Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece
chapter-752

In such a situation, the Athenians did not believe that they and Thebes could stand up to the mighty Spartans alone. So, after urgent consultations between the Boule and the Council, Athens decided to compromise in the face of the aggressive Spartan Ephors.

The Athenian government, having immediately recalled the two Athenian strategoi who were in Thebes, held an ecclesia to try them on the charge that they, to whom the people of Athens had entrusted a position of authority, had entered Thebes without the permission of the Athenian government and fought against the Spartans, thereby endangering Athens… which is a dereliction of duty and treason.

Although most Athenians privately supported the actions of the two strategoi, they didn't want to go to war with the mighty Spartans at this time. So, against their will, they voted to give the two men the harshest of punishments – execution, to quell the Spartans' wrath.

The Gerousia were relieved to hear of Athens' actions once the satisfied Spartan Ephors returned. Now, they had only one enemy to focus on, Thebes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When news of the crushing defeat of the Carthaginian army and the Iberian navy reached Carthage, it sent shock waves through the population. While the Carthaginian high officials mourned the heavy losses of the Sacred Band, the elite families wept bitterly over the deaths and injuries of their children. They became furious at the incompetence of the army's supreme commander, Muntebaal, that they demanded Muntebaal’s removal and brought back to Carthage, where he would be tried by Carthage's Hundred and Four and sentenced to the cruel ‘crucifixion'. (The criminal's hands and feet were nailed to a wooden cross and left to bleed to death in the sun.)

Faced with the people's wrath, Hanno didn't defend Muntebaal and allowed the Senate to pass the resolution.

Having dealt with this issue, the Carthaginian Senate began a heated debate on the advancing Theonian army.

Then the newly-appointed Shophet, Eshmounadon, boldly proposed, “My lords, it seems that the Theonian army and navy are too strong, and it was our mistake to venture into war with Theonia without adequate preparation. Therefore, we should consider making temporary peace with Theonia to rescue the captured Carthaginian citizens and prevent our defenceless lands in western Sicily from being completely occupied by the Theonians…”

The Senate went into an uproar upon hearing Eshmounadon's words. Even Pretasdrubal had to stand up immediately and rebuked loudly, “It's only been a month since the war began, and yet we Carthaginians want to surrender?! I cannot believe our elected and honourable Shophet would make such an absurd suggestion! Our Carthage is no small city-state; we're the leader of all the allied Phoenician city-states in the western Mediterranean! Not only do we control many vast territories, such as Sardinia, Corsica, Numidia and southern Iberia, but we also monopolise the trade in precious metals throughout the western Mediterranean, making us the most powerful and wealthiest city-state in the west Mediterranean!

What will the people of the regions we control, and the city-states and allies that depend on us, think when you ask us to surrender to Theonia, a city-state founded less than twenty years ago?! They will believe that Carthage is no longer powerful! And they would turn their backs on us and even sound the trumpet of revolt, like the Numidians! So we must fight the Theonians until we are victorious, now that the war with them has begun!”

Pretasdrubal's thought-provoking words riled up many elders.

Suddenly, Palteshmoun stood up and said seriously, “Lord Eshmounadon and all the elders here want us to win against Theonia. However, the current situation shows that the Theonian army is so strong that they only need to send fewer troops than us but could still inflict heavy losses on our army! They also have the advantage in the navy!… So we must admit that Theonia is far superior to us militarily, and we are unprepared to face Theonia. But Carthage is now in this difficult situation because some have incited the populace for their own personal gain! So I suggest we first investigate those who advocated the war and put them on trial so the Senate won’t fall into chaos when making new decisions!…”

After Palteshmoun said that, Pretasdrubal immediately retorted, “My lords, could it be that our soldiers and navy are not brave and powerful enough?! No! It is because our commander is incompetent! So how could the Iberian army led by Hasdrubal manage to conquer Cephaloedium while the army Muntebaal led was defeated badly at Minoa when they were both fighting in Sicily?! I heard that instead of going around the camp to know his troops and soldiers, Muntebaal enjoyed liquor and scoured for beautiful women every day after arriving in Lilybaeum. Moreover, instead of going to the battlefield to oversee the attack on Minoa, Muntebaal simply stayed in his tent to drink and enjoy himself! So how could he possibly devise an effective battle plan to defeat the Theonians?!…”

“So sentencing Muntebaal to death by crucifixion is justified! Muntebaal deserves to die!” an elder shouted angrily.

As a result, many of the elders expressed their resentment towards him. Even Hanno became extremely unhappy with Muntebaal that he intensely hated how he had misjudged him, resulting in the whole political situation turning against him.

During the commotion, someone shouted, “Pretasdrubal, since you say that Carthage's defeat by Theonia was due to the commander's incompetence… Who do you think can lead the Carthaginian army and defeat the Theonians?!”

Upon hearing this, Hanno immediately turned to look at the person speaking, and it turned out to be a high-ranking member of the Magonids faction, causing him to curse softly, “Shameless!”

Hanno then heard Pretasdrubal exclaim, “Elders, I assume you have all heard of the Lusitanians in the western part of the Iberian Peninsula and the Celts in the mountains to the north-”

Although most of the Carthaginian elders had yet to go to Iberia, they had learned much about the situation there through Mago's conquest of southern Iberia over the past few decades. It was reported that these two races were closely related to the southern Iberians but were more savage and ferocious and lived and died in battle.

Seeing that he had attracted the attention of many elders, Pretasdrubal said solemnly, “These two natives of Iberia have made several incursions into our territories in southern Iberia, but the army led by Lord Mago has repulsed them. You should know that the Carthaginian army in Iberia consisted of mercenaries and a fair number of Carthaginian citizens and allied Phoenicians. Yet such a mixed army can still defeat such a fierce enemy and conquer a vast land for Carthage. So how could the Carthaginian army, with a more elite Sacred Band and more soldiers, lose to a much smaller Theonian army?!”

Pretasdrubal looked around at the crowd and raised his voice, “This is because only a lion-like commander can lead an army to be as brave as a lion! While a commander who is as weak as a lamb will not be able to bring out the best in his soldiers, even if he leads the best army! Esteemed lords, it is clear that the only one who can lead the army to be as fierce as a lion and win the war against Theonia in Carthage is the Iberian governor, Lord Mago!”

Although many knew that Pretasdrubal would eventually name Mago, no one disagreed with him once he had said it. Even his opponents had to admit that no one could compare to Mago in terms of military talent and achievement.

Over the past decade, Carthage has not been in a state of peace and tranquillity. Instead, they have been actively conquering Numidia to the south of Carthage, and after their conquest, they have occasionally had to suppress Numidian rebels. However, since the various tribes of Numidia had been subjected to economic control, cultural infiltration, alienation and bribery by the Carthaginians for over a century, there was simply no way for them to form a united alliance to repel the Carthaginian attack. As a result, the intensity of the war remained somewhat controlled and far from comparable to the difficulties Mago faced in conquering the unfamiliar southern Iberian region. As a result, Muntebaal, who had performed well on the Numidian battlefield, was utterly defeated by the Theonians once he arrived in Sicily.

“Unfortunately, most of the troops Mago led weren't Carthaginians or Phoenicians…” Eshmounadon said sombrely, saying out loud what the elders were worried about.

Hearing that caused Pretasdrubal to sneer, “Do you think Lord Mago doesn’t want more Carthaginian citizens in his army?! No! It's simply because we couldn't provide enough citizens to conquer the natives of Iberia! What's more, we are facing the Kingdom of Theonia that can muster more than a hundred thousand soldiers at once, but can we with our situation?! We can't! We are already mourning the loss of thousands of Sacred Band soldiers, so what can we use to compete against Theonia? We can only rely on mercenaries and foreign armies!

Everyone should know how Sparta only had a few citizens, and for hundreds of years, they relied on soldiers of their allies and different races to fight and become the hegemon of Greece. But they never feared that the foreign troops under their control would rebel! And Persia, in what battle did they not lead more foreign soldiers than their own? But this has allowed Persia to build a powerful and prosperous empire! Not to mention how Lord Himilco included many Numidians and Celts in his army against Syracuse a dozen years ago! So why are we now worried about these foreign soldiers fighting for us and maintaining Carthage's prestige in the western Mediterranean? Is it because Carthage has become internally fragile and unable to adapt?!!”

Hanno took Pretasdrubal's final rhetorical question with a grain of salt since he was not afraid that the Iberian armies were mostly mercenaries and foreign troops. On the contrary, what worried him was that the Carthaginian Senate wasn’t paying them and were instead paid directly by the Magonids with the wealth they earned on the Iberian peninsula. So in that sense, the Iberian armies could be considered the private armies of the Magonids, which worried Hanno the most!