"Had we caught Pueketti chieftains conspiring with the Dauni, we would have surely put them to death as well. The treachery of doing so at a reconciliation feast bodes poorly, but then we have no cause to trust the Dauni and the Dauni have no cause to trust us. We have only reason to guide our interests, and reason says that Eretria has no interest in a bloody and prolonged war against the Dauni. War with the Dauni offers little gain and much hardship, and does not play to our advantages as a naval power. And to say we have no enemies while we are likely to make an enemy with our choice of the treaty is naive. War with the Dauni is the wrong war, at the wrong time, and for the wrong reasons.
And the barbaroi being human can reason themselves, and have come to the conclusion that war with Eretria means death. That I feel more confident in than any pledge to any god or goddess that their King might make."
"You expect reason from the descendants of those we have butchered and defeated time and again?
Where was the reason when the Messapi broke their oath to Artemis and turned against us despite the wealth we had given them?
Nevertheless, there is reason to betray us. They would gain land, ports, coin, revenge and a thousand other things for stabbing us in the back.
It is only reasonable, from the perspective of a Barbaroi noted for their treachery, to turn against and butcher a potential enemy. Those who were only just
murdered were willing to make peace, in exchange for freedom to trade with Eretria, something that would've enriched
all the Dauni. Where was the reason in slaughtering them?
There is no such thing as true peace or arête for the Dauni Murderer. As we have seen displayed time and again.
The Peuketii have shown they are willing to lie to us, the Messapi squabble for power, their serfs and lessers seethe in resentment.
If a war comes, and Eretria turns away, it is only reasonable to stoke this resentment, abuse this desire for power and strike the undefended back.
You speak of reason, as though Peace is the only recourse of the reasonable. As though neither side gains anything at all from war.
There is land, glory, revenge, coin, salt and more.
Denying the fact we have that which they want and see as theirs, overlordship of the Iapgyians and resources, and that they have things we truly desire, their salt and an end to the threat they represent, is in defiance of the reason you claim to represent!
So speaks Ajax, The Spiteful"
OOC I gave Ajax a nickname because several people noted IC how offensive his initial dialogue was, not sure if it works, but I like to think it gives him more or an identity and stops me from having to write out his lineage and position every time.
