Chapter 396 Catiline

Seeing Cato, the older generation of Roman nobles who were suffering from their own corruption were greatly encouraged and believed that he was the hope of the Republic. After his term as quaestor ended, they welcomed him into the Senate with gongs and drums.

Caesar was neat and stylish, leading the fashion trend; Cato was casual and sloppy; Caesar liked extravagant competitions and performances, and spent a lot of money; Cato was very frugal and extremely harsh on himself... Both of them established a unique image and won widespread recognition and reputation among the Roman people.

…

Less than a year after the Nix tribe and the Pannoni signed a peace agreement, the envoys sent by the three major Pannoni tribes once again asked to see Maximus and put forward a new request: they hoped to form an alliance with the Nix tribe to fight against the Boii together.

Their reason was: the Boii were powerful, fierce and greedy. Once the Pannoni tribe was defeated by them, they would not stop their invasion, and tens of thousands of Boii warriors would pour into the Nix territory. The lips and teeth are cold, so the Nix tribe and the Pannoni tribe must unite to ensure the safety of their own territories!

Despite the eloquence of the envoy, Maximus firmly rejected the request of the Pannoni.

…

In 63 BC (the tenth year of the establishment of the Nix tribe), Cicero and Hybrida officially became consuls.

Then a tribune named Lulus proposed a radical land bill, requiring the large-scale distribution of land to poor citizens, starting with the state-owned land in Campania.

This bill cannot solve the problem of a large number of landless refugees in Rome today, but it can alleviate the problem, so all ten tribunes support the bill, and Crassus and Caesar are also active supporters of Lulus.

Pompey's attitude is difficult to judge.

On the one hand, his military campaign is about to end, and a large number of veterans need to be resettled after returning home. This land bill may provide them with farmland.

On the other hand, if Crassus played a key role in this plan, it would mean that these veterans and many other citizens would owe Crassus a favor, which meant that Pompey owed Crassus a favor, so Pompey did not make a clear statement.

However, many important senators opposed Lulus' proposal. Although he became consul, Cicero, who had a relatively weak political foundation, felt that this was a good opportunity to win them over, so he delivered a series of speeches to the Senate and the people, and finally won. The land bill was abandoned.

Disappointed, Caesar then sued Piso, who had just stepped down as governor of the northern Italian province, but Piso's defense lawyer was Cicero. Caesar still did not succeed this time, but his efforts for the interests of the people of Inner Gaul enhanced his prestige among the people of northern Italy.

Then, Caesar worked together with Labienus, one of the tribunes, to prosecute Labirius, an old and mediocre senator, because he killed the tribune Saturninus thirty-seven years ago. According to Roman law, "the tribune is sacred and inviolable", so the charge was high treason.

Caesar and his distant cousin (also called Caesar) drew lots to become the two judges to try the case.

Labirius was found guilty and sentenced to death.

He was allowed to appeal to the Hundred People's Assembly representing the Roman people. Cicero and Hortens defended him, but it seemed that they could not reverse the trial. Seeing that Labirius was about to be found guilty, an incident happened that brought the trial to an abrupt end.

According to tradition, the Centuriate Council met in the Forum of Mars, and sentinels were stationed on the commanding heights of the nearby Janiculum Hill. The sentinels hoisted a red flag on the top of the hill, and the Centuriate Council could continue to meet and handle affairs. If the flag was lowered, it meant that Rome was in danger, and the citizens had to immediately disband the assembly and take up arms to prepare for battle. This custom continued to this era.

Just before the Centuriate Council voted to decide the fate of Labirius, the presiding judge Metellus quietly sent someone to lower the flag on the top of the hill, so the assembly was dissolved before a verdict was made.

Caesar and Labienus were both very willing to give up pursuing the case afterwards. It was obvious that Caesar did not really want to convict and execute an elderly elder. His main purpose was to show up at such an important gathering and stand on the side of public opinion.

So later in the year, another meeting of the Centuriate Council elected him as the judge for the next year.

In Rome, the judge was an important position second only to the consul. After the term of office, as long as the person concerned is willing, he will definitely get the position of provincial governor. Therefore, the competition for the jurist is very fierce. However, Caesar was successfully elected just after reaching the minimum age for the election of the jurist, which is enough to prove how popular he is in the hearts of the Roman people.

Coincidentally, the high priest of Rome died in this year, and this position became vacant.

When Sulla was in power, he handed over the power to appoint and remove the high priest to the Senate, but this year Labienus, who had a close relationship with Caesar, proposed a bill and was passed, which was to restore the old practice-that is, the position of the high priest was elected by citizens.

Caesar was not satisfied with just being a jurist. He also wanted to run for the high priest and publicly announced his candidacy at the assembly.

The high priest had a high prestige and was regarded as the most important person in Rome in many ways. Therefore, many celebrities and dignitaries would actively compete for this position. Catullus also participated in the election, and Caesar's old boss in Cilicia, Isauricus, also participated.

Compared with these senior senators, Caesar was still a young man, and no one was optimistic about him.

But during the campaign, Caesar, like other candidates, spent a lot of money, gave gifts, helped others, and won over key figures in each tribe, and the market gradually rose.     Catulus felt the pressure and offered to give Caesar a large sum of money if he withdrew from the election.

Yes, Caesar was now heavily in debt. If he failed, he might be forced to jump off the building by his creditors.

Caesar, who was in debt, was not panicked at all. Instead, he borrowed more money and won over more tribes. Of course, the main creditor was still Crassus.

For Caesar, this was a gamble that could only succeed, not fail.

On the day of the election, Caesar kissed his mother goodbye and solemnly told her: He would either come back as a high priest or never come back!

In the end, he succeeded!

Considering that his opponent was so powerful, this victory was very remarkable, making him a rising star in Roman politics!

Although the high priest had no right to give orders to other priests, because the majority vote of the priests could veto the high priest's opinion, the high priest would play a central role in many aspects of Roman religion and sacrifice, which would make Caesar's prestige and reputation very high among the Roman people.

In addition, as the high priest, he also obtained a mansion at the east end of the Roman Forum, just a stone's throw away from the Senate, which would help him to exert his hands and feet in the political arena.

Although the results of the high priest's election were unexpected, the Roman people were more concerned about the consul election at the end of the year, and Catiline tried hard to make his last attempt.

He knew that his chances of winning this time were very low, so he decided to take a different approach and try to shape himself as a defender of the poor, publicly declaring: Rome has two republics. One is the vast majority of the people, powerful but leaderless; the other republic is his opponents, who have only heads but no bodies, because they do not have the real support of the people. And he himself wants to become the leader that the vast majority of the people urgently need.

Therefore, many poor people came to him, including many Sulla veterans who had lost their homes and lands. They marched in Rome many times to express their support for Catiline.

Catiline made a lot of noise in Rome, and even attracted some young Roman nobles to make them go against their families, which also made most of the senators in the Senate no longer friendly to him.

On the day of the election, in order to prevent riots, Cicero, who was supervising the election, even put on armor and led the guards to maintain the order of the election.

In the end, Catiline still failed.

One of the two elected consuls was called Silanus. His career was mediocre and he was not as well known to the people as his wife.

Silanus' wife Servilia was Caesar's most important lover. The close relationship between the two lasted for a long time, which was rare for Caesar who loved to seek pleasure. It was not because Servilia was beautiful, but because Servilia was beautiful, intelligent, full of poetry and ambitious... She was very compatible with Caesar in spirit and became his good partner in politics.

Catiline lost the election and his debts were about to expire, but he seemed calm and continued to attend the Senate meetings.

But his subordinates were busy recruiting troops in northern Italy.

Cicero kept a close eye on Catiline and received a secret report: Catiline was going to launch a rebellion.

But without any solid evidence and Catiline did not make any unusual moves, Cicero's warning did not prompt the Senate to take any effective action.

Until a stack of letters was suddenly delivered to Cicero's home, describing that "Catiline planned to launch a rebellion and massacre the celebrities and dignitaries of Rome", and the person who handed over these accusatory documents was none other than Crassus, who once supported Catiline.

When Cicero read the letter in the Senate the next day, Rome entered a state of emergency, and Consul Cicero was given full power to deal with the crisis.

Cicero mobilized the army to prepare to suppress the possible riots, and at the same time he convened a Senate meeting to publicly rebuke Catiline.

That night, Catiline fled Rome, claiming that he had chosen voluntary exile in order to avoid internal strife in the Republic.