Chapter 380
Aesocrates was anxiously waiting for the final decision of the Senate of Diónia in a spacious lounge in the council hall.
Soon, the guards came in and asked him to go to the venue.
When he walked into the venue, he found the Devers of Diónia standing in the middle of the hall.
The Devers smiled at him and gestured for him to sit down. Then, the Devers smiled and said to him, "Honorable envoy of Athens, I am glad that you have brought the friendship of the great Mediterranean city-state of Athens to the Union of Diónia. You have made us, who live in a remote corner of the Greek world, stop lamenting ourselves. In the new play by the Athens playwright Aristophanes, the people of Diónia are treated as barbarians for the entertainment of the people of Athens …"
As soon as these words came out, Aesocrates cried out in his heart, "This is bad."
Sure enough, he heard someone shouting angrily behind him, "What right does the people of Athens have to humiliate us Lucanians!"
"They are not only humiliating the Lucanians, they are humiliating all the citizens of Diónia!" Another person shouted angrily.
"If the people of Athens all have such an attitude towards us, then we don't welcome the people of Athens here!"
…
One angry voice after another smashed at Aesocrates, who was sitting in front of him, making him feel as if there was a volcano that was about to erupt behind him. His expression changed a little.
Seeing his embarrassment, the Devers continued, "Aesocrates, you said that the friendship between Athens and Diónia is deep, but this can't just be said verbally, we need to see actual actions. Now, according to our understanding of the actual situation in Athens, we can't see the friendship between the people of Athens and Diónia. All we see is the people of Athens mercilessly ridiculing and sarcastic remarks about some of the characteristics of a new city-state alliance that is different from other Greek city-states. It can even become a topic of conversation in restaurants in Athens for several months. This is not the behavior of a city-state that once claimed to be the 'best school in all of Greece' and had a long history and tradition! This was not the behavior of a city-state that claimed to have deep feelings for Diónia and wanted to form an alliance with it!
Therefore, the citizens of Diónia would never trust their backs to a city-state that discriminated against them in the face of a strong enemy. Therefore, I think it is still too early to talk about forming a military alliance. "
Damned Aristophanes! Damned Aristophanes! No matter how many times Aesocrates cursed in his heart, he could not change the fact that the alliance had failed. He was so depressed that he wanted to stand up and make one last effort.
The Devers in front of him waved at him, motioning him not to interrupt, and then said, "Although the current Turís are no longer the Turís of the past, and the Diónia Alliance has no connection with Athens, the Diónia are not an ungrateful race. We clearly distinguish between gratitude and grudges. We will return the enmity of others tenfold, and repay the kindness of others tenfold —"
"The Archon is right! Tarantum had formed an alliance with us when we were in trouble, so we sent a large army to save their city-state! The Turís had given your mercenaries a foothold in the beginning, so in the face of the Crotone army, we did not give in. Instead, we used a great victory to avenge the death of the Turís! Diónia regards commitment as life, and cherishes friendship. Therefore, friendship cannot be easily granted! " The old man, Scombras, shook his white beard, held his head high, and squinted at Aesocrates, putting on an arrogant expression that said, "The friendship of Diónia is extremely precious, and you have benefited from it."
The Devers smiled and continued, "Since the center of the Diónia Alliance is in Turís, we have naturally inherited some of the feelings of the former Turís people. We are willing to be friendly with Athens, strengthen exchanges, and eliminate misunderstandings between each other …"
When Aesocrates heard this, he understood the meaning of the Devers and the other senators of the Senate: In addition to the military alliance, Diónia was willing to be friendly with Athens. Strengthening trade and cultural exchanges seemed to be not much different from the core meaning of his previous speech.
But Aesocrates understood that the difference was obvious. If Aesocrates initially talked about cooperation as a big brother of Athens, now the Diónia people trampled on the elegance and nobility in his bones. Instead, they told him that the friendship of Diónia was extremely precious, and they could give some to Athens, but it depended on the performance of Athens …
To be able to sit in the position of Consul and single-handedly create today's Diónia, this young man was not simple! Aesocrates looked at the Devers in front of him and felt the pressure …
… …
While Aesocrates was giving a speech in the Senate of Diónia, Ancitanos took Lysias to the north side of the Victory Square. There was a newly built building here that looked like a temple. Under the steps were nine bronze statues of the Muses, lined up in a row.
"Is this the Temple of Apollo?" Lysias looked at Ancitanos doubtfully.
Ancitanos still had a mysterious smile on his face, but he did not speak.
With growing curiosity, Lysias walked up the steps and finally found a few large letters "Library" on the lintel of the entrance of the temple.
"This is?" Lysias could roughly guess the function of this building, but such a large building was only used to store books? Were there so many books?
He looked at Ancitanos doubtfully again, hoping that he could explain.
"This is the library that our Consul Devers took the lead in building with donations!" Ancitanos proudly pointed at the few words and said, "He once said, 'Books are the jewels of human wisdom. Whether it's Persia, Egypt, Carthage, or even earlier Sumer, Hittite, Assyria … The history and civilization they created ultimately converged on words and books. They are the common wealth of us humans, the ladder for us to get rid of ignorance and move towards a more brilliant civilization, so we must do everything we can to collect them! Protect them! If these treasures are destroyed by war and disasters, it will be the most painful loss for us humans! But not only do we want to collect books, but we also want to share and read these books with more people, so that the people of Diónia can use knowledge to improve themselves, use knowledge to create wealth, use knowledge to create a more brilliant culture. This is the purpose of building a library! '
After listening, Lysias was fascinated and murmured, "A person who can speak such a great language must be a great person!"
Ancitanos smiled to himself.
"Quick, bring me in to take a look!" Lysias couldn't wait to go in but was stopped by the guard at the door.
"This is my friend. He came with me and wants to go in to take a look." Ancitanos hurriedly went forward to explain.
"Yes, Sir Ancitanos." The guard bowed respectfully.
"A place where knowledge is stored actually has martial arts!" Lysias said angrily as he walked in.
"Books are precious and fragile. A fire can destroy them all. Of course, someone needs to protect them to prevent accidents," Ancitanos explained.
Lysias expressed his understanding. After calming down, he said, "It seems that not anyone can enter this place."
"Only citizens and prospective citizens of Diónia can enter."
"In this way, the freedmen of Diónia will have another motivation to become citizens." After staying here for nearly two days, Lysias understood the disparity between the rights enjoyed by citizens, prospective citizens, and freedmen of Diónia. However, this disparity wasn't insurmountable, unlike in Athens. No matter how hard the people of Athens worked, they couldn't bridge the gap between the people of Athens and the foreigners.
"There are probably forty to fifty thousand citizens of Diónia in Turií. If they all enter this library, can it accommodate them?" Lysias asked doubtfully.
"We've already considered your concerns. First of all, the quality of the citizens of Diónia hasn't reached the level where everyone can read. Secondly, they can't be here at the same time. Even if there are too many citizens who want to enter the library, the library has a limit on the number of people who can enter it. However, it seems that this situation will only happen many years later. By that time, Diónia might already have a second, third, or fourth library … "Ancetanos' words were brimming with confidence in his alliance.
Lysias fell silent, but soon, he was attracted by the scene in front of him. Rows of tall wooden cabinets were placed neatly in the library, cutting the huge space into a walkway that could only allow three to four people to pass side by side. Every wooden cabinet was open, divided into small rectangular spaces by wooden planks. Inside the cabinets were scrolls of books or information made of papyrus or parchment. In front of these bookcases, there was an area with many wooden tables. There were only a few people sitting there quietly reading.
Lysias, who was a book addict, stared blankly and couldn't help but exclaim, "There are actually so many books!"
"Actually, there aren't many. Most of the bookcases at the back are empty. After all, the library has only been built for less than 20 days." Ancetanos said with some emotion, "Sir Devers once called on the citizens of Diónia to take out their own books and let the library make a copy of them and store them here. They also wanted to engrave the names of the citizens who contributed the books. At that time, there were so many citizens who responded to the call that the library's scribes were too busy … "
Looking in the direction of Ancetanos' finger, Lysias saw a few stone tablets erected on the left side of the library entrance. He had been focused on the front previously and had actually neglected them.
The stone tablets were densely engraved with names.
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