.

The Carthaginians protested against Theonia violating the treaty by waging war against Sicily’s neutral force – the Sikeloi without authorisation. Thus they came demanding that Theonia immediately stop this foolish act of “destroying the peace in Sicily”.

The Theonian Senate, however, refuted Carthage’s claims by citing facts, evidence and reasoning and told the Carthaginian envoy that Theonia didn’t want to invade the Sikeloi. On the contrary, the Tanikian tribe of the Sikeloi was the one who conspired to disrupt and wanted to harm Theonia, for which Theonia had placed several Sicilian statesmen, such as Ladician, on trial and had also arrested many officials of the kingdom. Thus it is only natural for them to take revenge on the culprits of this incident, which was the Tanikian tribe who took the initiative to provoke Theonia!

Theonia’s firm rejection of Carthage’s protests made Eshoumodon’s journey futile.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

A few days later, a fierce debate regarding that matter happened in the Senate of Carthage.

“Lord Hanno, with Theonia’s refusal to stop their war against the Sikeloi… I wonder if you have any measures to deal with this matter?! Otherwise, the weak Sikeloi won’t be able to withstand the Theonian army if you don’t take any action!” Asked Pretasdrubal, an elder.

Hanno glanced coldly at the elder who questioned him. After Mago’s removal from his position as governor of Sicily, he didn’t return to Carthage. Instead, he indignantly took part of the mercenaries to Iberia. Thus the leading figure of the Magonids in the Senate and even Carthage became Pretasdrubal, a distant relative of Mago, but was much more cunning and created some problems for Hanno’s control over the Senate.

Hanno didn’t need to reply as the other elected Shophet, Palteshmoun, had already taken over the matter and said, “It is understandable for the Theonia to punish them because the Tanikian tribe provoked the Theonian first. So what we should do now is to constantly monitor this war and prevent Theonia from using this opportunity to expand, thus damaging our Carthage’s interest.”

“Oh, you would give up the Sikeloi with just a simple sentence?! I still remember how you were the one to propose to Lord Hanno about supporting the Tanikian in unifying the Sikeloi!” Sikaradon, another Magonids elder, spoke out sarcastically while Hanno looked at him unhappily.

Eshoumodon promptly and loudly refuted, “You are truly forgetful! The Tanikians came to Carthage in the name of former allies who fought alongside Himilco, and it was you who they first approached, and you the first to suggest in the Senate to help the Tanikians. Lord Hanno had just respected your wishes and hoped that what the Tanikians did could help Carthage better control Sicily. It just didn’t occur to us that they would dare provoke Theonia, not to mention that you, who had received Lord Hanno’s support, would now falsely accuse him!” (When the Carthaginian commander Himilco attacked Syracuse, he built the fortress of Tauromenium and gave it to the Sikeloi so that they could unite to fight against the Syracusans. Thus he allied with the Sikeloi king Agileus, who was the father of the current chieftain of the Tanikian, Archonis. But after Himilco’s defeat and suicide, Agileus joined Syracuse’s side when Dionysius began fighting back against the Carthaginian forces in Sicily, but Dionysius eventually murdered him.)

Pretasdrubal immediately changed the subject while putting on a worried expression, “Lord Hanno, with Syracuse’s strength greatly decreasing in the past few years and most of the Greek city-states in Sicily are friendly with Theonia that besides often sending envoys to attend the various festivities in Theonia, they would also send teams to participate in Theonia’s rugby matches. Now, if we let Theonia take control of the Sikeloi, our situation in Sicily would be the same during Dionysius’ time, which is terrible for Carthage!”

Hanno looked at him coldly and spoke, “Lord Pretasdrubal, what is your suggestion given Sicily’s current situation? Should we continue supporting the soon-to-be-destroyed Sikeloi tribes with money and supplies? Or to send an army?!”

Elder Sikaradon sternly said, “Since Theonia refused to stop the war, we can only send our army to make them realise that we are serious with our protest!”

The elders caused a commotion.

“That means war!” Palteshmoun warned loudly.

“Since Theonia recklessly expanded their claws in Sicily and refused to heed our warnings, we will show them war!” Sikaradon swung his hand.

Many elders cried out in alarm, causing disputes to arise.

Hanno became alert as he immediately realised that the head of the Magonids, who was thousands of kilometres away, wanted to provoke a war between Theonia and Carthage, which would allow him to return to Carthage and control the political situation!

Thinking of this, Hanno immediately stood up and shouted, “Does Carthage want to tear up the treaty and intervene in Theonia’s war to punish the Sikeloi and engage Theonia in a protracted and costly war? Now we should have the Senate vote: Raise your hands if you agree with Pretasdrubal and Sikaradon in sending our army to fight in Sicily!”

Except for a few Magonids elders, the other elders didn’t even raise their hands.

In the past ten years, the Carthaginians followed Hanno’s proposal of changing their target to Numidia, an inland region south of Carthage’s territory. Although it had a vast land and many indigenous tribes living there, it didn’t have a unified state or union. Thus Carthage, through direct military conquest, bribery, alienation and other measures, allowed them to control most of Numidia’s land. While the Carthaginian citizens got a lot of share of land and employed many Numidians to farm, the elders of Carthage were even wealthier. Thus Hanno’s prestige in Carthage significantly increased. Now, Carthage’s only concern was the occasional rebellion of the Numidians, and for this reason, several Carthaginian troops were stationed alternatively in several vital positions in Numidia.

So having Carthage go to war with the mighty Theonia made not only most of the elders unwilling but also the Carthaginian citizens. After all, compared with the Theonians and Sikeloi, who were far away in the east of Sicily, the Carthaginians were more concerned about the increased land in Numidia and keeping control of the numerous Numidian slaves and Numidian labourers.

Hanno looked around at most elders who stayed silent and then glanced at the handful of elders who supported the war. And just like what he had expected, if there were no sudden accidents, Carthage would never fight the Theonians, and Mago’s scheme could never come true. Of course, Hanno felt a headache as Mago, who occupied a part of Iberia, pretended to comply with the Senate but defied them inwardly.

Then, Hanno took out a scroll, held it high and said loudly, “This is a letter written to me by the king of Theonia himself! In the letter, he promised, ‘We, Theonians, always kept our treaty with Carthage in mind. So we reassure you that we will only punish the Tanikian tribe and will never expand our attack on the other Sikeloi territory.’ In addition, he asked me to consider the renewal of the treaty.” After saying that, Hanno handed the letter to the elder next to him to pass it around.

The elders present obviously became relaxed.

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