Chapter 357

The plaintiff and the defendant stood on either side in front of Tritodemus.

According to the law, given that the plaintiff and the defendant might not understand the numerous articles of the Theonian Code and might not be eloquent, they were allowed to hire lawyers to argue in court. However, Polyexis, the first to be tried in this case, decided to defend himself. Since the crimes he committed far exceeded the scope of the initial plaintiff’s (i.e., the freedman’s) accusation, a public prosecutor appointed by the court brought the suit. The public prosecutor was Davos’s former scribe, Aristocrates.

After Aristocrates became a preparatory citizen of Theonia, Davos suggested he work in the court. He successfully passed the assessment, starting as a court recorder. While working diligently, he studied Theonian law hard. After becoming a formal Theonian citizen, he served as a junior judge in the circuit court. In over a year, he became a rising star among Theonian judges with the dazzling achievement of judging “over 200 cases and disputes without error.” For this trial, Davos personally selected him as the public prosecutor, holding high hopes for him.

Because Davos had modified the future judicial system and transplanted it to Theonia, it appeared distinctive from the start.

One must know that in this era, the most highly regarded Athenian courts had no specialized judges. Only order officers maintained court procedures, and the power of judgment lay in the hands of the jury. However, the jury had no fixed number; the size was decided based on the magnitude of the case. The highest number of jury members could reach over two thousand, and the verdict was decided by majority vote. Therefore, in Athens, juries had to participate regardless of the case size. Every day, about three or four thousand citizens rushed back and forth between various courts in the city and the port. Other city-states jokingly called them “Athenians are Greeks who love litigation.”

But in Theonia, apart from important cases like murder and treason which required a jury for adjudication, other civil disputes were generally finalized directly by judges. Even if the defendant requested a jury, it was highly likely to be rejected. The reason was that citizens of the Theonian League were busy: military training, field labor, market trade, public infrastructure construction… They didn’t have so much free time to sit in court and listen to plaintiffs and defendants talk about matters unrelated to them.

In Athens, because the city-state was extremely wealthy, serving as a juror came with monetary compensation. Some citizens even made a living from it, so they went happily.

In short, with Theonia’s current strength and financial resources, it could not afford this time-consuming and costly Athenian-style trial method, nor did it intend to implement it. Because Theonians worried that breaking the law would affect their entry into the legion, holding public office, or receiving city-state rewards, truly major crimes were rare. Therefore, large-scale trial scenes with juries like this were rarely seen by the public. For many, it could be said to be the first time witnessing the operation of a Theonian trial with their own eyes.

Victory Square was soon filled with people, and more kept coming from outside…

When the water level of the clepsydra dropped to the eight o’clock mark, Tritodemus struck the bell to open the court.

Since both the plaintiff and the defendant were present, the public prosecutor made the opening statement first. Aristocrates briefly explained the process: the freedman suing at the temple, the patrol searching according to routine, discovering evidence, etc. Immediately after, he presented the seized evidence to the jury, accusing Polyexis of crimes such as illegal possession of land and restricting others’ freedom.

A commotion began to appear among the audience below the platform.

Tritodemus had to ring the bell to remind the audience to keep quiet. Then he signaled that the defendant, Polyexis, could make his defense.

As a veteran politician, Polyexis still held his head high and maintained high spirits because he knew that showing dejection would be perceived by the public as an admission of guilt. Although he hadn’t participated in the formulation of the legal trial system back then, he had observed the entire process of Davos persuading the senators. Therefore, he knew that the key to acquittal in a large-scale Theonian trial lay with the jury.

So he said with a voice full of passion, “Members of the jury, at this moment I recall my father, my grandfather… As one of the earliest founders of Thurii city, they poured all their heart and blood onto this land, which was once wilderness, leading to today’s prosperous city. Influenced by my forebears, since adulthood, I have also been making my own efforts for this city. Like you, I have tilled the fields, served as a soldier, participated in battles, and held low-level public offices. Later, I was elected by the people as a General of Thurii multiple times, exhausting my heart for this city-state—”

At this moment, Aristocrates stood up and interrupted him: “Polyexis, as one of the former Generals of Thurii, you should bear responsibility for the burning of Thurii city! And at the final moment when the city was breached, as a general, instead of leading the people to face the enemy, you disappeared. And you dare say you gave everything for the city-state! This is simply not the truth!” Clearly, Aristocrates had carefully investigated Polyexis’s life beforehand.

As soon as he finished speaking, someone below the stage responded: “He’s right! I was in the ranks fighting the Crotoniates back then. Many died, including Neanthis, but from beginning to end, we never saw a shadow of you, Polyexis!”

“Coward!”

“Craven!”

…

People below the stage began to curse loudly.

“Silence! Silence!” Tritodemus had to ring the small bell again to remind the public to keep quiet, while warning, “Both of you, do not speak of topics unrelated to this defense. Return to the accused issues.”

It should be said that because there weren’t many large-scale trial cases in Theonian courts, young judges like Aristocrates lacked experience. Otherwise, he could have raised an objection the moment Polyexis started speaking.

But their initial confrontation attracted the public’s attention. The court was like a battlefield; words were swords, concerning life and death. The risk and intensity far exceeded watching a play. The Theonian people began to widen their eyes, looking forward to their more exciting debate to come.

Polyexis was quite embarrassed. Selfish as he was, he had genuinely forgotten about being a deserter. He had originally wanted to continue promoting his hard work and high merit in the Senate, but now that was hopeless. He gave his opponent a deep look and then began to say, “As a Senator of the Theonian Senate, I have always regarded Archon Davos as a role model and responded to Hades’s revelation. That is why, disregarding my own loss, I granted freedom to a large number of slaves in my household. To date, I have released 57 slaves, and 6 have become formal citizens. I think apart from Lord Davos, is there any other citizen in Theonia who treats slaves as kindly as I do? None!” Polyexis looked around with an awe-inspiring expression.

“The freed slaves, out of gratitude and repayment, give me some money and goods every year as a return. Unable to decline their great kindness, I reluctantly accepted. Because with more money, I can buy more slaves and give freedom to more slaves!… Alas, but I never expected to be misunderstood by everyone as corruption! This… this is truly a huge blow to my enthusiasm for wholeheartedly wanting to learn from Lord Davos! It is a misunderstanding!…” He put on an aggrieved look toward the jury.

Aristocrates said coldly, “Whether Polyexis is corrupt or not, Judge, please allow me to question the witnesses.”

Tritodemus nodded in agreement.

Aristocrates called up a total of ten witnesses, all freed slaves of Polyexis. Some were just released, some had become preparatory citizens, and some were already formal citizens. These witnesses with citizenship didn’t want to appear in court, but it was enforced by the court because it was the duty of League citizens.

After they swore to Hades not to lie, Aristocrates questioned them one by one, each question sharper than the last. During this time, Polyexis tried to interrupt several times but was reprimanded by Judge Tritodemus.

Seeing Polyexis’s bad situation and fearing the charge of lying, which could be judged as “blasphemy,” the witnesses spilled everything in detail.

Now the people near the wooden platform understood clearly:

First, the location of the land owned by these witnesses was already enviable; it was all fertile land on the Sybaris Plain. One must know that when the League was first established, there were many people and little land. To prevent land from going fallow, quite a bit of land was rented to freedmen and released slaves for cultivation. Later, land rental in Sybaris became tight; there wasn’t even enough to distribute to preparatory citizens, let alone rent to freedmen. Yet Polyexis’s newly released slaves could rent good land. This was a very big problem.

Second, after paying the League’s taxes, these witnesses had to give another 40% of the land income to Polyexis.

Third, witnesses who became formal citizens actually had to give Polyexis 5% of their own land income annually. Why would formal citizens voluntarily send him money? Because Polyexis bribed some people in the Ministry of Agriculture. When allocating “allotted land” to these people becoming formal citizens, they tampered with the land measurement, adding an acre or half an acre. Since their “allotted lands” were often in relatively remote places, it wasn’t easily discovered. Therefore, these citizens from Polyexis’s household benefited, and fearing the land would be taken back during the Ministry of Agriculture’s annual random checks, they voluntarily gave benefits to Polyexis.

By the time Aristocrates finished questioning, Polyexis already felt the anger of the people below the stage. He hurriedly shouted loudly, “They are all lying! All lying! I never did these things; someone is framing me! They are afraid I will shake his—”