Then, Lysias said earnestly, "This time, Athens sent Isocrates as an envoy to you, Dionia, knowing that I had been here for many years, and invited me to accompany him to Turiyi—"

"You mean Athens sent you as an envoy to Dionia?" Kunograta looked surprised, apparently he hadn't gotten the slightest hint beforehand, and thought that Lysias had just come from Athens to visit his old classmates.

"You know, my father was not an Athenian citizen, so even if I lived in Athens for so many years, I would not be able to become an Athenian citizen, I could not be an emissary at all, I could only assist Isocrates." Lycias did not understand the intention of Kunogorata's surprise, and made a special explanation, obviously a little resentful of it.

"Since that's the case, you better take these clay bottles back, I can't take them!" Kunograta immediately refused.

"Why?" Lysias was surprised.

"There was a lot of trouble in the trial of traitors in Turiyi, and I'm sure you've heard about it." Kunograta saw Lysias nodding, and then said firmly: "I don't want to be the second in Polyxis!" ”

"But...... Athens simply wants to express its friendly will to you Ionian Alliance, and at the same time conclude an alliance. Lysias said urgently.

"Now that Athens is at war with Sparta, against whom is this covenant going to be?" As a political veteran, Kunogorata immediately guessed Athens' motives: "Sparta? No, Dionya did not yet have the strength to face the wrath of the Greek overlord. Sparta's staunch ally Syracuse? Unfortunately, we have just signed an amicable agreement with Syracuse. ”

Lycias was a little overwhelmed by Cuno Gorata's words, he was different from Isocrates, although he lived in Athens, because he was not an Athenian citizen, he was excluded from political life for many years, and he did not have much political experience, and even as far as court defense was concerned, because he was not an Athenian citizen, he could not go on the field to defend people, and he could only write a lawsuit speech for others after careful preparation and planning. has been like this all year round, and he lacks a little urgency, so he doesn't know what to say for a while.

Kunograta sighed: "You take these Athenian pottery back first." Since the Athenian envoys had come from afar, the Dionian League certainly had to be absent. I will make a proposal to the Senate tomorrow to prepare the Athenian envoy. ”

"That's fine, that's fine......" Lysias breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lycias." Kunograta looked at her and suddenly asked, "You were a citizen of Turii before, have you ever thought of returning to Turii and becoming a citizen of Dionia?" ”

Lysias was stunned.

"In Athens, you are a Gentile, and even if you have great talents, there is no bigger stage to play. And back to Turiyi, ......" said Kunogorata, and the words changed sharply: "You know Ansitanos, right? ”

Kunogorata's words made Lysias a little distraught, and he muttered, "...... Well, you know...... He was a pupil of Herodotus, and we had a lot of contacts when we were young. ”

"Our Archon, Lord Davers, has proposed the establishment of a Dioonian Academy in Turiy, where the best scholars from all over the Union will be gathered in the Academy, whether it is mathematics, medicine, or literary rhetoric...... They will all enjoy the special remuneration given to them by the alliance, and while continuing to do their own research with peace of mind, they will teach their academic and theoretical knowledge to excellent students, and let their fame spread throughout Greece and even the Mediterranean! ......" Kunogorata saw that Lucias was listening carefully, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"In the lyceum, which had a branch dedicated to the teaching of student literature, Ansitanos was not only a senator of the Senate, but also the dean of the Faculty of Letters, and he wrote his history books while teaching rhetoric, for which he enrolled a dozen students and imparted knowledge. The Senate also appointed a number of people for him to go to various parts of Great Greece to search for information for him to write...... But I think that although Ansitanos is unmatched in the study of history, literary rhetoric is not his strong point, and this is exactly what you are good at. I've heard that in Athens, many people have copied and studied your speeches as model texts. If you can stay in Dionia, our beloved Lord Davers will ask the Senate to grant you permission to become a citizen of Dionia, and to be the head of the Faculty of Letters, teaching students and writing books, and your reputation will be as famous in Greece as Ansitanos! ……”

With Kunograta's knowledge of Davers, he dared to make such a promise. But these words smashed into Lysias's heart like a stone, splashing countless splashes and ripples......

………………………………

Davos took a cursory look at the information Ansitanos gave him, and a look of surprise appeared on his face: "There is also a great altar of Hercules in the city of Rome, are you sure?" ”

"Yes, sir. This large altar is located near the Roman cattle market, which we first obtained from the Capuan merchants who came to Picosis to trade, and sent someone to confirm it. Your Excellency you should know, Hercules once stole the cattle of Grimion and brought them back to King Auretheus after a long journey, so many races in the western Mediterranean that live on animal husbandry use Hercules as the protector of animal husbandry...... "Ansitanos did not think that there was anything great about Rome's worship of Hercules, on the contrary, when he talked about the topic of Hercules, he gushed endlessly.

In fact, regarding the activities of Hercules in the Western Mediterranean and its study, it was a special task given to Ansitanos by Davers. Because after the conquest of the Brutians, Davers discovered a strange phenomenon: in the Bruti region, there were many altars and idols of Hercules, and the Brutians even claimed to be "the descendants of Hercules, because their ancestor Brutus was born to the hero Hercules and their queen Valentia." ”

This statement surprised Davers that a foreign race claimed to be a descendant of a famous Greek god, which allowed the Dionian League to find common ground for assimilating the Brutis, who were all "kindred".

However, this also made Davers pay attention to Hercules, the god of Hercules in Greek mythology, and what he learned from Ansitanos and others suddenly made him realize: it turned out that Hercules was very famous in the Western Mediterranean, and half of the "12 great deeds" that legend has it that he completed took place in the Western Mediterranean. This outlier of the Greek gods spent most of his time wandering in the western Mediterranean, he traveled to Sicily, traveled north through Italy, crossed Gaul, came to the Iberian Peninsula, and before stealing the golden apple from the garden of Hesparides (11th achievement), in order to cross the Atlas Mountains, he used his divine power to divide the mountain range in two, thus connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the western Mediterranean, which is the origin of the "Pillars of Hercules" in the Greek population.

Hercules reached as far as Elutia, the mysterious island in the Atlantic Ocean at the westernmost point of the world, killed Cleion, took the herd, and then drove the herd through Western Europe again before returning to Greece...... In his adventure stories, because his heroic deeds of chivalry and righteousness are widely circulated, he has been loved and recognized by many people of different races. In many parts of the Western Mediterranean, legends have been left of him who had many children with noble women of the local race, and the Brutis are just one of them......

Davers picked up the research material again and read it carefully.

Ansitanos was not in a hurry at all, he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and began to conceive of the history book he was going to write.

After a long time, Davers closed the page, put the information on the wooden table, rubbed his somewhat sour eyes, and asked, "Lord Ansitanos, as a historian, through the materials you have collected, you have wiped away the dust of those myths and legends, what do you see?" ”

Ansitanos opened his eyes, and Davers's question was quite interesting, but wasn't that what a historian is good at, so he thought for a moment and said, "What I see is the strong attraction of the Greek high culture to these mountain races, which are still in the stage of ignorance, and they all want to get involved with Greece in order to show that their origins are not barbaric. ”

"Yes, that's what we'd like to see." Davers bowed his head lightly and said in a deep voice, "It seems that we need to build a magnificent temple of Hercules in Turiyi and hold an annual celebration for him to strengthen the identification of the aliens with Dionia. ”

"Your Excellency, your decision is very wise!" Ansitanos complimented.

"But—" Davers picked up the information on the table and changed his words, "Lord Ansitanos, you only see the surface of this information, and you have not yet discovered the deeper meaning. ”

What is the deeper meaning? Ansitanos looked at Davers with some suspicion, he had read it many times before handing it to Davers.

"Look here—" Davers turned a page and read aloud: "While Hercules was driving his cattle back to Greece, a lost bull swam across the Strait of Messina and came to a place in Sicily called Erix, where it was collected by a local ruler. When Hercules found out, he killed the ruler, recaptured the bull, and agreed to return the land to the oppressed natives of the land, making a pact that 'once his descendants appear in Sicily, the natives will have to return the land to them.' ’”

"Yes, there is such a legend about Hercules in Sicily." Ansitanos nodded.