Chapter 657
Behind "Hercules" were the herdsmen herding 20 cows. Behind them, not only was there a huge parade made up of men, old people, women, and children, but there were also pipers, drummers, and trumpeters playing cheerful tunes. The whole parade was talking and laughing noisily, just like how Hercules herded the cows across the Western Mediterranean Sea. They walked around the whole city of Tuliyi, filling the whole city with a lively atmosphere.
The end of the parade was just the beginning of the celebration. Next, there were various competitions.
The most important competition in the celebration was the Hercules competition. The contestants had to carry a five-meter-long cedar wood as thick as their thighs and walk a distance of 40 meters to pass the preliminary round. In the following elimination rounds, the contestants had to pick up stone pillars that were constantly increasing in weight. They had to lift a five-kilogram shot put, and how long they could hold on … The most important challenge was pulling the carriage. Countless spectators cheered for the contestants, watching them pull the huge carriage with a certain amount of weight. They had to tighten their muscles and use all their strength to pull the carriage forward like a strong horse.
The final champion would be awarded the title of "Hercules of the Kingdom". After receiving the blessing of the priest of the Temple of Hercules, he would wear a flower crown and parade around the city surrounded by enthusiastic people. He would also be received by the King's Devers and have a meal with them. In addition, he would also be given a lot of material rewards.
There was another important competition during the celebration, which was wrestling. Everyone knew that Hercules was a master wrestler. Everyone knew about his battle with the giant Antaeus. After nine years of development, the wrestling competition held in the Hercules Celebration of the Kingdom of Diónia was no less than the traditional four Greek Games. Compared to winning the four Greek Games, the main reward was honor. Winning the championship in the wrestling competition in Turín would also be rewarded with a lot of gold and silver. Therefore, there were many contestants, and every competition was quite intense.
The wrestling competition lasted for nearly a month, coinciding with the end of the celebration. The champion of the wrestling competition also enjoyed the same treatment as the champion of the Hercules competition.
It was said that the audience of these two competitions were often watched by the personnel of the Ministry of Military Affairs and various army commanders. This was because these two competitions not only allowed citizens and preparatory citizens to participate, but also allowed free people, foreigners, and even slaves to participate. Those who achieved good results would be lobbied by the Ministry of Military Affairs to join the Kingdom of Diónia or be freed from slavery. This was because such outstanding contestants were usually excellent soldiers.
In addition to these two competitions, the celebration also had other interesting competitions. For example: bull riding competition, sheep racing, pig driving competition … These were also to show respect to the guardian of livestock — Hercules. The hilarious mountain-climbing competition was a demonstration of Hercules' adventurous spirit, while the hilarious running competition with his wife was a tribute to this romantic god …
So unlike other celebrations, the Hercules Festival was full of laughter. At the same time, Plato and the others also found that at least half of the contestants and spectators of the various competitions were non-Greek people. They could fully feel their heartfelt reverence for this Greek god. They were fully enjoying the joy of the competition and interacting harmoniously with the Greek citizens.
Plato did not stay until the end of the celebration. In early June, he bid farewell to the King of Devers and the Diónia Academy and prepared to return to Athens. After all, there were still a lot of affairs waiting for him to deal with in the Academy.
The Devers held a farewell banquet for him.
At the banquet, Plato said cheerfully, "During this period, thank you very much for your great help to me, Your Majesty of Devers! You gave me enough time to observe the operation of the Kingdom of Diónia. I found that Diónia had many advantages compared to other Greek city-states.
First of all, Diónia attached great importance to education. The government funded the construction of schools in various cities. The low school fees allowed the kingdom to implement almost universal basic education for children above the age of six. This kind of education was comprehensive. Not only did children learn mathematics, literature, rhetoric, logic, philosophy … but also sculpture, music, and dance were taught to edify their minds, and physical exercise to strengthen their bodies. When they grew up, they would be the gold and silver seeds of Diónia, and they could easily become excellent citizens of the kingdom.
Secondly, although Diónia emphasized the role of law, it actually emphasized moral education. Otherwise, it would not believe in Hades as the protector of your kingdom. The promotion of Hades' just and strict punishment in Hades guided the people to do more good deeds in life … The same is true of your worship of Hera. It guided the people to love marriage and family, which played a very important role in the stability of the kingdom. Diónia used gods to guide the people to do good deeds. This was a very novel but very effective method, and it was worth learning from other city-states.
Again, Your Majesty of Devers, you said to me before that 'you will not strictly divide the duties of the citizens of the kingdom', but Diónia has strictly divided the duties of the public officials of the kingdom through a method called "assessment." Let those who are proficient in the law serve as judges, let those who are good at manufacturing as supervisors, let those who are good at making money manage trade, let those who are good at statistics manage money … Even your generals are promoted through the ranks of soldiers and team officers, and most of your city governors have rich experience in city management. This was completely different from most Greek city-states, including Athens. Most of the senior officials elected by the people through the Citizens' Assembly were hypocrites who only knew how to flatter and cater to the people. They did not know how to manage a city-state, let alone how to lead the army to victory. The blind ignorance of the people allowed these people to grasp the power of the city-state, so how could the city-state prosper?!
Also, Your Majesty of Devers, you allowed girls and boys to receive the same education and physical training from a young age, and granted them more property and freedom of life when they reach adulthood. Although you have yet to allow women to take up some public positions in the kingdom, compared to other Greek city-states, you have done a very good job on the issue of gender equality.
Also, Diónia has also made the distribution of property fair. Every citizen of the kingdom will be given five acres of land, and according to the citizens' contributions to the kingdom, they will also be given land and other property rewards, instead of letting most of the public property of the kingdom be earned by the nobles and the rich … "
Hearing these words, Dyvers was in a good mood. He half-jokingly and half-seriously said to the other senators who came to the banquet, "Did you hear that? We, the Party members, have so many good points. You should have more confidence in the kingdom and work harder!"
The others laughed in response.
Plato, however, did not laugh. He stared at the Devers and said seriously, "I realized that the greatest merit of Diónia is you, Your Majesty of Devers!"
"Me?"
"Yes." Plato began to get emotional and said loudly, "As a king of a kingdom, you are not above the law, but act according to the law. You do not spend lavishly and pursue a luxurious life, but keep a low profile and moderate. As far as I know, the regime of the Kingdom of Diónia and these amazing laws are mostly due to your suggestions. Without profound knowledge, deep observation, and good judgment, it is difficult to achieve. And only philosophers can do all this! Philosophers do not have to write treatises and be widely known. My teacher, Socrates, has always been all talk and no action. On the other hand, Your Majesty of Devers, you are all action and no action. You are the real king of philosophy! "
At this point, Plato looked excited, and his eyes were shining. "My previous judgment was wrong. My utopia is not impossible to exist in reality, but it is being realized in Diónia!"
In his previous life, Plato had traveled to Tarantum. At that time, Tarantum was in its heyday. Plato hit it off with Archita, who had been the consul for a long time. As an important figure of the Pythagorean school of thought, Archita was the typical image of a "king of philosophy" in Plato's mind, so he highly praised Archita in his works. But in this life, Archita died early, and Tarantum was reduced to a free city of the Kingdom of Diónia. Plato turned his attention to the Devers who had created more glory than Archita.
Of course, the proud Plato at the farewell banquet did not admit that there was an obvious flaw in his book compared to the current situation of Diónia. In the past, he was a little narrow-minded and focused only on one city. He even thought that the population of a city should be 5,040 people. Diónia, with its large population and vast land, could also be governed well. This touched him a lot.
With reluctance and longing for the future, Plato left Turií and returned to Athens. While concentrating on teaching, he also devoted most of his energy to thinking more deeply about the political system of the city-state. A few years later, he wrote the Divers Treatise, claiming that the value of this treatise was far greater than the Lysis Treatise, Gorgias Treatise, Hippias Treatise, and other essays he had written before. It was no less valuable than the Utopia Treatise, but that was a story to be told later.
Note: I've finally finished writing this volume! Before this, I didn't dare to write about Plato, philosophy, and academic debates because I'm not good at them. Some book friends once advised me to avoid them, but I later thought that since I'm writing about ancient Greece, how could there not be a scene of a hundred schools of thought contending in classical culture? So I bit the bullet and wrote about it. I've read several books for this. Although my writing is shallow, at least I've defeated myself.
The next volume is even more exciting because it has things you want to see: Rome, Carthage, Etruria, Egypt, Celts, Iberia …
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