Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 40: Speech against Dionia

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"Good point!" Ancitalus' loud admiration did not interrupt Plato's desire to continue speaking: "Dear King Daves, you once criticized my views in "Utopia", saying, "I There are only city-state citizens in my eyes, and despise slaves and aliens. This time, whether I am traveling in the south or north of Dionia, what I have seen and heard shocked me a lot!

The Romans, Phoenicians, Samonas, and even Volsi people who are not Dionian citizens are trying to speak Greek (Dionian), although most of them speak still Very blunt. I have also encountered several foreign children asking me questions...All of these have made me realize that even aboriginal people who are completely ignorant and backward can be educated to have wisdom and love Greek culture like us, and those who are both The Greeks who are illiterate but are unwilling to make changes should really be despised by us! ……"

Plato took another sip of wine and increased the volume again and said: "When I met you for the first time, I praised you as the true king of philosophy. Now I find that this statement is not entirely true. This time I spent some time in Rome, Bennetum, and Lilibo. I carefully observed the governance of the towns under the jurisdiction of Dionian officials. Although these towns have different conditions and different environments, One thing is the same-the Dionian officials there are all performing their duties very seriously and responsibly, and they are all governing the towns under their jurisdiction in accordance with Dionian laws, and according to what I have observed, They are well governed, and the administrative efficiency is very high......

I once said, "When people are sick, they should look for professional doctors. Merchants know how to find experienced captains when they want to ship goods. But it is so difficult to manage a city-state without any experience. But selfish city-state citizens come to participate widely, how can the city-state have a good development! But many Greek city-states do just that!

As far as I know, the senior officials in the towns of Dionia are promoted through step-by-step experience. They have enough experience and wisdom to deal with and solve the various problems encountered in the town. This It's the "selection of talents" that you once told me. Therefore, the original sentence I said needs to be changed, "Not only is King Davos, you are a true philosopher, but many of your officials are also philosophers. It is precisely under your governance, Dai Aonia will be as powerful as it is today! "

"Respected Plato Scholar." Daves, who is in a high position, has heard too many compliments over the years and has become accustomed to it. However, he has been praised by a great man who was called "the father of Western philosophy" in a previous life. Still made him feel a little proud, with a pleasant smile on his face, he tried to make himself humble and said: "Are you here today to praise Dionia?"

"Since Dionia is doing well, why not praise it!" Plato raised his glass and said loudly, "Come on, let us praise Dionia together!"

Davers smiled and raised his glass.

After finishing this cup with the others, Plato shook his head, as if to shake off some of the drunkenness, he squeezed his face vigorously, and then said: "Dear King Daves, you still Remember Isocrates?"

"Of course I remember." Daves said with a puzzled face: "The famous orator and rhetorician in Athens, we both invited him to speak at the 1st and 2nd Congress of Greek Scholars, but afterwards When I invited him again, he refused to come again. I used to think that he was dissatisfied because we did not take good care of her during the previous reception."

"Your Majesty, although Isocrates is rigorous and does not like to talk too much, he is not a person who likes to care about this." Lycia, who has lived in Athens for many years and has close contacts with Isocrates Si 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 be able to spare time to come to Turei to attend the conference."

"Oh, yes, he also built a school." Daves looked at Plato interestingly and asked, "Isn't there a competition with your school?"

Plato said frankly: "I and Isocrates’ schools have different training goals. His school pays more attention to teaching students how to make sentences, how to make speeches, how to better conduct public political life... Practicality. My Akademi pays more attention to studying the political system of the city-state and discussing how to build a more perfect country... But it is true that there is a certain degree of competition between our two colleges. Just last year, I and He had a debate."

"Oh?" Davers showed a surprised look, but in fact he not only knew about the debate, but he also kept a rough record of the debate in his mansion.

"This debate is still related to you Dionia." Plato said earnestly: "I think the reason why Isocrates has not promised you any more invitations to participate in the conference of scholars in recent years, one of the main The reason is that he believes that the existence of the Kingdom of Dionia is a huge threat to the Greek mainland——"

"How is this possible—" Lycias was a little surprised, but he was picked up by Ansitanos before he finished speaking: "For this, I can also prove that in the fourteenth year of the kingdom (AD 380 BC), our war with Carthage has just begun. At the 99th Olympia Games, Isocrates delivered a speech "Dedication to the All-Hellenic Event", the main content of which was to call on the Greek city-states to stop the war. , Unite, unite with the outside world, restore the glory of the Greek ancestors in the Hippo War, complete their unfinished business, and liberate the Greek compatriots in Asia Minor who were enslaved under Persian rule. The Greeks in the civil war should be cursed...

But at the end of this speech, he also mentioned...well, that's what the original text says...

'Today we gather in Olympia to thank Zeus for his blessing to the Greeks, but we should be able to feel that compared to decades ago, this event has been deserted a lot, not only because of the war, but also because there are fewer Many city-states participated. Tarantum, Crotone, Lokri, Turri, Syracuse, Agrigento... these colonial city-states in the Western Mediterranean have shown the vanity and shallowness of their people at previous events. It does make us despise, but the absence of them at the event will make us feel lonely. They were originally a member of our Greek family, but now they have all become towns under the kingdom of Dioria.

Is Dionia a Greek country?

Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, and the Isthmus Games have never seen them, nor did Delphi set up a holy library for them. This shows the attitude of the priests representing the will of the gods towards this Western Mediterranean Kingdom. Not only because it has too many barbarians in its country, but also because it distorts our understanding of gods! Dionia believes that Hades is the lord of the gods and not Zeus. He also allows citizens to believe in the gods of aliens. Can Dionia, who can perform such terrible behaviors, call it a Greek country! Under the influence of such misconceptions, it is of course impossible for Dionian citizens to become Greeks of the same faith as us!

But why don't we protest their wrongdoings and even send troops to interfere? Because Dionia is very powerful, its powerful strength gathered through the annexation of many Greek colonial city-states can actually force Naples, which is still an independent city-state and whose national power is relatively strong, to not participate in this grand event, just because it is afraid of Dionia. Will be dissatisfied with it.

When we were instigated by the Persians to kill each other for our own benefit, Dionia, which annexed our sub-states and colonial cities in the Western Mediterranean, has expanded into a huge kingdom, although it So far, it has not shown any maliciousness to us, but it is so different from us and so close to us. Once a conflict occurs, the consequences will be serious!

A Greek with wisdom! To our east are the Persians who have never given up wanting to enslave us, and our neighbor to the west is a powerful kingdom that makes us unable to guess our minds. Our situation is so dangerous, shouldn’t we abandon our prejudices? , Just like the invading Persian army decades ago, unite again, defend our homeland, and regain the glory of our ancestors...'"

"Why didn't I know that there was such a speech?!" Lycias was surprised after hearing it.

"Because the Thebes and Athens were already at war with Sparta at that time, the two sides did not dare to offend Persia and us, so as not to cause a change in the battle situation, so the popularity of this speech was deliberately prohibited. This is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The official manuscript was obtained with great effort when the official of the country went to the mainland of Greece.” Ansitanos explained: “From this speech, it can be seen that Isocrates regards us as the mainland of Greece. Potential threat."

"Since you defeated Carthage, last year, Isocrates has regarded Dionia as a real threat to Greece and Athens. Not only did he often promote his views to the students, but also I have given speeches at the citizens’ assembly several times to remind the people. Since my first participation in the Greek Scholars’ Conference, I have written many positive articles on the regime of the Kingdom of Dionian, suggesting that the Greek city-states headed by Athens can learn from it. Every time, many citizens of Athens, even the people of Thebes, Corinth and other city-states rushed to copy and circulate..." Plato said with a serious expression: "So Isocrates thinks I am a fan of the Kingdom of Dionian. , I must be refuted in front of the public before the citizens of Athens can have a unified understanding."