The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Chapter 56:  Rome’s Contradictions

Roman society seemed rational at first glance, but it harbored huge contradictions inside.

It wasn’t always like that.

Over hundreds of years, the contradictions inherent in the system accumulated one by one.

Some of them were resolved, but some of them remained unsolved and slowly eroded the society.

From minor problems like lawyers who didn’t receive fees laundering money through artworks, to the increasing economic dependence on slaves.

The conflict between small farmers and nobles over land distribution, and the inefficient Senate-centered government for ruling a vast territory.

Among them, the problem that erupted in 63 BC was about the electoral system.

The elected officials of Rome, those who had honorable careers, did not receive salaries.

But if they wanted to run for elections in the order of quaestor, aedile, praetor, and consul, they naturally needed a lot of money.

Moreover, Rome’s elections were basically money-driven.

Anyone who was not extremely rich had to borrow money.

And even if they were elected, they didn’t receive a salary, so they had no choice but to take bribes to pay off their debts.

It was almost inevitable that those who became governors of provinces would commit harsh plunder.

The wealthy Orient was better off, but those who went to Gaul or Africa still couldn’t collect enough money to pay off their debts.

Especially after the Verres trial, the provincials often sued the governors, making it harder to plunder.

Lucius Sergius Catilina was a typical nobleman who suffered from Rome’s contradictory system.

Marcus knew him well because he was recorded in history as a person who caused a huge disaster.

“I understand that you need funds for the consul election. But this doesn’t seem like a place to talk about it. Can we move somewhere else?”

“Y-yes.”

He decided to postpone congratulating Caesar until tomorrow.

Anyway, there were too many people who wanted to congratulate him now, so he didn’t think he could see his face properly.

After asking Julia for permission, he led Catilina back to his mansion.

Danae, who had been in charge of lending business, brought him some information about Catilina.

Catilina didn’t say anything out of nervousness.

Danae and Julia also waited quietly for Marcus to open his mouth.

Only the sound of Marcus spreading the scroll was heard in the spacious reception room.

“You already have a considerable debt.”

Catilina’s body stiffened as he was drinking wine at Marcus’s casual remark.

He put down his wine glass with a stiff movement and sighed.

“Yeah… I have a lot of debt.”

The debt that Catilina had accumulated so far was not something that could be called a little even as an exaggeration.

There were many politicians in Rome who had huge debts, but the most famous ones were Caesar and Catilina.

But Catilina didn’t enjoy a lavish life like Caesar.

His family was a noble family that produced consuls, but now it was in a difficult economic situation due to its decline.

So he had no choice but to rely on debt for his political activities.

He was elected as praetor, but he couldn’t collect enough money to pay off his debt because he was assigned to Africa.

“You lost two consecutive consul elections and your debt became unbearable. The first one was a bit unfair. You lost your candidacy because you were tried for abusing your power in the province.”

“I was acquitted of that.”

“The second election you came in third. So you must be determined to win this time.”

“Yes. So please lend me some money. If I become consul, it will be much easier to go to the eastern province, and I can pay back what I borrowed from you.”

Catilina looked very desperate. He couldn’t run for election without money, but no one would lend him money, so he was naturally anxious.

But the reason why he couldn’t borrow money was partly his own fault.

Marcus uttered the fundamental reason why Catilina had difficulty borrowing money.

“But even if you become consul, can I get back the money I lent you?”

“…What do you mean by that? Of course I can pay you back if I become consul.”

“The ability to repay debt is less important than the will. Your promise last time shows that.”

“That… That was just a promise. What can’t you say during an election?”

“I agree with that, but your promise has more weight. People who are in debt like you are supporting you with desperation. And you’re in the same situation as them. But can you pretend you don’t know them as soon as you get elected? There will be riots right away and your political life will end.”

Catilina couldn’t keep his composure anymore.

His eyes were filled with the anger of a person who was cornered in a dead end.

He was not the kind of person who could be calm even with a huge debt.

Most people are like this.

Caesar, who could ask for more money even with a debt that would make his eyes roll, was rather an abnormal case.

If they couldn’t pay off their debt, the only thing waiting for them was a miserable downfall.

Catalina’s voice, in which he himself was unaware of the resentment, carried out his frustration.

“So you won’t lend me money either?”

“That’s not what I meant. I just want you to sign a contract that says you will prioritize repaying the money you borrowed from me if you get elected as a magistrate.”

“That’s obvious. I’ll write it right here. I’ll pay you back first with the money I borrowed from you.”

“Good. Then let’s write the contract.”

Marcus smiled and handed him a piece of paper.

Julia and Danae widened their eyes at his generous gesture of lending money.

Catalina also asked in a bewildered tone.

“Are you really… going to lend me the election money? Just like that?”

“Yes. But I hope you keep it a secret that I lent you money. There are many people in the Senate who want Catalina to fail in the election.”

“Of course. I won’t do anything that would harm you. I’m a nobleman who knows honor. How could I do something that would hurt my benefactor?”

Catalina called Marcus his benefactor.

It was not an exaggeration.

The creditors only verbally harassed Catalina because he still had a chance of being elected.

If they judged that his political life was over, they could immediately resort to forced collection.

That’s why this magistrate election was more important than anything else.

If he won here, he could at least breathe a sigh of relief.

The noisy creditors would also shut their mouths if he became a magistrate.

Of course, if he failed again, his future would be bleak.

For a poor nobleman, an election was a gamble that he had to stake his life on.

But Catalina was able to let out a sigh of relief just by being able to participate in that gambling hall.

He thanked Marcus several times and turned around to hurry out of the reception room.

He had to come up with a concrete strategy now that he had the funds to run for office.

Julia looked at Marcus’s face, who was seeing off Catalina, with curiosity.

Her face showed her incomprehension.

“Marcus, are you really going to lend him money?”

“I wrote the contract, didn’t I? Of course I have to lend it to him.”

“Of course, you must have a plan, but…”

Julia pondered for a moment, but she couldn’t think of any reason to lend him money.

Danae also tilted her head and looked over Catalina’s information again.

“Do you think Catalina has the ability to repay his debt?”

Danae, who was involved in the lending business, had already investigated all the famous debtors in Rome.

Julia, who was wise, also helped her with her task, so they had already discussed and concluded many things.

Catalina was also naturally one of the topics of discussion.

The common conclusion they reached was that they should not lend money to this person.

Marcus couldn’t have been unaware of that fact.

He casually took a sip of diluted wine into his mouth.

“Of course Catalina doesn’t have the ability to pay back. If he did, would he be so gloomy?”

Even among debtors, Caesar and Catalina were different types.

Caesar didn’t change his attitude no matter how much debt he had.

He had a firm confidence that he could repay any debt at any time.

Such people don’t feel much pressure even if they have a lot of debt.

On the other hand, people who are conscious of their debts like Catalina inevitably show signs of it.

Their personalities become darker and their confidence disappears from their words and actions.

The creditors are more sensitive than anyone else to these changes in attitude of the debtors.

Most of Rome’s creditors thought that Catalina was hopeless by now.

If he fails in this magistrate election, it’s over. And they judged that the probability of him failing in the election was almost 100 percent.

Julia still couldn’t understand why he lent him money even though she knew he would fail.

“Oh, you’re sharp.”

Julia’s guess was almost close to the truth. But she couldn’t reach the deeper truth either.

Marcus’s goal was to make Catalina owe him such a huge amount of debt that he couldn’t recover from it.

Catalina, who despaired after repeated failures in history, gathered colleagues in similar situations and plotted a rebellion.

The speech by Cicero, who impeached Catalina at this time, is still passed down to modern times.

This speech is a famous text that anyone who studies Latin has to see at least once.

Marcus was slowly starting to intervene in history and expand his position.

He was about to enter the Senate, so he needed to leave a good impression on the people and the senators.

The stage he chose for that was Catalina’s rebellion.

Suppressing the rebellion was purely a matter of maintaining the order of the republic, so there was no need to worry about being hated.

He had enough reason to actively participate in the rebellion, as he had lent a large amount of money to Catalina and couldn’t get it back.

He felt sorry for the money he lent for the election, but he thought it was an investment for the future.

Those who didn’t know this plan couldn’t possibly understand Marcus’s decision.

Julia was smart, but it was too much to expect her to predict the rebellion.

“I think this magistrate election will have a big impact. We need to prepare in advance. Just in case, tell your family to be careful about safety.”

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

Julia smiled faintly with a look of embarrassment.

She wanted a wise husband, but she realized that it could be a headache to meet someone who thinks too much.

Julia, who had too much to calculate, gave up and listened to Marcus’s instructions.

The couple’s discussion didn’t end until late at night.

※※※※

The situation after that went as Marcus predicted.

Cicero, the current magistrate, insisted loudly that Catalina’s candidacy itself should be banned.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate! Catalina does not want to simply write off his debts. He knows very well that he can’t pass such a policy even if he becomes a magistrate. Then why did he make such a bizarre pledge? It’s because he’s aiming for a revolution!”

Catalina naturally dismissed Cicero’s accusations as baseless.

The other senators also felt that it was too much to prevent someone from running for office without any disqualification.

Cicero stubbornly tried to block Catalina’s candidacy, but he couldn’t go against the tide.

In the end, the vote result was that there was no problem with Catalina’s candidacy for magistrate.

Instead, the Senate put forward two strong candidates to prevent Catalina from winning.

They were Junius Silanus and Lucius Murena.

They were both noble families of similar fame as Catalina and had more recognition among the people.

With the full support of the Senate, there was no chance for these two to lose to Catalina.

Everyone in the Senate was certain of it.

Cicero and Cato, and even Caesar, who had a political insight beyond them, had no different opinions.

Marcus, who knew history, had already based his plans on that fact.

However, everything in the world always has exceptions.

And such cracks usually occur in places that are not expected.

“There was a match-fixing in the gladiator fight?”

Marcus clicked his tongue lightly as he received Septimus’s report.

“How did that happen? I thought I had taken thorough precautions to prevent that.”

As long as people do it, there is no way to avoid the temptation of match-fixing in any game. And if there is a lot of money involved, that temptation is multiplied.

Marcus, who had seen many cases of match-fixing in the modern era, had prepared in advance.

Gladiators involved in match-fixing were executed without exception.

And he made sure that the person who arranged the match-fixing was exposed to the whole of Rome and brought to trial.

He also had inspectors who periodically monitored the progress of the games and the actions of the gladiators.

In the case of gladiator fights, which were duels with life at stake, it was easier to find traces of match-fixing.

Septimus handed over a report with the details of the incident and explained the situation.

“I think it was thanks to your attention that this was caught. Fortunately, there was no damage because they were caught while trying to fix the match. Rather, I think the trust of the citizens would have increased even more since we caught this fraud in advance.”

“I see. But who is the stupid person who tried to fix the match? Didn’t he think he would get caught?”

“It seems that he tried to lose on purpose in a regional competition and then pocket a large amount of dividend. But the identity of the culprit was quite a big shot. The rumor has already spread like wildfire.”

Marcus quickly read the report and frowned with a sigh.

“The governor of Gallia Transalpina did this? Well, he was a provincial governor, so it must have been easier for him to coax the Gauls.”

Gallia Transalpina was the first place in Gaul to become a province of Rome, corresponding to modern southern France.

The person who tried to fix the match used his influence to approach the Gallic gladiators.

And he ordered them to lose in the way he instructed, saying that he would make sure they wouldn’t die even if they lost.

But one of the gladiators who had received thorough preventive education beforehand reported this to an inspector.

This news spread immediately throughout Rome and caused a commotion.

But Marcus felt that the name of the match-fixer was familiar somehow.

“Lucius Murena? Where have I seen that name before…?”

The time he spent pondering was only a moment.

He remembered where he had seen this name and was engulfed by a shock as if he had been hit hard on his head.

There was only one person in Rome who had been the governor of Gallia Transalpina named Lucius Murena.

“Is this Lucius Murena the same person I know?”

Septimus nodded his head with an uneasy face and confirmed it.

“Yes. He is the one who ran as a candidate for this year’s consul election. I guess there is no hope for him now that the rumor has spread.”

“No, wait…if he fails…”

There is a term called butterfly effect.

It is the principle that a tiny flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil can cause a tornado in America.

It means that a trivial change can cause a huge result.

The situation was exactly like that.

Lucius Murena was an ambitious person, but he had never tried to fix a match in history.

Well, maybe he did, but he wasn’t caught.

But Murena, who had set his eyes on the gladiator games that Marcus had newly improved, got caught red-handed.

It was impossible to deny it since he was almost caught on the spot.

The aftermath of trying to fix a match in the gladiator games that most Romans loved was huge.

The Roman citizens mercilessly condemned politicians who harmed them with their votes.

In the consul election of BC62 that decided the consul, Lucius Murena lost unlike in original history.

Even with the full support of the Senate, it was too hard to change the minds of angry citizens.

Instead, Catiline, who had narrowly missed third place, won by luck.

The Senate and even Marcus were stunned by the unexpected result.

For the first time, the course of history flowed in a direction that was out of Marcus’s control.

The fact that it was caused by something he had never imagined made the shock even greater.

But no matter how unbelievable it was, the reality that had already happened did not change.

The result of the election that no one had expected swept Rome like a storm.