Those terms are ridiculously generous to Taras given the current situation they're in. The upside of accepting peace now would be that it leaves us in quite a good strategic position moving forward. It just requires the short term sacrifice of not getting everything we want right now.
Basically, it gives the Tarentines
just enough Messapii land that they have something to profitably occupy themselves for the next several years. This is much, much less than the Tarentines could have hoped for if they'd been left with a free hand to conquer Messapii territory for themselves, or if the northern half of the Messapii confederation had broken off to join us while the southern half collapsed.
This is what it looks like when someone like Taras loses, but doesn't lose
hard enough to be rendered toothless and irrelevant.
*edit*
Also, Metapontion are crafty little buggers. They've done nothing at all in this war but they're about to use it to force Taras to commit to not going to war with them for 20 years.
Well, right now if the Tarentines attack Metapontion, all the Metapontines have to do is ask Eretria OR the Thurii, let alone both, for help. And if the Tarentines attack the Messapii, they go running to us and we have a repeat of the war we just fought.
In effect it's a recognition of strategic realities: the Tarentines aren't in a good position to wage offensive war, and won't be for quite a while. Metapontion loses nothing by swearing not to attack the other powers, so for them it's just a good way to lock in the status quo for a while.
Personally, I had hoped that we might force Hydrus and Kaliopolis to join our league. Then there is also avoiding giving them any Messapi land, though I am fine with the peace offer.
We'd have had to win a lot harder to make that happen.
For instance, if we'd rolled well on the "do the Hydrians and Kalliopolitans leave Myron's army and return home after we loot their home cities" check, resulting in a numerical hit to Myron's army that in turn resulted in him getting pounded worse in the battle outside the walls of Taras, or getting chewed up worse before reaching the walls,
THEN we might be in a position to pressure those cities to join the Epulian League.
But even then, the Italiote cities trying to impose the peace would probably resist that. Remember that a big part of their goal here is to maintain the balance of power between Eretria and Taras so that Eretria doesn't grow strong enough to start rolling up the OTHER Greek city-states one by one.
[] Refuse the peace and continue the siege.
I find it utterly bizarre that everyone is acknowledging that the treaty is unbelievably generous to Taras, and yet still want to accept it anyway.
Me, I think it's moderately generous to Taras and
quite generous to us. Look at the map- we're gaining control over a much larger tract of land.
This treaty doesn't solve the problem posed by Taras at all. It actively feeds the narrative of the war faction, by formally recognising that Eretria 'provoked' the war. This treaty is a poisoned chalice that will only cement Taras's hostility, even as it leaves their power intact.
The treaty also formally recognizes that Taras
started the war, and forces Taras to spend twenty years NOT fighting wars against any of its immediate neighbors. It's entirely possible that this will force them to adopt a less warlike stance in general, or at least leave them with an inexperienced army that has little room to grow while our own forces wax in power.
I can't help but stew over what we could've accomplished. The big three things which have struck by craw so badly are thus: That Metapontion gets to trot out of here feeling and looking like the big man, that Taras hasn't actually had their lands and position on the peninsula reduced - indeed, the opposite occurred, with them just increasing and consolidating their territory overall and the two dependancies show no sign of being willing to flip sides and join our league, and we were unable to inflict any critical defeats on Taras. The war at sea went brilliantly from beginning to end, they'll never try and contest there again, but on land it was just kind of a mess. The Messapii were completely useless, which was disappointing but not surprising. I was much more dismayed at how the land campaign went. While the failure of a siege and intervention from other City-States was predictable and acknowledged, the failure to pull off our little guerrilla campaign genuinely stings. While casualties were lopsided, Taras realized what was going on and successfully fought their way out, which then just lead to a strait-forward battle.
Overall, we weren't able to inflict serious casualties or genuinely hurt Taras. While I understand checking their attempt at expansion was a success and burning their port will take them a while to recover from, I can't help but feel like they'll have fully recovered within a decade, this time properly preparing for a throw-down and the warmongers given credence instead of humiliated. I'm personally not confident we'll be able to win the battle over the hearts and minds of our neighbors, especially if Sparta wins the Peleponesian war.
On land, we forced the Tarentines all the way back to their walls and fought a straightforward battle
at equal numerical odds, when they started the campaign with twice as many hoplites as we had in the field. That's not a total victory, but it's a pretty significant victory that we managed to whittle down their strength that far. If they'd been unluckier, we'd have had them- and they probably know it.
Skantarios laughs. When I heard you were injured, friend, I worried much: what would our august assembly be without our most spirited and outspoken psilloi? It is good to see that the fates have been kind to you, for your energy and earnestness are a balm to this gathering of impetuous youths and tired fathers. You have proven many times that lack of coin is not lack of courage.
I would propose that the Ekklesia recognize you as excellent among the psilloi. Is there a man tasked with this year's Running of the Weasels? If not, who better than our favorite psilloi to conduct this year's ceremony?
Is there a man among you who will lift my klefte?
Leukos the Accountant:
"I will lift your rock."
