Son of Julius Caesar: Rebuilding Rome [Business/Republic building]

"My ancestor Cato the Elder once wrote that, when purchasing a farm, one must examine it from every possible angle. Ideally, it should lie at the foot of a mountain and face south. It must also have a reliable water supply and lie near a road so that its produce can be transported with ease."

Cato’s voice echoed through the Senate House. The senators, who had initially shouted in protest, now wore looks of utter resignation as some stifled yawns and others dozed off altogether.

"He shows no sign of stopping," Hortensius muttered, clicking his tongue.

Cato must have run out of things to say, for he had begun reciting passages from his ancestor’s treatise from memory.

His ability to recite the work word for word without missing a beat was almost impressive.

"Caesar should have finished his speech by now."

"Even Caesar won’t be able to turn this situation around with a single speech."

Another optimate senator seated beside him whispered.

"Once the chaos spreads through the streets, even Cato will eventually agree to the Final Decree."

"But this is Caesar we’re talking about. Who knows what kind of trick he’ll pull..."

At that moment, a group of men in togas rushed into the Curia.

They hurried from senator to senator, handing out notes and whispering into their ears.

Every senator who heard the news reacted with visible shock.

"What in the world is going on?"

As Hortensius struggled to make sense of the commotion, one of the messengers approached and whispered in his ear.

"Caesar has just finished his speech in the Forum, sir."

"And? What did he say?"

"He proposed holding an emergency assembly in two days to put the free grain bill to a vote."

"Then he has handed Clodius the victory. He’s putting the bill before the assembly, exactly as that bastard wanted."

"That wasn’t all, sir. He condemned the violence committed by Clodius’s supporters and called on the Senate to pass the Final Decree so the assembly could proceed peacefully."

"What?! He demanded the Final Decree of the Senate?"

Hortensius stared at him in disbelief. The man nodded.

"Yes, sir. He cited the need to maintain public order."

"He isn’t asking for the Final Decree to drive out Clodius’s supporters. He wants to use it to secure the assembly..."

Hortensius muttered. The only reason they had demanded the Final Decree was that they wanted Clodius and Caesar to destroy each other.

Their plan had been simple: hand Caesar responsibility for the violent crackdown, then pin all the blame on him once order had been restored.

But Caesar had now made a move none of them had anticipated.

"Using the Final Decree to protect an assembly rather than suppress it... This is completely unprecedented."

"Caesar is on his way to the Curia as we speak. Lucius is already waiting outside with his supporters."

Hortensius fell silent. Retracting their demand now would amount to admitting that Hortensius and his fellow optimates had exaggerated the crisis in order to justify an armed crackdown.

Yet invoking the Final Decree would be like handing Caesar both a sword and a shield.

It was obvious that nearly all the credit would go to Caesar.

Whichever path they chose, there was no escaping the trap.

Just then, Cato, still rambling on, received a note of his own.

Glancing at it, he quickly wrapped up his speech.

"All unnecessary items must be sold off as quickly as possible. Old oxen, spoiled wool, hides, worn-out wagons, aged or sickly slaves—anything that has lost its value must be sold. A master should cultivate the habit of selling, not buying. That is all I have to say to you."

A heavy silence fell as Cato took his seat.

Just as Hortensius was about to stand up, a man strode into the Senate House.

Gaius Julius Caesar.

He strode confidently down the center of the hall.

"I apologize for being late, my fellow senators. I concluded my address as quickly as I could."

He flashed the senators a dazzling smile.

"I heard you were discussing the Final Decree of the Senate. As consul, I fully support invoking it."

At his declaration, the senators exchanged nervous glances.

"What are your thoughts on the matter?"

At Caesar’s question, no one answered. Caesar turned toward the benches occupied by the optimates.

"I was told that only moments ago, you were all insisting that the Final Decree was necessary."

"That was before the situation changed..."

"Are you saying that a single speech of mine was enough to end the crisis?"

As low chuckles rippled through the hall, Caesar continued.

"Surely you did not call for the Final Decree over a crisis that one speech could resolve."

***

The Final Decree of the Senate.

In the past, every invocation of the decree had plunged Rome into chaos.

Those marked for arrest or execution would flee Rome with their families, while those who remained would take up arms against the crackdown.

The same cycle had repeated itself several times in Roman history: mobs seized the streets and occupied public buildings, determined to resist.

But this time was different.

"News straight from the Senate House!"

The heralds made their announcements in the Forum without interruption.

"To ensure the peaceful conduct of the special assembly to be held in two days, the Senate has invoked the Final Decree! Gaius Julius Caesar, as the consul entrusted with enforcing the decree, shall take sole charge of maintaining public order during the vote!"

"All violence and the carrying of weapons in public spaces, including the Forum, are strictly prohibited! Anyone found violating this order will be punished under the authority of the Final Decree!"

"Considering the gravity of this matter, Consul Caesar has asked the tribunes to refrain from vetoing the proceedings on the free grain bill and the tribunes have agreed..."

For weeks, Clodius and his supporters had been demanding that the free grain bill be brought before the assembly.

On the other hand, the optimates had been demanding that order be restored to the city.

Ironically, with the invocation of the Final Decree, Caesar had fulfilled the stated demands of both factions at once.

With the assembly officially scheduled, Clodius’s supporters lost their justification for armed conflict, and the streets quickly began to calm.

Lictors were stationed in public spaces such as the Forum, preventing anyone from interfering with the heralds or the pamphlet sellers.

Inside the Forum, the lictors confiscated the clubs of Clodius’s supporters.

Caesar’s supporters, meanwhile, were likewise ordered to surrender their shields and clubs.

"Why are you taking our weapons as well?"

"It’s the consul’s orders. The only weapons permitted in the Forum are the fasces carried by the lictors."

"Caesar is only trying to manipulate public opinion in his favor!"

"If that were true, wouldn’t they have stopped selling Clodius and Curio’s pamphlets? They’re still being sold freely, aren’t they?"

"..."

The citizens of Rome breathed a collective sigh of relief as peace returned to the streets.

"Thank the gods the crisis ended without bloodshed."

"Tell me about it. If fighting had broken out in the streets, trade would have suffered terribly."

"Is business really the issue here? You could have ended up dead."

Ironically, those who suffered most from Caesar’s speech were Clodius and his supporters.

By then, nearly everyone in Rome had heard about their intimidation and violence in the Forum and the bathhouses.

"Sure, Luceius provoked them, but wasn’t it Clodius’s gang who gave Luceius and the Senate an excuse in the first place?"

"My thoughts exactly. They were harassing innocent citizens in the Forum for no reason at all."

As public opinion turned against them, support for the free grain bill suffered as well.

"By the way, where has Clodius been lately? I haven’t seen him anywhere."

"He must have run away now that it looks like his bill won’t pass."

"Curio seems to be running around making speeches, though."

Following Caesar’s speech, Clodius, who had led the campaign for the free grain bill, disappeared without a trace.

Without their paymaster, the thugs and paupers who had gathered for coin simply packed up and went home, and the numerous collegia that had backed Clodius quickly followed suit.

"Why should we risk our necks when we aren’t even being paid? Let’s go home."

Left utterly alone, Curio spent the next two days roaming the streets and delivering impassioned speeches.

"Citizens, I have never encouraged armed conflict! I truly believe that the free grain bill is essential for the future of Rome, and..."

And there were still many Roman citizens who agreed with him.

"I despise Clodius, but that doesn’t mean the free grain bill itself is wrong."

"That’s why we’re voting on it in the assembly, isn’t it?"

"I think it’s a good bill, too."

Two days later, the assembly Caesar had promised convened as scheduled.

***

Rome had several kinds of popular assemblies, but Clodius and Curio had demanded that the Concilium Plebis—the Plebeian Council—be convened.

Any bill passed by the council had the force of law and required no approval from the Senate.

A tribune of the plebs rose to address the assembly.

"Citizens of Rome, today we vote on the bill proposed by Curio..."

Any tribune could veto the proceedings before the vote was concluded.

But at Caesar’s request, they agreed not to intervene and left the bill’s fate to the assembly.

"Citizens, take your places according to your tribes! Let the voting begin!"

Officials used ropes and wooden barriers to divide the Forum into sections for each tribe, then placed the ballot boxes at the entrances to the voting lanes.

As the assembly officials checked each citizen against the tribal rolls, the voting began.

As each tribe finished voting, the tellers opened the boxes and began counting.

"First tribe. In favor."

At the herald’s announcement, cheers erupted from various corners of the Forum.

"Second tribe. In favor."

Both of the first two tribes had voted in favor.

As the supporters of the free grain bill roared in triumph, the herald called out again.

"Third tribe. Against."

"Fourth tribe. In favor."

For the bill to pass, it required a majority—the approval of 18 out of the 35 tribes.

As the count remained close, the citizens listened with bated breath.

"So is it passing or not?"

"Shh, be quiet. The votes in favor haven’t reached a majority yet."

At last, the result was decided.

Sixteen tribes had voted in favor and eighteen against. The thirty-fifth tribe was never called, for the outcome had already been decided.

"By the vote of the Roman people, the free grain bill has been rejected!"

At the tribune’s announcement, sighs of disappointment rippled through the crowd.

"It would have been nice if it had passed."

"I don’t know, I was against halting the entire One-Year Plan just to get some free bread."

"Well, you have a point there."

There were no angry shouts or triumphant cheers. Instead, the citizens simply talked among themselves, calmly exchanging their views.

"I knew it wouldn’t pass from the start."

"Hey, weren’t you supporting Clodius just a few days ago?"

Considering the fiery pamphlet war, the brawls in the Forum, and the Final Decree, it was quite an anticlimactic result.

Yet the same realization seemed to settle over much of the crowd.

They were witnessing the return of an old Roman principle: laws should be decided in the assemblies, not in the streets with clubs and swords.

That tradition, weakened by decades of political violence, was now being restored before their eyes.

"I wonder what bill they’ll propose at the next assembly. Exciting, isn’t it?"

But not everyone was satisfied with this result.

***

"Damn it, damn it, damn it."

Curio cursed under his breath as he checked his disguise one last time.

For a man from a prestigious plebeian family, disguising himself as a woman was utterly humiliating.

But right now, he didn’t have a choice.

After pulling on a wig, he stepped out of the warehouse with his slaves.

Night had already fallen.

"Is the street clear?"

"Yes, Master. You need to leave right now."

He was fleeing for one simple reason: the free grain bill had failed in the assembly.

He had paid for free grain distributions with his own money in an attempt to win the citizens’ favor, accumulating enormous debts in the process.

His creditors had invested in his political future, and now that his prospects had collapsed, they were closing in to recover their money.

"Clodius, that son of a bitch, disappeared without a single word..."

Curio swore again. Clodius had vanished without a trace right after Caesar’s speech, leaving Curio to fight alone for the bill’s passage.

When even that effort ended in failure, his only remaining option was to flee Rome.

Just as he stepped into the street, someone called out to him.

"Mark Antony! How did you know I was here?"

"I heard your creditors descended on your house."

"I was just about to leave Rome."

Curio said, pulling Mark Antony into an embrace. Mark Antony was one of the few friends who had stayed by Curio’s side and helped him over the past few weeks.

"I thought as much, so I arranged a carriage for you. If you change horses along the way and avoid unnecessary stops, you should reach Massilia before your creditors can catch you."

"Thank you so much, Antony. I could never ask for a better friend than you."

"It’s what any friend would do. I’m only sorry that things ended this way."

Curio wiped away his tears and climbed into the carriage with his slaves.

After a brief farewell, the carriage rattled into motion.

Once the carriage had passed through the city gates, Curio finally let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, there were no creditors chasing after him.

"Now I can finally breathe."

Concealed by the darkness, he was about to remove his disguise when the carriage jerked to a halt.

"What’s going on?"

The driver did not answer.

"Are you deaf? I asked you why we’ve stopped."

"The reason for that is simple."

Curio flinched as a voice came from beside the carriage.

It was an all-too-familiar voice.

"No need to be so tense. I’m not here to harm you."

Lucius said as he climbed into the carriage. Curio barely managed to stop his slaves from drawing their weapons.

Several muscular men had already surrounded the carriage.

Curio watched in despair as Lucius settled onto the seat opposite him.

"I just have a few questions for you, Curio."

Lucius lit a lantern, then raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"I must admit, I never knew you had such a fondness for women’s clothing."