Rome must fall.

Chapter 446 Killing the chicken to scare the monkey

Caesar's words made the conservative senators uneasy. They realized that Caesar was determined to kill Cato and his men this time. However, his public statement that he would forgive them at least showed that he did not want to be the second Sulla and was not going to carry out a purge in Rome, which made them feel much more at ease.

Faced with Caesar's sharp and majestic gaze, the very few conservative senators (including Longinus) lowered their heads and chose to remain silent.

Caesar wanted to use his power to force the Senate to pass this shocking proposal, and he had no choice but to do so.

Before leading his army to Greece, Caesar had already taken control of Rome. At that time, he only reiterated many times in the Senate and the citizens' assembly that "it was the deep hatred of Pompey, Cato and others that forced him to resort to force. It was the Pompey faction that provoked the war, not him!", and did not use his power to sentence Pompey and others as Roman criminals.

Even after he won a great victory in Pharsalus and obtained Pompey's head, he never had such an idea. Therefore, in the history of his previous life, when he completely defeated the army led by Cato in Africa and returned to Rome to hold a celebration ceremony, he announced to the outside world that it was "celebrating the victory over the King of Numidia"...

Whether to the Senate or to Rome, he always downplayed the civil war, trying not to irritate some people's sensitive nerves, thus promoting the unity of Rome.

Caesar has always been arrogant and confident, especially when the overall situation has been decided. In his eyes, Cato and others are nothing but clowns. There is no need for him to kill them politically and offend these noble families in Rome. On the contrary, he hopes that they can admit defeat on their own initiative and then forgive them, which can better satisfy his vanity.

But now the situation has changed!
The invasion of the Nyx, the invasion of Dacia, the rebellion in Gaul, the rebellion in Pontus...Roman territory and provinces were surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Internally, Cato, Metellus and others were still recruiting troops to continue to fight against him, and some senators and nobles who seemed obedient but were dissatisfied were secretly doing bad things. Even the Roman people who once supported him, especially those from the northern Italian provinces who had long benefited from his conquest of Gaul, began to express dissatisfaction with him...

Not only was Rome facing internal and external troubles, but Caesar also felt his own crisis. He had to take action to establish his prestige, deter the villains, and win back the hearts of the people. Only then could he gather all his strength, successfully pacify all enemies, and restore peace to turbulent Rome, thus realizing his ambition to transform Rome.

Therefore, the first step he had to take was to convict conservative senators such as Pompey, Cato, and Metellus, so that he could occupy a high position in law and morality and more conveniently and thoroughly annihilate his political opponents.

After a period of silence, Cicero stood up. He did not avoid Caesar's gaze. His face was calm and his tone was heavy: "Dear consul, colleagues, you all know that I followed Anthony's army to the northern Italian province before. Although I did not participate in that battle, I went to Padua and Verona, and saw the towns that were looted. The women of the province who were insulted by the barbarians hid in the corners and cried. Along the way, there were Roman citizens with their wives and children everywhere. They were panicked. When they saw our army coming, they even knelt down to beg for food...

Hey, everyone, Rome is the master of the Mediterranean, but our citizens in northern Italy are being bullied like pigs and dogs! Rome has the most powerful military force in the Mediterranean, but our most fertile Po River plain is being trampled by barbarians! When northern Italy, which has been peaceful for decades, is invaded by barbarians again, we, the elders of the Senate and the fathers of the Roman people, do not save our people, but would rather waste time fighting here! "

Caesar's eyes turned dark.

Cicero suppressed his increasingly passionate emotions and persuaded Caesar earnestly: "Dear Consul, Cato and Metellus are indeed wrong! They can be punished, but do not accuse them of treason, because this will inevitably force them to resist fiercely, causing the civil war to continue, thereby weakening the power of our Rome and not conducive to the unity of the Senate.

The barbarian forces that invaded this time are extremely powerful. They were able to capture the solid fortress of Aquileia and defeat the powerful Antony's army. We must concentrate all our forces as soon as possible to defeat them! Don't forget that in addition to the barbarians in northern Italy, our eastern provinces are being threatened by enemy countries such as Dacia, Pontus, and Parthia. Rome needs unity to win peace faster! "

Cicero's speech won the support of many senators.

Balbus stood up again and taunted, "Cicero, don't forget that when you were consul, you ignored the senators' dissuasion and ignored the threat posed by Catiline's rebels to Rome. You executed five senators for treason who had no clear evidence of colluding with Catiline. Now you have the nerve to talk about unity! The family of Citegus still comes to the Senate to make trouble from time to time, and you, who talk about unity so much, have never tried to appease them once!"

Cicero was a little embarrassed, but he still shamelessly defended himself: "The execution of the five senators was not my decision alone. It was the result of discussions in the Senate, and the final decision was made after many court trials..."

"Okay!" Caesar shouted and said simply, "There are many things to discuss today. Let's not waste more time on this issue! Everyone vote on Trebonius's suggestion immediately! If the vote passes, after Cato, Metellus and others are captured in the future, they will be tried in court according to the procedures, and lawyers will be allowed to defend them."

The meeting hall returned to silence again. At Caesar's urging, the voting began. Since Caesar controlled the Senate, Trebonius' proposal was naturally passed smoothly.

The atmosphere in the meeting hall was already tense, but Opius decided to add fuel to the fire.

He stood up and said loudly: "Dear consul, colleagues, since Cato, Metellus and others have been confirmed as treasonous, I want to accuse someone——"

The elders suddenly became nervous.

Opius said in a sonorous tone: "Caelius Rufus! Although he stood on Caesar's side at the beginning of the civil war and was ostensibly against Pompey, he had been secretly writing letters to Cato and others. In addition, he also secretly contacted Milo, who quietly escaped back to southern Italy last winter, attempting to launch a rebellion against Rome. Although Milo's rebellion has been put down, Caelius has committed these crimes and should be severely punished for treason according to the law!"

Caelius Rufus, a close friend of Cicero, was not from a prominent family, but he chose to support Caesar because Caesar could help him advance further in Roman politics. Last year, with Caesar's support, he became this year's praetor, but Caesar awarded the highest position among the praetors to Trebonius, which made him very angry, and he began to secretly oppose Caesar from then on.

At this moment, the accused Caelius was sitting in the meeting hall. He jumped up and shouted loudly: "Slander! This is slander! I once offended Opius, so he is now spreading rumors in an attempt to frame me—"

"I have not wronged you, this is evidence of your treason!" Opius took out a stack of letters between Caelius, Cato and Milo from his arms and let the senators around him pass them around.

Obviously, Caesar was not just suppressing the riots during the few days he entered Rome.

The facts were clear and the evidence was conclusive. Even Cicero, who wanted to defend him, had nothing to say. Only Caelius himself kept denying it, saying that the letters were forged.

Caesar was too lazy to listen to their noise. After the senators voted to approve Opius' proposal, he immediately sent guards to the scene and took away the still shouting Caelius. Then he said lightly, "Don't worry, Caelius will be given a fair trial."

The senators who had been in Roman politics for many years remained silent. They all knew in their hearts that the reason why Caelius was taken down was not only because he colluded with Cato or Milo, but more importantly, he was one of the primary advocates of asking the senators to follow the people's call and restore peace in northern Italy some time ago.

Yes, Caesar hated Caelius for being a traitor and damaging the interests of Rome, and he hated him even more for wanting to kill him. Although the conservative senators had long wanted to put him to death, they had to cover themselves up with the cloak of legal procedures and ignored Caelius' blatant public declaration. If he was not severely punished, others would probably follow suit.

Obviously, Caesar's approach worked. The meeting hall was unusually quiet, especially the faces of those senators who were not members of Caesar's faction, who showed more or less fear, fearing that they would become the second Caelius.

Caesar realized that the time had come, so he spoke again: "Although the martial law has restored some order in Rome, if the refugees' food and accommodation are not resolved, conflicts and chaos may occur again at any time. What good ideas do you have to solve this problem?"

If the senators present here had their way, the chaos in Rome would not have lasted so long.

Seeing that no one responded in the meeting, Caesar coughed lightly and said, "I do have some ideas for your consideration. First, the free bread that Rome used to provide to the poor and refugees was mainly provided by Sicily. However, due to the civil war, Sicily's grain production decreased, and it was not enough to supply the original poor, not to mention that there are now tens of thousands of refugees from northern Italy. The food supply pressure in Rome is quite large...

However, I learned about the plight of Rome in Egypt earlier this year, so I took the initiative to discuss with Pharaoh Cleopatra, and she finally agreed to provide Rome with a large amount of cheap wheat every year to meet the needs of the Roman people—"

(End of this chapter)