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Chapter 667: The Roman Senate
On the other hand, Tapirus faced the most powerful group in Rome calmly and collected as he loudly said, “Esteemed Roman senators, king Davos of the kingdom of Theonia had asked me to bring you his sincere greetings. Before I depart, he repeatedly instructed me that even though he has never gone to Rome, he knows that Rome is a great city-state and has a deep respect for it!…”
Hearing Tapirus’ words containing no hypocrisy, everyone in the hall was surprised and touched. After all, they also heard some rumours about king Davos of Theonia, so they all felt proud hearing his praise.
“His majesty Davos also hopes that this mission of mine will not affect his good opinion of Rome and this precious peace between Rome and Theonia!” After saying that, Tapirus’ following words suddenly changed that made the hearts of the Roman senators tighten, “The Volsci has allied with us in Theonia, so Theonia hopes for Rome to stop its aggression against Volsci, return the captured territories, and a truce between the two sides!”
After Tapirus finished his words, an uproar arose in the meeting hall.
Then someone in the crowd stood up and asked angrily, “What if Rome doesn’t stop?!”
Tapirus responded confidently, “Then Theonia have to fulfil its agreement with Volsci by sending troops to stop the war!”
The whole meeting hall exploded with dissent sounding from everywhere.
The man who asked earlier became even angrier as he asked again, “You, Theonians, are far away from south Italia! What right do you have to interfere in our affairs?!”
Tapirus calmly replied, “Theonia has no intention of interfering with Rome. We are just fulfilling our obligation to our allies.”
“Do you now know that the Volscians were the first to invade our allies, and we just fought back?! It is only natural for us to punish the Volscians!” Another person shouted.
“You Romans are just acting by following your agreement, and so do we,” Tapirus answered calmly.
“Theonian, don’t think that just because you occupy south Italia and think you are powerful that you can come to Rome and show off! As long as you dare send your army to set foot on this land, our Roman soldiers will make you taste the real pain of war!” Another man shouted angrily, causing some senators to echo.
Tapirus responded calmly, “Although we don’t have any intention to show off our might, we aren’t afraid to face any powerful enemy, as evidenced by the fact that we have defeated one powerful force after another.”
The commotion in the Senate intensified. At this time, Paulus stood up in the front row and shouted, “Envoy of Theonia, please return to your accommodation first. We will then inform you of our decision after our discussion.”
Tapirus nodded in agreement. Then he reminded, “I hope you can make a decision as soon as possible as any delay will cause more casualties to the Volscians and your Roman soldiers, which neither you nor his majesty wishes to see!”
Tapirus’ kind words seemed like a threat to Rome, which caused a lot of swearing from the senators. However, Tapirus remained holding his head high as he walked out of the meeting hall.
Paulus then walked to the centre of the meeting hall and said loudly, “All senators and newcomers, please be silent! Please be silent!… What do you think about the Theonians’ request on us to stop our attack on the Volsci?”
The person who shouted angrily at Tapirus many times interjected, “What’s the point of asking it? We shall naturally ignore it! After going through many bloody battles, we could finally defeat the Volscians! So how could we easily let them go just because of that Theonian’s words?!”
“Pantheus, you can say that fearlessly because Theonia didn’t have diplomatic contact with us, so you don’t know much about them! The mighty Samnites lost against them and had to become their allies, and even the Carthaginians feared them enough that they renewed their treaty with them.
And even though we had already recovered from our defeat by the Celts and become even stronger, the difference in our strength remained too great! It is as if we are like a goat facing a bull when comparing ourselves to Theonia! However, if we allow them to interfere in Rome’s affair, it will lead to a more significant problem for us!” A man at the back of the hall stood up and said seriously. He is Fabius Ambustus, a venerable senator and famous for his strong sense of patriotism.
“Certainly, I don’t know much about Theonia as you nobles do. However, I will never back down out of fear of Theonia’s might! Don’t forget that we need more land to lift the Roman plebeians out of poverty to ease their conflict with us. So if we stop the war against the Volsci and return the occupied land, we won’t be able to fulfil our promise to the plebeians of distributing land to them from the newly occupied Volscian towns! Unless all of you nobles agree to take the city-state’s vast land and distribute it to them. Otherwise, you will see-” Pantheus Comilius looked at them coldly and loudly said, “The wrath of the plebeians will break out again!”
His words caused the noise in the meeting hall to decrease and made Fabius Ambustus’s expression unpleasant.
Then Paulus said, “Hey, Pantheus, don’t get too agitated. Everyone present here, whether they were born nobles or plebeians, have no less love for Rome than you do. Especially his esteemed Ambustus, who had almost all three hundred and six members of his household die in the Battle of the Cremera almost a century ago to resist the attack of thousands of Veientes! And a decade ago, while the whole city was in a panic after our defeat in the Battle of Allia and the Celts army marched into Rome, Ambustus decided to go to the Celts’ camp on the north bank of the Tiber river to persuade king Brennus of the Celts. Although he failed in the end, his courage remains admirable! And his actions show that he is no less courageous than your bravery in venturing into the Mons Capitolinus that the Celts surrounded to retrieve the appointment of Camillus as a dictator…”
When Paulus said that, Ambustus’ expression brightened up. At the same time, the other senators began to respond and criticise Pantheus for his unreasonable words.
Although Pantheus no longer responds, he is still not convinced.
Paulus, however, didn’t care about his fellow military tribune as he cast his gaze to the front row of the meeting hall, where an old man with white hair, dry skin, and a bent figure was sitting.
Although he looks like that, the senators don’t look down on him. On the contrary, just like Paulus, they looked at him with respect. He was Lucius Valerius Potitus, who had served as consular tribune of Rome many times.
“Uncle, what do you think of the Theonian’s unreasonable demands?” Paulus asked with respect. Although Paulus wasn’t a direct relative of the old man, they both belonged to the Valerius clan and were of the same Potitus family, so it was only right he called him uncle.
Lucius opened his turbid eyes and said slowly, “We don’t have to reject the Theonians demand immediately as it is such an important matter that we can’t decide in a short time. Instead, we can slowly negotiate with Theonia…”
Paulus’ eyes brightened as he immediately understood his uncle’s meaning, that is, to drag the negotiation!
“No! We must never give the Theonians hope! Instead, we should directly refuse them to avoid future troubles!” An old man beside Lucius loudly objected.
The old man is Publius Cornelius Maluginensis, a Roman senator of no less prestige than Potitus and has been fighting against Potitus in the Senate. But this time, the senators didn’t adopt his opinion as they were frightened by Theonia’s might.
In the end, Ambustus adopted Potitus’ suggestion and added his own, “We should send messengers to inform Camillus and Lucius so they could finish dealing with Tusculum as soon as possible and then lead their troops without returning to the city to Saturnicum, assist Licinius and Quintus to attack Volsci and try to take as much land as possible in a short time!…”
After saying that, Pantheus looked at him while Paulus nodded.
“In addition, we must contact Carthage quickly to see their opinion on Theonia’s sudden involvement in Latium!” Potitus reminded.
“We should also remind our colonies and allies to prepare in advance…” added Pantheus.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
After finally coming up with a decision, the Roman Senate sent a messenger to inform Tapirus, who pretended to sincerely say, “The Senate is already considering a truce. However, since the four military tribunes are away on an expedition, we can’t make a final resolution without their vote per Rome’s legal procedures. Thus you would have to wait a little longer…”
And since Tapirus didn’t have any knowledge of Rome’s political system, he judged the situation according to the kingdom of Theonia and the surrounding Greek city-states system: The absence of so many generals in the city would cause a significant impact on the reaching of the Senate resolution. And since they were the parties involved, he made it difficult for them by saying, “My king awaits my return and hopes that the Roman Senate will give me your answer as soon as possible! Although I can wait, the king of Theonia doesn’t have the patience to wait!”
Tapirus thought he responded well as he didn’t know the authority of the Roman Senate. However, besides being the highest administrative body of Rome, the Roman Senate also exercised supreme management over the entire city-state. The consuls, on the other hand, were mere executors of any resolution of the Senate, all the more so now that they had no consuls and only had military tribunes who focused mainly on the military aspect and had less authority.
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