OOC: Instantly realised after I posted that it was too extreme a rhetoric and edited it. Majorly regretted using something so extreme not gonna lie.
I would argue that you do not see the issue here. The true issue. Even the very wording of their proposals have the words 'elevation' in them, the idea of being equal to the citizens of Eretria! That is demeaning! They are Metics! We cannot and should not allow them to impinge upon our rights, even the smallest of our capabilities as free Citizens of the city are gifted by the gods! To refer to our rights as little matters? You do not see, the discontent in the proposed wording of our rejection! The insult laid within the proposal itself!
We are citizens, every right is sacred, every right shall be protected, by all means aid the Metics and give them the means to better organise and defend themselves in the courts, but we must never compromise upon what the gods have given us!
OOC: I just think, due to the working being the only hint we have as to how our people see this, we shouldn't allow through the most aggressively denied and the option which most seems to imply equality, which will set some people off
Broken-nosed, Leukos teeters briefly atop his rock, then recovers his balance.
Leukos the Accountant, rather sarcastic:
"
There stands Ajax, bearing his shield in front of him like a wall! A shield of bronze with seven folds of oxhide! Watch him advance upon the one concern before us, brave, indomitable, shedding all other matters of importance and the counsel of good sense, as if they were so many darts flung from the bows of the cowardly archers of the Trojans!"
"But for wise council one might seek not the counsel of mighty Ajax. One might instead seek to emulate Nestor, whose counsel was ever truest, or Odysseus, the man of twists and turns, and see all that lies around. For what if Ajax should attain victory, trampling under his mighty and valiant sandals the one great thing that concerns him? What then? Why, perhaps he may find that he has been cheated by the tricks of the foreigner, and that his seven layers of oxhide have been exchanged for some other product of the ox!"
[grins]
"In the matter of the entreaties of the Epidamnians, there are a thousand arguments we might make, fearing the east or loving the west, or of strategy, or of prudence, or of the days of our grandfathers' journey from Eretria-that-was to these Italian shores. But me? For me, the matter is simple. Hospitality and courage in the face of one's enemies are well favored by the gods. It is enough."
[X] [Epidamnians] Eretria Eskhata should host them.
"In the matter of seeking further metics from overseas, what should be the distinction of the metic who abides within Eretria? Should it be his strong back? No, for when that strength fails in his age or sickness, we do not drive the oldest of our metics, whose sons and grandsons dwell yet within the city, from our gates. Should it be his cunning artistry? No, for if a metic is lacking in wits, and finds himself most suitable for simple labors and the guidance of other men, we do not exile him from the city either, but allow him to take pride in honest labor."
"What is the one crime against the city for which any metic, be he ever so strong or so cunning, must be cast out?
Treachery! And therefore, what distinguishes the metic in Eretria from other men, from those unfit to reside within our walls?
Faithfulness! Faithfulness to the city that shelters and feeds him. What qualifies a man to reside among Eretrians for any length of time is his capacity for gratitude and honor, that he may stand a foreigner among Eretrians, but a man among men!"
[X] [Immigration] Loyalty
As for the metics, you much lament a little matter, and in your supposed defense of our rights as citizens demean us. Are we so stricken that we must unman the metic man? No, a thousand times no, and it little matters besides: on this all the great men of Eretria do agree.
So says Skantarios the hoplite.
"And this truth, that the metic in Eretria is a foreigner among Eretrians, but a man among men? This should guide us in all the matters of detail brought before us by good Timotaios today. Skantarios, valiant with his spear in the front ranks of battle, has the right of it. The metic is a foreigner, but not to be unmanned- for if the metic is unworthy of even that, better he be driven forth from the city here and now! Better we search all of Greece for someone more worthy of our protection and our silver!"
"For instance, it is only proper that the metics be allowed to know when they may bring their concerns before us. No man deserves to be left waiting, year upon year, knowing not the hour or the day at which he may speak upon his behalf. Imagine, if you will, the agonies that would befall a man awaiting trial while he grew old and gray, never to face a jury! No man of the slightest worth should be forced to suffer such an abuse, and so it is right and proper that the metics in Eretria be told that they may send their concerns to be brought before the
ekklesia at regularly scheduled times. Eight years? I would have been content enough if it were six years, or four. It is only just that a man be allowed to speak his piece, or find some worthy to speak it for him, as the man without letters may ask a friend to compose for him some piece of writing."
[Leukos, who has been known to perform exactly that service, spreads his hands and continues]
[X] [Standardization] Allow a standard presentation of grievances every eight years, counting from 346 OL.
"Continuing, guided by the same spirit- a metic in Eretria is a man among men. Consider the man who fights as a lion, shield to shield with the mightiest of our warlike heroes, the last in retreat and the most valiant in attack. Who upholds with his flesh and blood the honor of Eretria's arms, and spurns her enemies with cruel iron and ruddy bronze. Such a one, should he also swear mighty oaths by every god to honor every Eretrian thing and to disdain all that is foreign to the city, and should he abide by certain other laws and proprieties, may perhaps no longer be called a foreigner. Not a foreigner, but a citizen, might we see fit to call him, should the
ekklesia come together, to invite him to be lifted up.
"For
kleftes and noble words may impart value and worth to an inanimate stone, such as that rock upon which Kallias, son of Aristedes, proposed the foundation of the Sacred Treasury. That rock now stands in front of the Treasury itself, blocking the door, in memory of his wisdom. And in the same way, so might the
ekklesia as a whole impart dignity to a man. This should be the proper way in which a hero among the metics might aspire to be one of the citizens of Eretria, for it is this place-"
[Leukos spreads his arms widely, indicating the assembled citizens]
"-to which only a citizen can come."
[X] [Citizenship] If the city should bound citizenship grants by strict rules, then Metic heroes should be given it.
"But that! That is the very law that must matter! The metic, though he be strong like a Hercules, brilliant like Homer, may never come here to
demand citizenship, nor even to beg it of us!
No man not a citizen of Eretria may intrude upon the sacred ekklesia! And for this reason, just though it be that the complaints and needs of the metics be brought before us, always must it be a citizen, like good Timotaios, who brings these words before us. Never one elected by the metics, for though they be men among men, they remain foreigners among Eretrians, and none save Eretria herself may say otherwise! This, we do not forget!"
[X] [Prytanis] The Prytanis will remain a chosen citizen.
"And it is in the same spirit- some may gainsay me here- that I say that no metic should sit on a jury of the citizens, even when it is a metic who is on trial."
"I understand that the metics may cry out if those most intemperate among us might mock them on trial. For to do such a thing is to lack the virtue of justice, and to take advantage of being one man among many in order to mock one man alone? It is not to be sought out by men who fear and honor the gods. I will say more of this later."
[Leukos pauses]
"I do not say that the present system of citizen juries over all metics is the ideal. And I would not object, were the
ekklesia to create a separate court for the metics, and laws for that court. Many cities have done the same. It would not be an injustice."
"But how are we to sit, in our deliberations at trial, side by side with those who are in the city but not of it? It is, as I said before, not to be stood for, but to be jumped upon! For though the metics be men, they are yet foreigners, and none but Eretria herself can say otherwise."
[X] [Juries] Citizens are just as good a judge as metics, and there is no need to involve them.
"At the same time-"
[Broken-nosed Leukos waggles his hands, pantomiming a balance scale- momentarily teetering on his narrow rock]
"-though they be foreigners, yet they are men. When the metics tell good Timotaios that they are being treated as less than the citizens of fair Eretria, I reply that yes, this is the nature of things. But when they tell him that they are being treated as less than
men, I listen closely, and you, my friends, would be wise to do the same. For a man may live long- all his life- knowing not the freedoms of the citizen."
"But if you seek to deprive him of his manhood? Then it matters not whether he have a deep love of freedom, or only the common impulses of all men, Greek and barbarian alike! Even a beast, unaccustomed to the yoke, will resist such treatment. And a man? Though he have no more wits than a brute beast, it is likely that he will assert his manhood, and deny his enemies, and rightly so! For the gods have so made the world that to deprive another of his manhood, to shame another, not out of revenge or punishment for a crime, but merely for gratification of one's pleasures, is to commit the error of hubris!"
"No metic may set foot in the
ekklesia. He is not an Eretrian. No metic may sit upon a jury of the citizens. He is not an Eretrian. Let the metic pay doubled taxes, and wear his hat, and follow all of the other laws. For he is no Eretrian. But ask not that the metic submit to the dishonorable treatment of his daughter, the fruit of his loins and the treasure of his heart. For though they are foreigners among Eretrians, yet they are men among men, and we would do well to remember it!"
[X] [Marriage] Reform the laws so the Metic Father has the same rights in the marriage of his daughter.
[Leukos steps down from his rock, with a slight sigh of relief to be on steadier ground.]
