The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Chapter 60: Great Turmoil 

“Stop this vile collusion and engage in proper discussion, Senate!”

“Face the voices of the citizens who are crushed by debt!”

In the original history, most of the people that Catiline had gathered were retired soldiers and ruined landowners.

The insolvent ones who had no hope of paying off their debts did not cooperate with Catiline.

But now the situation was a bit different.

Catiline’s supporters tried to attract as many people as possible and raise their voice.

Eustus, a fallen knight, took the lead in this work.

He was very good at inciting and had a quick wit.

Catiline accepted Eustus’s opinion and actively absorbed the social discontented.

Anger was a contagious emotion.

Those who had a lot of complaints about the Senate were quickly captured by Catiline’s support force.

The fact that he was a current praetor also helped to draw people in.

Manlius, Sulla’s former subordinate, also actively incited people by Catiline’s side.

He declared that he would take care of the insolvent ones if their debts were all cleared.

It was nonsense that had no chance of being realized, but people who had lost half of their reason did not care.

Catiline no longer had the ability or the will to control the situation.

He only had the mind to go as far as he could.

He attended the Senate meeting and proposed his bill one last time before presenting it to the assembly.

The problem was that the content of the bill was even more radical than before.

“All debts of Romans will be completely canceled and those who received interest more than what is set by law will be severely punished. These people must pay back the interest they received to the debtors as a fine.”

This was clearly a declaration of war against the Senate.

Silanus opened his mouth in astonishment.

“Are you crazy, Catiline? Do you think that makes sense right now?”

“It is ultimately because the Senate did not do its job properly that the situation became like this. We need to take responsibility for this situation!”

“Why don’t we discuss a reasonable solution now?”

“No, the will of those who support this bill is already firm. There is no room for persuasion when things have come to this point.”

Catiline threw off his passive attitude so far.

Cato snorted as if he couldn’t believe it.

“He’s completely mad. Unless he’s determined to ruin Rome…”

Cicero, who had already been on bad terms with Catiline, stood up from his seat as if he had been waiting and poured out his criticism.

“How can it be entirely the Senate’s fault that the situation has become like this! It is because you failed to cooperate properly that things have come to this point. It is like an incompetent actor who came to play without memorizing his script blaming the script!”

Catiline’s face turned red.

“Watch your mouth, newcomer from Arpinum! I am a patrician of Sergius family and a current praetor of Rome. How dare you insult me like that!”

“Did you forget already? Let me remind you that you lost to that newcomer in the election two years ago. As a result, I already served as praetor last year, and you had to wait another year.”

“Ha! Do you really think you beat me sincerely, you upstart from a rural area? Your victory would have been impossible without Verres’ self-destruction. You just rode the tide well and climbed up to that position!”

Cicero was about to retort immediately, but he took a breath and calmed himself down.

He knew well that fighting with anger would only damage both of their reputations.

Unlike Catiline, who had little to lose, Cicero decided to show a mature attitude.

“This kind of emotional fight does not help solve the current situation at all. Senators. The praetor’s absurd bill is not worth discussing, but it is a clear reality that discontent is accumulating. We need to be alert about this situation. This is not the time to push blindly, but to seek a solution carefully.”

Cicero’s appeal resonated with other senators who agreed with him.

But there were some people who had different opinions.

The hardliners, including Cato, argued loudly that they should go stronger at this time.

“I have a different opinion! The wise and thoughtful Cicero seems to think that if we go hard, social unrest will worsen.

Of course, it is a reasonable thought. But we can’t give the impression that we are dragged around by the thugs.

No matter how good and excellent the intention is, we have laws and order that we must follow! We must not show any sign of wavering to the demands of those who are angry.

The more we do this, the more we need to deal with it firmly to revive the authority of the Senate! So I suggest this. Praetor Silanus, exercise your veto right immediately.

The Senate has always won despite numerous threats. Let’s show them our determination not to compromise with those who try to disrupt our order!”

Cato’s fiery speech changed the atmosphere of the senators who had sided with Cicero.

‘The Senate has never lost!’

This phrase struck their hearts.

Indeed, the Senate had never bowed to external threats.

Even Marius and Sulla, who seized power and became dictators, were still insiders of the Senate.

Pompey, who had caused a lot of frustration to the Senate, was also one of the senators.

As long as the opponent was not a fellow senator, the Senate had never succumbed to external threats.

The Gracchus brothers, who had been the biggest crisis, also failed to overcome the power of the Senate in the end.

While the Senate and the assembly were in turmoil, Caesar felt that something was strange.

He was a debtor with a huge amount of debt, but he thought that he had nothing to do with debt cancellation from the beginning.

He was also a senator who was regarded as anti-Senate.

So he could look at the series of events with an objective eye.

‘It shouldn’t have gotten this big…’

Feeling that something was wrong, Caesar asked Cicero in detail what kind of agreement he had made with Catiline.

Since it was already exposed, Cicero did not hide the truth either.

When Caesar heard that Crassus had mediated between Catiline and the Senate, he felt like he had a clue.

He thanked Cicero briefly and headed straight to Crassus’s mansion.

He was surprised that his daughter Julia did not say anything, but he thought it was a matter that required secrecy.

When he arrived at the mansion, Caesar was immediately guided to the reception room.

Marcus dismissed everyone around him and greeted Caesar alone.

Julia was unfortunately out for some reason and it would take a while for her to come back.

“It’s been a while. Is this the first time since the praetor election celebration?”

“Yeah. I owe you a lot for the pontifex maximus and the praetor election. I came to thank you again and catch up on some stories. I hope I didn’t bother you.”

“Not at all. I wish Julia was here too. She would have been happy to see you.”

“I’m glad she doesn’t seem to be bothering you. I told her to tell me anytime if she had a hard time in her marriage, but she didn’t contact me. I can guess how well you treat her.”

Marcus responded with a meaningful word to Caesar’s intention.

“I treat her well, but Julia also does a lot for me. I must be the luckiest man in Rome to have such a devoted wife.”

“I’m happy that you think so highly of my daughter. By the way, Rome has been very noisy lately. Is your business okay?”

“Of course. There is no possibility that such absurd bill of debt cancellation will pass.”

“True. But looking at the situation now, it seems inevitable that a big chaos will come. I heard that Crassus family tried to mediate between Catiline and the Senate.”

Marcus did not deny it.

“There is no good in prolonging the chaos. I tried my best, but it seems that Catiline lacked the ability to resolve this situation.”

“You tried your best… Knowing your ability, I think you could have given more effective advice. Am I wrong?”

This time, Marcus did not affirm or deny it.

He smiled as if to say think whatever you want.

Caesar narrowed his eyes and trailed off.

“You don’t mean…”

“The times need change. But big changes inevitably face resistance. I don’t have the power to break through that resistance yet.”

“There is no one in Rome who can have that power right now. Maybe if you become a dictator, but not even as a praetor.”

“Isn’t Catiline showing it right now? It failed because it was too radical? No. The majority of the current senators do not want change at all. No matter how moderate the compromise proposal was, it would have met with great opposition.”

Caesar agreed with this opinion. Most of the current senators had cash flow problems.

Yet they did not think at all about reforming the financial structure.

It was common sense that the privileged class was conservative about reform, but especially so for financial issues.

“So you decided to make the problem bigger and aggravate the chaos… But will it go well? Depending on how the riot unfolds, it could turn into a civil war if you try to suppress it without reason. They have retired soldiers and commanders who were under Sulla.”

“That’s true. It would be hard to crack down without any justification. They haven’t done anything so outrageous yet that we need to mobilize the army.”

“And the most fundamental problem is this. You have to come up with a reform plan that both creditors and debtors can accept, and at the same time solve the current problem. Do you know how hard this is?”

Caesar thought that this was not a problem that could be solved in a short period of time.

It required a lot of time and research to create a precise bill.

Even if Caesar was a genius, he had to be careful to create a new system that had never existed before.

But that was not a problem for Marcus.

“There is no way to make a bill that satisfies both sides structurally. But if it is a system that can be accepted somehow, it is a different story. It is possible enough.”

“Do you already have an idea in your mind?”

“I have a rough concept. I need to adjust and review the details according to the current situation of Rome.”

He had studied finance as a major and had plenty of means to acquire additional knowledge.

Of course, he did not intend to introduce the complex laws and systems of modern times.

If he brought too modern methods, there was a high possibility that they would not work well, so he needed to modify them to suit the current situation.

Caesar shook his head incredulously and asked.

“You… Did you plan all this from the time you lent money to Catiline? To use this chaos in reverse?”

It was the same reaction as Julia’s a while ago.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know.

“What? What are you talking about? I just lent money to Catiline for the sake of minimizing the chaos in Rome. Who knows what he would do if he couldn’t even run the election properly. And I tried my best to advise him, but things didn’t go well. But I can’t just sit still, so I’m working hard to find an alternative.”

Marcus never said that he predicted that it would be so confusing, or that he led it.

Caesar recalled the conversation they had exchanged so far and burst into a hearty laugh.

“Hahaha! I like you very much. I have one son-in-law who is very good.”

“I feel the same way. Every time I talk to you, I feel that I have a good wife and a great father-in-law.”

Caesar nodded with a satisfied expression.

He was once again convinced that his decision to send Julia to Marcus instead of Pompey was right.

“You would want the chaos to get worse if you want your reform plan to be easily accepted, right?”

“That would be nice, but I have no intention of intervening. I can get involved in resolving the chaos, though.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I was already wondering how to repay you for the election money you lent me. Think of it as interest and accept my favor.”

“If you give me a gift, I have to thank you.”

The two exchanged smiles that were hard to read.

They continued to chat for a while.

They talked about the current political situation, Cicero and Cato, who would become the main players of the Senate, and Pompey, who would return to Rome within a year.

He waited for Julia to come back and go, but Caesar, who got a satisfactory answer, returned to his residence right away.

Marcus went outside and saw him off, and a cool breeze passed by his side.

He decided to wait and see what gift Caesar would give him.

※※※※

Caesar proved his words with immediate action.

The Senate meeting held the next day was filled with tremendous criticism and condemnation of Catiline from the start.

The senators also criticized Silanus and Cicero, who had hastily made an agreement with Catiline.

And they lamented the reality that someone as incompetent as Catiline became a praetor.

Then Caesar requested a speech.

He argued that Catiline was not incompetent at all. Rather, he presented a conspiracy theory that all this was Catiline’s plan.

“Think about it. Praetor Catiline constantly showed an attitude of asking us to doubt him. And even though he was the most urgent one, he did not offer any solution. He even acted as if he was passing all the responsibility to the Senate. Why do you think so? There is no other way than to think that he had this situation in mind from the beginning.”

The senators were shocked by this unexpected perspective.

Fulcher, who had thin ears, nodded as if it made sense.

“Now that I think about it… I also doubted if Catiline had any ulterior motives.”

“Many of you may wonder what benefit he has from causing this chaos. But Catiline has nothing to lose.

Because he pretended to follow the will of the Senate and got the position of proconsul of Asia Minor. Even if this bill does not pass, he will scrape up money from the rich province of Asia Minor and pay off his debts. And he made the anger of the people directed at the Senate, not himself.”

“But once he clashed with the Senate like this, his political activities afterwards would be impossible?”

“As soon as this happened, it was only a matter of time before he was excluded from the Senate. Which senator would seriously believe someone who made a pledge of debt cancellation for election?”

Catiline immediately denied it as slander, but the atmosphere of the Senate had already turned to Caesar.

Even Cicero and Cato looked at Catiline with suspicious eyes.

The two did not fully believe Caesar’s words because they thought Catiline did not have the ability to devise such a scheme.

But if this was all Catiline’s trick, there were quite a lot of parts that matched.

“Think about it. How did the rumor that the Senate and Catiline made a secret deal spread so quickly? But if this was all a play, this question would be solved in an instant.”

“This is slander! Why would I do that when I can go to Asia Minor comfortably in this situation…”

“Once it was officially announced that Catiline, who had not achieved anything, was going to Asia Minor, there would have been problems anyway. So he took the initiative. Then he incited the people and made the anger directed at the Senate, not himself. He actually succeeded, didn’t he?”

Catiline tried to argue further, but no one listened to his words.

Caesar’s reasoning was plausible, but more importantly, it stimulated the anger of the senators.

Catiline had to become a scoundrel like no other for the Senate’s anger to be justified.

The Senate did not hesitate any longer.

Praetor Silanus declared that he would not accept this bill even if it passed in the assembly, and that he would use all possible means to stop it.

He expressed his intention to invoke the final recommendation of the Senate if the debt cancellation was approved in the assembly.

The Senate supported Silanus’s declaration with overwhelming applause.

Catiline’s bill was immediately rejected.

But Catiline continued to propose bills with radical contents, relying on the demands of his supporters.

But the praetors who were influenced by Silanus and the Senate exercised their veto power one by one.

The Senate also made it clear that no bill would pass until Catiline’s term ended.

Even the praetors who were pro-Senate joined in, so there was no chance of passing a law in the assembly.

The Senate did not budge even if they protested and caused violence.

Rather, they responded with even stronger violence.

Catiline’s supporters were desperate.

And despair naturally drove people to extremes.

Justus, who had become completely loyal to Catiline, suggested the worst way.

“Since it has come to this, don’t we have no choice but to kill those who hinder the passage of the law?”

A few days ago, he would have been scolded for saying such nonsense, but no one objected.

It meant that Catiline’s faction’s anger and murderous intent had reached their limit.

Catiline’s feelings were not much different.

He felt an endless hatred for the Senate as he was isolated and slandered.

Cicero announced that he would accuse Catiline as soon as his term ended and prevent him from performing his proconsulship.

Cato argued that all the censors should be mobilized to deprive Catiline of his senatorship as well.

When his term ended, Catiline would not be guaranteed his safety politically or physically.

He thought that he might as well overthrow everything since it had come to this point.

Soon a murderous word came out of Catiline’s mouth.

“Yeah… It might not be impossible if we don’t get caught.”

It was the moment when the mob, who had been cornered in a dead end and lost hope, finally began to run wild.