Daunians

Yet to the many neighboring powers whose maritime claims overlap with China's, the steady proliferation of runways, missile systems, hardened shelters, and surveillance infrastructure on disputed features understandably looks less like passive fortifications than platforms for sustained power projection.

The perils of such hubris are made even more apparent in the section of The Adventures of Telemachus dealing with the coalition war against Adrastus, the aggressive and faithless king of the Daunians.

An altogether less complex figure than Idomeneus and a prince who knows no law but his own interest, Adrastus understands power chiefly as the capacity to intimidate, deceive, and exploit temporary superiority.

In his brutish worldview, treaties are conveniences, weakness is an invitation, and neighbors are sniveling vassals or prospective prey.