Chapter 232: Triumph
< 232. Triumph >
Marcus’s return excited the whole of Asia Minor.
As soon as the ships carrying his legions landed on the Anatolian peninsula, crowds of people flocked to welcome him.
It was a hard task to bring them back, because there were too many troops.
They had to determine satisfactory rewards and send the soldiers back to their homes, from Syria to North Africa.
And there were hundreds of thousands of slaves they brought from the Bosporus.
It might seem good to have more slaves, but it was not always the case.
First of all, slaves did not pay any taxes, so they did not help the revenue at all.
Moreover, slaves were much cheaper than free citizens in terms of cost-effectiveness, which was also a problem.
It might seem better to have lower costs, but moderation was always the best.
If too many slaves were released at once, it could have a negative impact on the economy.
A good example was the decline of independent farmers who were pushed by the latifundium system that depended on slaves.
He had just stabilized that situation, and he did not want to face a similar problem again.
He needed to be careful not to cause any side effects in the future, even decades later.
But before worrying about those headaches, he had to enjoy the glory of victory first.
When the news spread that Marcus was returning to Antioch, people from all over Syria flocked to the city.
There was no other reason.
They just wanted to see him and shout their cheers once.
Finally, the Roman legions led by Marcus stood in front of the city gate of Antioch.
The crowd of people who welcomed him from the gate to the palace was endless.
There was not a single person in Asia and Syria who regarded Marcus as a mere governor since he took office.
The province had experienced an unprecedented prosperity under his rule.
Thanks to the enormous increase in food production, the number of people who starved had drastically decreased, and the constant victories in war had completely eliminated the threat of foreign enemies.
For the people who had always suffered from the threat of war, Marcus was like a living god.
And then he opened trade with Han China, bringing enormous wealth to the province.
In fact, the center of the world was now Syria.
“You have followed and trusted me, and thanks to that we have won this war.”
Everyone focused on Marcus’s words.
They were careful not to miss his voice, even holding their breaths.
The people of this era did not have much resistance to deifying people.
Rather, they tended to deify those who achieved extraordinary feats without fail.
And the deeds of gods became more glorious when they were invisible.
Marcus’s legend grew like a huge mountain range every time he left the province for war.
This time was no different.
Everyone knew how much trouble the Huns had caused Rome.
How else would the rumors of their invasion reach Egypt and Kush in the south?
They heard that Germania and Gaul were devastated, and that Rome suffered a great defeat and damage in Greece.
But those Huns retreated without a fight as soon as their governor stepped in.
There was only one thing they feared.
Not losing in war.
They never even considered that possibility from the beginning.
It was that Marcus would not return to Antioch after taking over the governorship of Greece as well.
The people of Syria and Asia were most worried about that point.
And as if he knew that exactly, Marcus looked around them and added one more thing.
“It feels like coming home after a long time. Your lives will be much better with this great victory. You can look forward to it.”
“Ooooooh!”
A cheer of joy spread out as if they had received his trust as a god.
The cheer that started from the gate spread to the streets and reached the front of the palace in no time.
It was an amazing sight.
The people who were still in the city did not know why they were cheering, but they just shouted and celebrated anyway.
“Long live Mesopotamicus!”
“Glory to Antioch!”
The cheers did not stop for a long time.
The soldiers who followed behind him were rather stunned by this scene.
Especially the allied soldiers who were going back to Nabatea were confused by the situation.
They talked to each other and tried to calm their bewildered feelings.
“Is Governor Marcus the king of Rome?”
“Doesn’t Rome have no king? That’s what I heard.”
“To my eyes, it looks like nothing but a royal procession.”
The Nabatean soldiers had never seen a general who received such a welcome when he returned.
Even when their king visited the capital, the crowd was not as large as this.
They felt a thrilling chill run through their bodies as they saw this sight for the first time in their lives.
Soon, the allied soldiers also joined the Roman soldiers in cheering, as if they were bewitched.
Marcus returned to the palace of Antioch and saw the familiar faces he had missed.
His beloved wife Julia, and the two pharaohs of Egypt, Cleopatra and Arsinoe.
Danae was not there, as she was checking the children’s clothes and ornaments.
“I’m glad you came back safely. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Julia asked gently as she approached him.
“I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Marcus hugged her once and nodded coolly.
He looked at the two pharaohs who were waiting for their turn and asked.
“But don’t you have to go back to Egypt soon? You can’t leave your place for too long, or there might be trouble.”
“No problem. Rather, the support of the people is increasing day by day, they say.”
“That’s good. I guess adjusting the flood cycle worked well.”
Cleopatra and Arsinoe had brought their belongings with them, as if they were planning to settle in Antioch.
They sometimes went back to Alexandria alternately, but they came back soon.
First of all, they wanted to let their daughters spend more time with Marcus and win his favor, and secondly, they wanted to stay here themselves.
If any other pharaoh had left Alexandria for so long, there would have been complaints as Marcus said, but there was no such problem now.
It was thanks to the cycle of abundance and famine of the Nile that Marcus had told Cleopatra when he stayed in Alexandria.
The most important thing in Egypt was not anything else but this flood of the Nile.
Everything else was trivial compared to this issue.
If the Nile did not flood, Egypt’s productivity would literally be halved.
It would be nice if they could predict it in advance, but it was impossible with the technology of this era.
Marcus made this impossible possible.
The level of the Nile was the biggest concern in Egypt, so he could find out by looking through the research materials and records.
He did not know the exact numbers, but he could at least specify the times when there was no flood at all.
At first, the Egyptians were skeptical.
Cleopatra secretly promoted that Marcus was also a living incarnation of a god and spread his words, but only a few believed it.
“Did Pharaoh become narrow-minded because of love?”
Some even uttered disrespectful words that would be punished immediately if they were caught.
It was understandable, because there had been many people who claimed to predict and match the flood cycle of the Nile before, but none of them had made a correct prophecy.
But surprisingly, this time was different.
Marcus gave them a specific and accurate time and told them that famine would come to Egypt.
Cleopatra and Arsinoe issued orders to reduce consumption and stockpile emergency food based on his words.
And this prophecy came true as he said.
The people praised and extolled Pharaoh’s virtue as if they had never been anxious before.
Predicting and matching the weather in ancient times was undeniable evidence of divinity.
Marcus had become one of the living gods in Egypt without knowing it while he was fighting with the Huns.
Arsinoe asked Marcus with an expectant expression as she hugged him.
“Marcus, now that the war is over, you will have some free time, right? How about going on a cruise on the Nile with your family this time?”
Marcus looked at Arsinoe and Cleopatra.
They did not say anything, but Cleopatra also seemed to hope for it.
Julia also looked like she would gladly follow him if they went together as a family.
In fact, Marcus wanted to stretch his legs and rest too.
The war with the Huns had consumed more energy than any other war he had fought before.
He had won a great victory in the end, but how much hardship he had gone through to achieve it.
He wanted to leave everything behind and spend time with his loved ones if the situation allowed it.
But he still had things to do.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go back to Rome after resting here for a while. I don’t think I have time to go down to Egypt.”
“What? You’re going back to Rome even though the war just ended?”
Arsinoe tilted her head as if she did not understand.
Julia narrowed her eyes slightly and asked.
“Are you going to have a triumph? You’re not going because of any problems, are you?”
“It’s not a problem, but it’s not not a problem either… It’s not something I’ve decided on yet, so I can’t tell you anything. But I can’t just not go if I don’t want to. The Senate will send me an official letter asking me to come. So for now, I’ll have to rest in Antioch.”
Marcus finished his sentence with a smirk.
Julia sighed softly, as if she was slightly disappointed.
“So you’re tired. Then let’s just enjoy the family dinner today and resume our schedule tomorrow. Should I expect you to come to our room tomorrow as well?”
“Huh? What do you mean…?”
“It’s only natural for a wife to comfort her husband who has suffered a long time on the battlefield. Leave it to me.”
“Oh, okay. I’m relieved…thank you.”
For a moment, he remembered the nightmare of fainting on the bed after being tormented for more than a week in Alexandria.
Marcus pretended to be calm and smiled peacefully.
※※※
Time flew by quickly.
Even though the war was over, Marcus did not get the peaceful life he wanted.
To be precise, most people except him were enjoying a comfortable life.
He had spent a whole month since returning to Antioch to disband the legion, distribute appropriate rewards and slaves to them.
He also had to divide the newly acquired Bosphorus among those who wanted land, and plan to incorporate Dacia and the Black Soil Plains into Rome’s territory.
He had to determine the compensation for more than 200,000 soldiers.
There were so many documents to deal with that his eyes were spinning.
He was sure that Caesar was also stuck with the same problem at his desk by now.
Once he had roughly prepared the compensation for the soldiers, he was now caught up in the matters of the triumph.
This victory was too strange to not hold a triumph.
No, the Senate wanted to hold a triumph at all costs to announce Rome’s victory to the world.
But the problem was the scale of the triumph.
The total number of soldiers led by Caesar and Marcus exceeded 400,000.
Rome had never held a triumph with such a huge number of soldiers before.
But he couldn’t tell the heroes who had contributed to the fight not to come to Rome.
The biggest problem was that he could clearly see how the political situation would unfold after the triumph.
Caesar and Marcus had become too big for the Senate to restrain them.
Even the proud aristocrats had to admit this point.
But Marcus was still treating the aristocrats fairly on the surface and in reality, so they were somewhat tolerable.
The problem was Caesar.
No one could easily predict what he would do, one of the protagonists of the greatest victory in Roman history.
Even Cato kept quiet and did not criticize Caesar.
The atmosphere in Rome did not allow anyone to say anything bad about Caesar or Marcus.
If they said something rash, they would only be pouring oil on fire.
But they still had to do their job.
The aristocrats decided to take this opportunity to find out what ambition was hidden inside Caesar during this triumph.
The aristocrats did not want to cross the line yet.
Cicero and Cato sent letters to Antioch, asking them for their help.
But there was another group that ignited the fire.
A group that resumed its activities in anticipation of the return of the two heroes who saved Rome from the Huns.
The meeting led by Brutus to protect the republic anew.
The reunion with its old name awaited Marcus.
< 232. Triumph > End
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