Chapter 155: Summit Meeting
< 155. Summit Meeting >
When Marcus arrived at the Mars Field, the political situation in Rome was beyond chaotic.
There was no order or harmony to be found, and every day was almost a constant struggle.
“Marcus, please do something about it.”
Cicero, who came out to meet him outside the Servian Wall, complained instead of greeting him and held his head in his hands.
“Everyone here is an idiot! I can’t believe it. What are those organs on their shoulders for? Have the nutrients from the luxurious dishes they eat every day gone to their lower bodies instead of their brains?”
“You must have had a hard time.”
“It was not a pain that could be expressed by that. I seriously thought I would have a hole in my stomach.”
“Did the situation get so chaotic?”
Cicero sighed deeply and bit his lip.
“You’ll be surprised when you go in and see for yourself. The Senate and the Assembly are not normal right now. They just clash head-on, and no one seems to have any intention of negotiating or compromising.”
“I didn’t expect it to get so heated.”
“In my opinion, this has become a matter of pride. Neither the populist nor the optimates want to back down from here. They think that if they do, they will kneel to the other side. If this goes on, we might not be able to hold the election of magistrates this year.”
“We can’t let that happen. Of course, I don’t intend to leave it alone either. Tell me more about what’s going on.”
Cicero’s face brightened a little when he heard Marcus’s confident answer.
He explained in detail how Rome had become.
“Where should I start? You must know that Clodius and Milo dragged in all the thugs they could find and made a mess of things. They fought each other like crazy and paralyzed all the schedules. The trials that were scheduled were canceled one after another, and speeches were impossible to dream of.”
“Why are you letting them run wild like that?”
“Clodius is a tribune and has the support of the populist. And Milo is also protected by the optimates and moves with our tribune. So how can we stop them?”
“So the essence is still a power struggle between the populist and the optimates.”
“It’s because of that crazy bastard Clodius. He keeps provoking us with lowly methods, and the hard-line senators exploded.”
Marcus nodded his head with a blank expression.
‘You’re doing well as I told you. I didn’t tell you to do it so radically, though.’
The core of the command he gave to Clodius was one thing.
To cause a conflict between the populist and the optimates.
And Clodius did his job very efficiently.
He was going to discard him if he failed to perform this mission properly, but he thought he could keep him a little longer.
“Didn’t anyone try to calm this quarrel down?”
“Of course I tried countless times. But the optimates who have blood in their heads think that backing down from here is kneeling to the populist. And there are many who believe that the populist are plotting to take over the Senate completely. It’s impossible to settle this situation with one person’s words. Cato is almost half-giving up too.”
“What about the populist?”
“Piso said he would try to control Clodius, but it didn’t work at all. And they also seemed unwilling to back down once the fight started. If Clodius or Milo dies, things will get serious, but they amazingly never cross the line.”
If Clodius, who had inviolability, died, Milo would not be able to escape the judgment of the law even if he was protected by the optimates.
Of course, Milo knew that well and did not touch Clodius directly.
Clodius also could not do anything directly to Milo, who always had his fellow tribune by his side.
If this was a normal riot of thugs, it would have been quickly suppressed by soldiers, but there was no order to suppress them, so soldiers could only watch.
If the optimates tried to do something, the populist threw a veto without asking questions, and if the populist proposed something, the optimates vetoed it without any discussion.
This pattern was repeated in both the Senate and the Assembly.
Clodius vetoed all proposals made by the tribune of the optimates and hindered them.
The tribune of the optimates also followed Clodius’s actions exactly.
And as if they had agreed, when both sides’ gangs started fighting, that day’s meeting was over.
For an intellectual like Cicero, watching this situation was like being in hell.
The people who were mentioned as able to calm this situation down were Pompey and Crassus, but they did not intervene in this matter.
Crassus left for his villa in the south before this happened, saying that he was not feeling well and needed to rest.
Clodius suddenly became active again after Crassus left Rome.
The optimates sincerely regretted Crassus’s absence.
But they couldn’t force a sick person to come back to Rome.
Pompey, who was in the Mars Field outside the Servian Wall, seemed to have no time to care about Rome’s politics because of the renovation and reorganization of the army.
He was not a political person in the first place, and he did not seem to want to play with them in such a low place.
If the renovation schedule was delayed, he would step in, but Clodius and Milo were not that stupid.
They did not touch anything related to Pompey.
So strangely enough, even though Rome’s politics was in this mess, the renovation preparations were going on without any problems.
The situation was such that Pompey’s intervention seemed rather odd.
Moreover, the aristocrats assumed that Pompey, if he stepped in, would most likely side with the populists.
That’s why the aristocrats insisted that Pompey should not enter Rome until he held his triumph.
Normally, a victorious general could not cross the sacred boundary until his triumph was held.
Of course, Pompey had no intention of entering Rome until his triumph anyway, so he did not object.
But because of the aristocrats’ argument, Marcus and Caesar also suffered unfairly.
They were also eligible for a triumph, so according to the aristocrats’ logic, they could not enter the city either.
This was something that Marcus had not anticipated.
He never imagined that the aristocrats would make such an absurd claim.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you can enter Rome as soon as tomorrow. I’ll settle this matter in the Senate.”
Cicero, who guessed that Marcus was upset by this, made a bold promise.
Marcus just nodded silently.
He had already planned how to act while marching north to Rome.
It was not a big problem that he could not enter Rome right now.
After seeing off Cicero, who entered the city, Marcus headed to the Campus Martius.
It was to meet Pompey.
※※※※
While Cicero was struggling in the Senate, Marcus was able to reunite with a familiar face.
“It’s been a long time. Did you not come with Julia?”
Caesar, who arrived earlier than Marcus but could not enter Rome, was staying in the Campus Martius with Pompey.
They had not seen each other’s faces for almost five years.
Marcus greeted him with a sincere smile.
“It’s good to see you. I’ve been hearing about your amazing achievements in Gaul and Britain.”
“That’s what I should say. Your exploits reached even Gaul where I was. I was so proud of my eye for people.”
“It’s an honor to hear that from you. Julia said she would come in about half a month, so you should see her soon.”
“I see. She didn’t have to come with you and go through this trouble. That was a wise decision. By the way, you’ve changed a lot. I can imagine how proud Julia will be.”
Marcus looked down at his body and shrugged his shoulders.
“Is that so? I don’t see much difference.”
“No. When we parted last time, you were a promising young man. But now you have the qualifications to discuss the era. Isn’t that right, Magnus?”
“If only Gnaeus or Sextus had followed half of Marcus’ example, I would have been satisfied… You’re lucky. You’ve got a decent son-in-law.”
“Are you talking about this? I felt sorry for my daughter for not being a good father, but now I don’t have that feeling anymore. I should be thanked for finding such a good groom for her.”
Pompey and Caesar exchanged jokes that were hard to tell whether they were serious or not, while pouring drinks for each other.
“You two are making me embarrassed. Did you agree on this beforehand?”
Marcus smiled awkwardly and took the cup that Caesar handed him.
It was a sincere and cheerful smile that he did not show when he was with other people.
Caesar also had a similar expression on his face.
The legates and Labienus who fought with him in Gaul for years had never seen him like this.
Of course, Caesar treated his subordinates very pleasantly, but that was only the attitude of a superior.
He rarely joked around with anyone without any pretense like he did now.
In other words, Caesar recognized Marcus as completely equal to himself.
Pompey also looked very happy to have a seat with his like-minded friends after a long time.
He brought the cup to his mouth with a good mood and burst into laughter.
“The drink tastes better today, but are you two okay staying here?”
“We have no choice. They say that victorious generals who have not held their triumphs cannot enter the city. Well, fortunately my mother is buried here, so it’s not a big deal.”
“What petty bastards. Should we protest formally? I don’t want to get involved in politics too deeply anymore, but it’s a different story if you two don’t get proper treatment. If we three demand it together, the Senate won’t dare to oppose us.”
“No, there’s no need for that. Marcus seems to have everything figured out already. Right?”
Caesar’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he looked at Marcus.
“Did you know? You’re truly Caesar.”
“I didn’t know at first. I had too little information to guess why Clodius suddenly ran around like a dog with its tail on fire. But when I saw how Rome was going, I got a rough idea. And when you landed in Brundisium and marched north to Rome without any hesitation, I was sure. This is the picture you drew, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
Marcus admitted it frankly, and Pompey’s eyes widened.
“You planned this chaos in Rome? Why?”
“Of course, to get the rights that we three deserve.”
Marcus calmly answered, peeling the skin of a fruit.
Caesar understood the whole situation with just that remark and nodded satisfactorily.
On the other hand, Pompey, who had lived away from schemes, still looked confused and tilted his head.
“What do you mean? So you’re saying we should resolve this chaos and seize power… Is that what you mean?”
“Similar, but slightly different. First of all, this chaos reveals the fact that the Senate is only interested in their own interests. The administration of Rome is almost paralyzed, but they only think about their pride and try to crush their opponents. The citizens must feel contempt for both the populists and the aristocrats.”
“I guess so. That’s why I’m not dealing with them either.”
“The longer the conflict between the populists and the aristocrats lasts, the more they will cannibalize each other.”
Caesar spun his wine cup in his hand as if he was amused.
“That’s what I’ve been saying over and over. The current Senate lacks the ability, intelligence, and responsibility to lead this great empire. They might be able to crush other classes with their authority if there is a conflict. But if they fight among themselves like this, they will have no way out.”
“There must be some people in the Senate who think that way too. But no matter how loud they speak, they are powerless in front of the majority opinion. If someone doesn’t step up, this pathetic situation won’t end at least until the end of this year.”
Pompey finally snapped his fingers as if he understood.
There was a look of admiration on his face.
“Then if we solve this incident, the support of the citizens will naturally come to us. We will look completely different from the Senate. That’s a brilliant idea.”
“There’s one more benefit to that. We can openly reveal our alliance that we had to hide under the surface until now. If we say that we agreed to resolve Rome’s chaos, who would doubt us?”
“Hmm? Then are you saying you’re going to break away from the aristocrats?”
“No, no. Our cooperation should be seen as a constructive debate where we check each other.”
Caesar also chuckled and agreed with Marcus’ words.
“That’s right. It should look like we are resolving sharp differences of opinion by agreement. Checks and balances, confrontation, and appropriate conflicts are essential.”
“I like how the conversation is progressing quickly. As Caesar said, we have plenty of factors that make us seem to oppose each other.
I’ve been in a different position from you two as an aristocrat from the beginning, so no one will doubt it. And Caesar has been regarded as the second-in-command of the populists until now. Your achievements were less than Magnus’, after all.”
“That’s right. Most people probably thought Magnus was manipulating me from behind.”
“But now Caesar has achieved such a feat that it would be ridiculous to be in anyone’s shadow. And you have gained a power that matches your merit. It would look natural to everyone that you are moving from being the second-in-command to being the first-in-command of the populists.”
Pompey was drawn into Marcus’ words.
He was not tempted by political power.
He was one of the three absolute powers that moved Rome in reality.
He wanted that position and title.
And he liked the idea that he would not be criticized for destroying the republic like Sulla did.
“We should not make people who support and believe in the republic uncomfortable.”
“Of course. We will form a leadership that is legal and moderate for the republic. That’s why we have a triumvirate.”
The three men filled their empty cups with wine and looked at each other with satisfaction.
It was an amazing moment that would never happen again in Rome’s history.
A new era was approaching from this day on.
Caesar drank his cup in one gulp and said.
“Now what we have to do first is to show everyone that we are different from those scum in the Senate. All the citizens who are watching the clash between the populists and the aristocrats in real time must be worried about our clash. We three have unprecedented imperiums. In this atmosphere, it wouldn’t be strange if a civil war broke out at any time.”
“We can show everyone that Romans can resolve their differences without drawing swords.”
“Yes. Unlike them who are still fighting.”
“Then Caesar, and Marcus. How do you think we should legalize our triumvirate?”
Marcus thought for a moment.
Caesar silently drank his wine as if he wanted Marcus to speak first.
“We have to use both the assembly and the Senate. We are not dictators who crave power. We are just people who solve conflicts that they cannot resolve themselves as representatives of the assembly and the Senate.”
“Good, I like it very much. Then let’s write a letter to the Senate saying that we will end this ridiculous farce. Magnus, your role is important here. Marcus’ legion is still in the east and my legion is in northern Italy. But your legion is in Rome for your triumph.”
“Are you trying to threaten them with your legion if they don’t follow our words?”
“No. There’s no need to be directly threatening. And we shouldn’t. Just having you in front of them will make anyone with a brain back off.”
That evening, slaves with letters from Caesar and Marcus visited the mansions of the populists and aristocrats respectively.
The letters said that they would hold a meeting in the Campus Martius to end the fight between the populists and the aristocrats.
Of course, Caesar would represent the populists, and Marcus would represent the aristocrats.
Pompey took on the role of mediating to ensure that the meeting was objective and fair.
He was a member of the populists, but he swore by the names of all the gods that he would not favor any side.
And he formally demanded that the Senate accept this proposal and delegate full authority to them.
The next day, a long and fierce debate ensued in the Senate.
After several hours of discussion, a consensus was reached between the populists and the aristocrats for the first time.
There were quite a few people in the Senate who wanted to put an end to this tiresome fight.
They unanimously agreed to delegate full authority to Caesar and Marcus.
The meeting was scheduled to take place in the Campus Martius four days later.
< 155. Summit Meeting > End
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