Published at 20th of July 2023 6:30 pm

Chapter 814: Licinius Stolo

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Asistes hesitantly expressed his thoughts as he looked at Davos, who remained expressionless, “How about we allow the Roman nobles who surrender to be able to apply to become citizens of Theonia, but we must break up their houses and scatter and relocate them to other parts of the kingdom and allocate new land to them…”

Despite hearing Asistes, Davos said nothing and just looked at him. He immediately understood that Asistes hadn't remained idle these past few days and were pondering a solution on how to deal with Rome's nobility…

Davos looked at the others, who had some doubts appearing on their faces, ‘Could my previous life have made me inexplicably afraid of the Romans?’

Feeling slightly confused, Davos pondered for a while and slowly said to Asistes, “You can try to have the Roman nobility surrender, but once we defeat the Roman army…”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Asistes frowned.

Davos still believed that Asistes' chances of success were low. After all, having the Roman nobility submit to them would be challenging since they would deprive them of their wealth and dig their roots!

Suddenly, Nicomachus said, “Your Majesty, I have a question.”

Seeing Davos look at him, Nicomachus patted his seat and asked curiously, “Why is this seat obviously different from the one in the rear? Not only was it made with ivory, but it is also padded with cow leather, making it comfortable to sit in.”

“This is the characteristics of the Roman Senate. The seats at the front are reserved only to the most prestigious and respected senators in Rome, so their seat must be distinguishable from the other seats.” Davos explained briefly.

Nicomachus suddenly felt enlightened, “The Roman senators unexpectedly could still indulge themselves like this.”

He turned around and said to the others, “Come and take a seat too, and feel the taste of being the most esteemed senator of Rome.”

Everyone burst into laughter, causing the tense atmosphere in the venue to ease a lot.

Davos smiled at Nicomachus' good sense of humour. He finds it amusing that a witty political figure could appear among the Locrians who were living under the harsh law.

The meeting finally came to an end in a relaxed mood. Finally, Davos encouraged everyone, “Whether we can establish a firm foothold in Latium depends on your governance of Rome!”

.............

At dusk, the vice praetor of Rome, Valerius, took the new Census Officer of Rome, Platon, to see Davos in a hurry and reported, “…there are five hundred and thirty-one applying to become citizens of Theonia, including three hundred sixty-seven slaves of Rome, one hundred and sixty-four Roman plebeians, while the rest of the Roman plebeians have a wait and see attitude…”

“You've done well, Valerius! Continue to work hard to become an excellent official of the kingdom!” Davos didn't hesitate to praise him.

Valerius wanted to smile but not daring to laugh, making him look a bit comical.

Davos didn’t mind it and continued, “Tomorrow morning, gather these Romans who are going to become citizens of Theonia and allocate houses to them…”

“Platon.”

“Your Majesty!”

“Go back and tell Asistes that once he finishes allocating houses to these Romans, he should immediately start preparing the allocation of land and, at the same time, arrange those Romans willing to become officials with some fanfare!”

“I understand, Your Majesty. I will inform Lord Asistes once I return.”

Davos looked at Valerius and said, “Valerius, the new praetor of Rome, has just arrived. His name is Asistes, and he will be your superior, like the former consul of Rome. So if you have anything to ask in the future, you can consult him first, and he will also give you some new tasks. Asistes is kind, and I believe you can work well together. With your collaboration, you will govern Rome competently!”

Valerius could roughly understand Davos’ words. Although he was a bit disappointed, he still respectfully responded.

After seeing them off, Davos leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes to rest. Suddenly, Henipolis came in and reported, “Your Majesty, Emilius requested to see you.”

Davos' eyes opened, and said, “Let him in.”

Emilius was formerly a slave bought by Theonia's intelligence department ten years ago. After undergoing several special training, he was sent to the Latium region to work on intelligence gathering on the area and create Latium's Intelligence Team, from which most of Davos' information about Rome came from him.

When Davos led his army to attack Latium, he ordered him to lead his subordinate to cooperate with the army's action.

Despite his young age, he carries an air of maturity beyond his years. Additionally, due to his past as a slave and enduring hunger, he appears thin and diminutive. However, Davos doesn't judge him based on his appearance. Instead, he warmly addresses him, saying, “Emilius, what surprises have you brought me this time?!”

It was this unsuspecting guy who promptly sent detailed information about the city of Rome to Thurii when the Roman army ventured to invade Hernici. This crucial act solidified Davos' determination to direct Theonia's offensive towards Rome. Furthermore, it was this person who meticulously drafted the map of Ostia and timely delivered it to the palace, enabling Davos to uncover the key to launching a swift assault on the port town.

Emilius stood in front of Davos and bowed respectfully. He then eagerly said, “Your Majesty! My subordinates have infiltrated the ranks of the Roman plebeians and have come across astonishing news about some Roman plebeians wanting to harm you!”

“Oh?” Davos wasn't surprised since he had also encountered several assassination attempts over the years, which he had become accustomed to. He then gestured for Emilius to continue.

“Your Majesty, when you made your speech in the Roman Forum, I noticed that some plebeians felt displeased but didn't raise their voices in opposition. Then after your speech, several of them neither applied to become our citizens nor obeyed the soldiers' orders to return to their homes. Instead, they quietly stayed in a house on Collis Caelius for some time and then returned to the Roman Forum to discuss quietly with some plebeians who had been there earlier… My men crept close to them and vaguely heard them talking about ‘Camillus’, ‘the Roman army’ and such. They had even mentioned your name… then five of these Roman plebeians started lining up to apply to become citizens of Theonia…”

Davos listened and pondered, “It seems that these Romans were preparing to attack me once the Roman army arrives…”

“That's why I came to report to you as soon as possible, Your Majesty,” Emilius said as if asking to be credited.

“Who lives in that house on Collis Caelius?” Davos asked a crucial question.

Emilius immediately replied, “I have sent someone to inquire about it, and it seems he is Gaius Licinius Stolo.”

Davos felt a sense of familiarity with that name, but he had never known or come into contact with the Roman before, which puzzled him, ‘Is he a notable person in history?’

“…although he is a Roman plebeian, he had a great influence among the plebeians because his father was a military tribune from last year, and his newly married wife was the daughter of a renowned Roman senator Ambustus Fabius-”

Davos interrupted him with a wave of his hand and asked, “Do you mean that a plebeian married the daughter of a great nobleman of Rome?!”

It was no wonder that Davos was surprised because, to his knowledge of Rome, the reason it was so difficult for a Roman plebeian to go over the nobility was because of the Roman nobility's strict restrictions they imposed on them, and even the law restricting the marriage between nobles and plebeians was clearly engraved on Rome's Law of the Twelve Tables.

“Yes, Your Majesty. It is because he was the first plebeian to marry the daughter of a great nobleman that many Roman plebeians see him as their pride and role model.” Emilius affirmed, “Moreover, this man is also quite outstanding. Despite being only twenty-one years old, he has already participated in several battles and achieved remarkable combat feats, earning him the civic crown. However, due to his injuries sustained during the conflict with the Volsci and our First Legion, he remained behind to recover instead of accompanying Camillus' army to Hernici….”

Davos mused, ‘The Celtic invasions of Rome and the repeated migration of the Roman plebeians over the years had instilled a sense of crisis among the Roman nobles. As a result, they gradually started yielding to the plebeians, and a prime example is the acceptance of plebeians to serve as military tribunes. The fact this man's father himself served as a Roman military tribune and that the head of the Fabii house had allowed his daughter to marry him without facing punishment under Roman Law shows the growing trend of the Roman nobility actively recruiting talented and appealing plebeians… Fortunately, we launched our attack at the right time. Had we waited for the enactment of the Licinio-Sextian rogations, the tensions between the nobility and the plebeians would have eased, posing challenges to our current strategy of dismantling Rome…wait! Licinio-Sextian rogations?!’

Emilius suddenly remembered something and said, “Oh, right. Despite Licinius' age, he is proficient in Roman law and often writes complaints for the plebeians for free, winning their affections…”

“Gaius Licinius Stolo…” Davos muttered the name, and a thought popped into his head, ‘Could this be the same Roman tribune from my previous life in Roman history who tirelessly fought for years and eventually persuaded the Senate to pass the Licinio-Sextian rogations, which granted relatively equal rights to the Roman plebeians?!’

Unfortunately, Davos did not major in history in his previous life. During a class on the History of Western Law, he only had a brief overview of the Licinio-Sextian rogations, which had a profound impact on Roman history. So he couldn't recall all the names of the men involved in enacting this law or the specific time period it occurred.

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