Fah! The tidings this year bring an ill wind. Truly I am sad to see that my fears with Thurii have proven exactly right. As expected, they question the use of their alliance with us. Kymai is under worse pressure from the shepherds. Syrakousai has almost completed her plans for Sicily. It is welcome to hear of the good reception Obander has recieved from Krotone, Rhegion and Metapontion.
News from Taras, I think, bodes very well. I am filled with admiration for the plans of Telesphoros of the peace party. We should take this proposed peace and encourage the peace party. Their plans will make Taras into a valuable ally for us. Though also potentially a more dangerous rival.
And truly, Obander's platform shows itself even more wise as news comes in. Though tensions mount across Sicily and Italia, we may yet frustrate the ambitions of Syrakousai and the pro-Athenian faction in Thurii.
[OOC note] Voting for Ploutos mainly because I like the redistributive element of showering the poorest women in the city in money. Often in this era, the poorest women will tend to be widows with children and old women without sons to support them.
[X] [Taras] Accept the Tarentine terms.
[X] [Spring] The Courting of Ploutos.A more humorous and commercially oriented women's festival, the courting of Ploutos tells the story of Ploutos' attempts to flee from the bounds of marriage and love in favor of commerce. Celebrated in Eretria as the source of the city's trade wealth, Ploutos is surprisingly popular among widows and wealthy women because of this particular tale's affirmation of the importance of women to wealth. After fleeing from every potential mate, Aphrodite grows incredibly frustrated and crafts Nomisnia, a demigoddess who is good at creating wealth as Ploutos; the two immediately become competitors, further frustrating her. Finally, at last, Hermes intervenes, and convinces the two that they would have double the wealth if they were married, and at last the two accept, finding love in mutual success at business. The festival is celebrated through a dramatic re-enactment, dances between lovers, and a literal shower of drachmas given to the poorest women of the city.
[X] [Winter] The Conquest of the Sea.A grand festival involving mock sea battles and swimming contests which celebrates Poseidon's subjugation of all the creatures of the sea. Poseidon is a popular god across Italia and Sicilia, in sharp contrast to his sometimes muted worship among Ionians on the Mainland. The Conquest of the Sea, conducted in the chilly mid-winter, promises to bring fantastic seafood to the mouths of hungry Eretrians and celebrate the city's naval and commercial traditions as well as thank the Gods for the first voyage that Eretria ever undertook. The greatest part of the festival is the battle between rowers in painted boats representing the dolphins allied to Poseidon and the krakens who oppose him, who conduct a mock ram battle with their boats, trying to tip each other over in the harbor of the fifty masts.
[X] [Honors] The city has no masters except the Gods, none to worship except those in the heavens. To elevate men to such a degree threatens the rise of tyrants.
As to the matter of honours, I believe Skatarios has the right of it. Eretria has always been marked apart from the humility of our best men, who have brought us stability by their obedience to the ekklesia and by recognizing it is time to yield the stage when the city needs the skills of another. It is true that Mnemnon did well in his term, achieving all he promised to the city and behaving with exemplary humility when the ekklesia judged that these years required the skills Obander had, rather than his skills. And by this he shows that he is a worthy successor to the traditions Herodion, Drako and Eusebios set down. But this idea of crowning men with the laurels of Apollo is an attack on one of the most important founding traditions of the city! Citizens! You MUST NOT pass this measure!
These are the urgent words of Kleon son of Aristophanes!
