Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Well said! Ancitalos' loud exclamation did not interrupt Plato's desire to continue: Dear King Davos, you once criticized my point of view in Republic, saying 'I only see city-states in my eyes Citizens, and despise slaves and aliens', this time, whether I traveled in the south or north of Dionia, what I saw and heard gave me a great shock!

Romans, Phoenicians, Samonais, and even Worcians who were not Dionian citizens struggled to speak Greek (Dionian), though mostly bluntly. I have also encountered several children of different races asking me questions on many occasions... These have made me realize that even the completely ignorant and backward indigenous people can be educated to be as wise as we are and love Greek culture, and those who are both The Greeks who are illiterate and unwilling to change are the ones who should be despised by us! …”

Plato took another sip of wine, and said again in a louder voice: When I first met you, the king, I praised you as a true king of philosophy, and now I find that this statement is not entirely true. This time, I am in After spending some time in Rome, Benetum, and Liliba, I carefully observed the governance of the towns under the jurisdiction of the Dionian officials. Although these towns have different situations and environments, one thing is The same - the Dionian officials there are performing their duties very seriously and responsibly, and they are all governing the towns under their jurisdiction according to the laws of Dionysia, and according to what I have observed, they are all governed well. Yes, the administrative efficiency is very high...

I once said, 'When people are sick, they need to find a professional doctor, and merchants who want to ship goods know to find experienced captains. How difficult it is to manage a city-state well, but it makes inexperienced and selfish people Self-interested city-state citizens come to participate extensively, how can the city-state have good development! But that's exactly what many Greek city-states do!

As far as I know, the senior officials of the various towns of Dionia are promoted through step-by-step experience, and they have enough experience and wisdom to deal with and solve various problems encountered by the towns. This is what you once Give me what I said about 'choosing and appointing talents'. So, the original sentence I said should be changed, 'Not only King Davos, you are a real philosopher, but many of your officials are also philosophers. It is under your governance that Dai Oniya will be as strong as it is today!

Respected Plato scholar. Davos, who is in a high position, has heard too many compliments over the years and has become accustomed to it, but to be praised by a great man who was called the father of Western philosophy in his previous life, let him Feeling a little proud, he put on a pleasant smile on his face, trying his best to say humbly: Are you here today to praise Dionia?

Since Dionysus has done well, why not praise it! Plato raised his glass and said loudly, Come on, let's praise Dionia together!

Davos smiled and raised his glass.

After finishing this cup with the others, Plato shook his head, as if to shake off a little drunkenness, he squeezed his face hard,

Then he said, Dear King Davos, do you still remember Isocrates?

Of course I remember. Davos said with a puzzled face: A famous orator and rhetorician in Athens, we have invited him to speak at the 1st and 2nd Congress of Greek Scholars, but we will invite him later. When she refused to come back, I thought it was because we didn't take good care of her during the previous reception, so he was dissatisfied.

Your Majesty, although Isocrates is strict and doesn't like to talk too much, he is not a person who likes to care about this. Lycias, who lived in Athens for many years and had close contacts with Isocrates, explained : According to what I have learned, he also built a school in Athens. He has been busy teaching students for several years, so he may not have time to come to Turii to attend the conference.

Oh, yes, he also built a school. Davers looked at Plato with interest and asked, Isn't that a competition with your school?

Plato said frankly: My school and Isocrates' school have different goals. His school focuses more on teaching students how to choose words and sentences, how to make speeches, how to better conduct public political life... It is more practical. And my Akademi is more focused on studying the polity of the city-state and how to build a more perfect country... But it is true that there is a certain competition between our two colleges. Just last year I had a meeting with him. A debate.

Oh? Davers looked surprised, but in fact he not only knew about the debate, but also kept a general record of the debate in his mansion.

This debate is also related to you Dionia. Plato said seriously: I think one of the main reasons why Isocrates did not agree to your invitation to attend the Conference of Scholars in recent years is that he Consider the existence of the Kingdom of Dionia a great threat to the Greek mainland—

How is this possible— Lysias was a little surprised, but Ancitanos took over before he finished his words: For this, I can also prove that in the fourteenth year of the kingdom (380 BC) ), our war with Carthage has just begun. At the 99th Olympia Games, Isocrates delivered a speech The Dedication to the All-Greek Gala, the main content of which was to call on the Greek city-states to stop the war and unite , unanimously to the outside world, to restore the glory of the Greek ancestors in the Hippo War, to complete their unfinished business, to liberate the Greek compatriots in Asia Minor who were enslaved under Persian rule, and any Greece that made peace with Persia, or even was bewitched by Persia to engage in civil war Everyone should be cursed...

But later in the speech, he also mentioned... well, the original text says so...

'Today we meet in Olympia to thank Zeus for the blessing of the Greeks, but we should be able to feel that compared with a few decades ago, this event has been deserted a lot, not only because of the war, but also because of the lack of many city-states. participate. Tarantum, Crotone, Locri, Turii, Syracuse, Agrigento... These colonial cities of the Western Mediterranean, the vanity and shallowness of their people at past events It does make us despise, but without them at the event, it makes us feel alone again. They were originally part of our big Greek family, but now they have all become towns under the kingdom of Dioria.

Is Dionia a country of Greeks?

They have never been seen in Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, and the Isthmus Games, and Delphi did not set up a holy treasury for them. It can be seen that the attitude of the priests representing the will of the gods towards this Western Mediterranean kingdom is not only because There are too many barbarian citizens in its country, and it is because it distorts our understanding of gods! Dionia believed that Hades was the lord of the gods rather than Zeus, and he also allowed citizens to worship the gods of aliens. Can Dionia, who can do such terrible acts, still call it a Greek state! Of course, the citizens of Dionia under the influence of this misconception cannot become Greeks of the same faith as us!

But why don't we protest their wrong practices, or even send troops to intervene? Because Dionia is very powerful, its powerful strength condensed by annexing many Greek colonial city-states can actually force Naples, which is still an independent city-state and has a relatively strong national strength, to dare not participate in this event, just because of fear of Dionia will be dissatisfied with it.

Dionia, which had annexed our sub-states and colonial cities in the western Mediterranean, had swelled into a vast kingdom, though it had so far not been No malice has been shown to us, but it is so different from us and so close to us that in the event of a conflict, the consequences will be severe!

O wise Greek! To our east are our enemies, the Persians, who have never given up their desire to enslave us, and to our immediate west is a mighty kingdom whose minds we cannot guess, and our situation is so dangerous that we should not abandon our prejudices , like the invading Persian army decades ago, reunite to defend our homeland and regain the glory of our forefathers...'

Why didn't I know there was such a speech?! After listening to Lycias, he was very surprised.

Because Thebes and Athens were already at war with Sparta at that time, neither side dared to offend Persia and us, so as not to cause changes in the war situation, so they both deliberately banned the popularity of this speech. Manuscripts that took great pains to obtain when bringing Greece to mainland. Ancitanos explained: From this speech, it is clear from this speech that Isocrates saw us in Dionia as a potential threat to mainland Greece. .

Since your victory over Carthage, and since last year, Isocrates has seen Dionia as a real threat to the Greek mainland, to Athens, not only often preaching this view to his students, but also on several occasions. I gave a speech at the Citizens Assembly to remind the people. Since I attended the Greek Scholars Conference for the first time, I have written many articles on the political system of the Kingdom of Dionia, suggesting that the Greek city-states headed by Athens can learn from it. There are many citizens of Athens, and even the people of Thebes, Corinth and other city-states competing to copy and circulate... Plato said seriously: So Isocrates thinks that I am a fan of the Kingdom of Dionia, and I must Only by refuting me in public can the citizens of Athens be unified.

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