Cvria Ivlia, Consulate of Parthicus/Lepidus (II)

[Winter]

Porta capena, ancient entrance to Rome along the Via Appia. The castle-like towers were added by the Papacy in the middle ages.

Election Results

Consuls - Quintus Marius Parthicus and Lucius Aurelius Lepidus

Tribunes - Tertius Julius Ursus, Caius Pontiff, Caius Fabius Maximus, and Marcus Aelius Triarius


Proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul - Lucius Aemillius Paullus

Praetor - Servius Labenius the Younger

[Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedon]

Well it looks Like I'm off too Casalpine gaul
I think I'll make Bononia my base of command so that I can be close too rome and can come here now and then Instead of being diconnected for too long.
I plan too leav within a week.

(can I have the save?, just too see the position were in)

[Winter]

Junior Consul Lepidus rises from the Curile chair

"Welcome senators to a new term. It is our job to wipe away the failures of the past and forge ahead with new vision."

"I have made my appointments for the term already, and only await their confirmation of acceptance. Until then, I shall open the floor to any pressing matters"

"One more thing, senators. In the past, debate has been run rather loosely, with important topics being drowned out in argument and turmoil. That ends now. From now on, we follow the set procedures for debate and voting, and deviations causing distraction will be dealt with."

"Senators, I know that together we can make this term much, much more productive than the last. With that, I open the floor to motions and free suggestion."

ooc: For any questions you have to ask ooc, please use this thread from now on. It will be checked by me regularly, and asking ooc: things here will clear things up a lot more and save us from confusion.

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Quintus Marius walks into the Curia confidently. Consul yet again. But it's to be a busy term, Marius thought as he sat himself down on the Curule Chair, beside his colleague Lepidus. Standing, he asks the senators:

Conscript Fathers,

I stand before you as Consul of Rome, yet I am subject to your will and will be happy to obey. As I now see, there are two things that I as Senior Consul will be able to do during my term, as long as you give my the authority to do so.
1. Send me to the Gallic Front to fight it out with the Gauls, and conquer and vanquish them as much as I can before the end of my turn. If it your wish, you can also send me back there just to guard the place, without making any further advancement into enemy territory.
2. The infrastructure of the Republic has not been looked at for a while. If you instruct me to, I can also take care of the construction of some building to increase public order and happiness. This would mean, however, that the war front would need some other consular or senator with proconsul imperium to manage.

If you see fit, you can assign me both of these tasks, though it will mean that I will have to do a little less than what I could do if you gave me just one assignment. However, the choice is yours Senators. Would Consul Lepidus please open a division to see if most of the Senate is in favour with me doing one of the jobs, and which one at that, or both. After all, I would like to do as much as I can before the term ends.

Quintus Marius sits again.

[Kritias]

"Conscript Fathers."

"Now is the time that this lawful Republic stands united; lest we spend yet another year doing absolutely nothing on our fronts, debating here over nothing."

"As the good Consul has addressed the Senate already, I'll cut to the chase without grand orations. I propose the following Senatum Consulta:

THE SENATUM CONSULTA OF FABIUS MAXIMUS:

I. That the Senate bestows Imperium powers to Marius Parthicus with the entire northern provinces and Gaul as its range of effect.

II. That the Senior Consul is given a Consular Army consisted of 6(VI) Legions of his own picking in order to have adequate soldiers to end the war with the Gauls. Further, the Senior Consul will be given auctoritas(authority, power) to recruit two more legions of auxilia if he deems necessary.

III. That the Junior Consul in coordination with the Censor and the College of Tribunes, to ensure that the voice of the People is heard, will begin infrastructure rebuilding and reorganization works. To that end, the comitee will have as budget the ENTIRE treasury of Rome.

[Gaius Julius Civilis]

Consul Marius, you have extensive experience fighting Gauls and defending Massilia and the entire Transalpine province and you also have great organisational skills. The choice you face us with is a tough one. However, there is a man with equal skills fighting Gauls and defending Massilia in this curia.

I propose that Consular Servius Labienus Africanus goes to war in Gaul with an imperium that allows him to attack the Gauls on their terrain and possibly take a few cities in the process. The infrastructure of Italy could be placed in the hands of Senior Consul Quintus Marius Parthicus, with some form of imperium. The task of managing the trade infrastructure is one that may not yield honour and glory for the one who is tasked to do it, I know this though I do not agree with it. But senators, we have been dragged into a war before, and I have no doubt that we will be in the future. Is it not far wiser to be prepared and to have well equipped, well fed and happy legions at the ready?

What do we need for this? Money, and lots of it. What can give us this money? This investment will give us this money and it will allow us to march our armies to where they need to be quickly and also back home again quickly.

The Junior Consul must stay in Rome lest this term also spiral down into a wasted year as the previous years have done.

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Here we have two conflicting views as what should be done. Caius Fabius Maximus proposes to give the command of the Gallic War to me and leave the infrastructure to the Consul Lepidus, the Tribunes and the Censor Falco Felix. On the other hand, the Censor has proposed the venerable Servius Labienus Africanus to fight on the front while I stay back to supervise the infrastrucure and other Republican matters.

Now, I respect both proposals. I thank Caius Fabius for his support in proposing me to take the command, and if that is what the Senate wishes, then I will go to the front as soon as possible. However, I also see sense in Censor Falco's proposal, and if the Senate votes for that plan instead of Caius Fabius' I will also be willing to accept the other. So as I said, Junior Consul, if the floor would be openned to see a division as to which plan we should take?

[Gaius Julius Civilis]

Tribune Maximus, might I add that I see the sense of your plan, but we need our Junior Consul in Rome (as I have said) and it is impractical to have 7 people deciding what needs to be built where. You may say that the ways of our Republic are not always practical, but we are now beyond the time for debates. If decisive actions are not taken now we may very well need a dictator in the near future. As you all know, I abhor any action that might endanger our Republican way of rule and dictatorship more so than anything else, therefore I propose we give our two consuls minor imperia, so we do not have to give unlimited imperium to someone later on.

So to make sure that the Junior Consul is in Rome I proposed that the Senior Consul improves the Italian infrastructure and that Consular Africanus manages the Gallic war, but we can also send the Senior Consul to Gaul and lat someone else manage the infrastructure reforms.

[Winter]

The fact of the matter is that it is quite illegal to not pass any building programs by the senate for vote, which neither plan has mentioned. Also, I don't remember the last time the Tribunes of the Plebeians consented to being removed from the senate to work on architecture work. I am wondering about the merits of either plan right now, to tell you the truth.

[Grandis Latro]

Spurius Vitruvius walks into the Senate, he stands tall and confident, his face is weathered and bronze from his three years in the unrelenting Mediterranean sun. His toga hangs very loose on him; he suffered in hunger right alongside his men. He gazes at the senate hall, as if it were his first time, here and smiles. He scans the crowd, his cold, empty, veteran eyes rest on the one they call Lepidus, his smile fades and he glares at him; remembering the dreaded veto that cost the lives of many more of his men, men whom he knew well, men whose faces haunt him in his sleep. He breaks eye contact and walks ever so slowly to seat and whispers to a fellow senator, catching up on the debate thus far…

“You men get ahead of yourselves… How many here truly know the state of the Roman Republic and her military? How many know that there are rumors of bandits roaming the countryside terrorizing local town folk? How many know the state of our navy? How many know what buildings are most needed in Italy? No Senators… the first step is information! I thereby ask our Consul and Co-Consul to present the status of our military legions, all of them, and the status of Italy’s cities, all of those as well. Then of course their recommendation on what they believe to be best for each respectively. After we receive this information we are in a far, far better position to dictate terms.

I CAN tell you from my own knowledge, dear Fabius, that we don’t HAVE six legions to give Quintus Marius… it would leave our provinces defenseless.

I also ask, since war with Gaul seems to be on everyone’s mind… that we have an update on what is going on in Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul. Information regarding enemy troop strength and the like, THEN and only then can we decide what is right for that front. I mean for the love of the Gods it might turn out to be that BOTH Servius and Quintus go to the front, if that is what is best for Rome.

The bottom line… We Need Information, no more guessing!

[Confederate Jeb]

OOC: if it doesn't involve having the game, I could do some building...

IC: Tertius walked into the Curia smiling. He was proud to have been elected Tribune, and it was a good start. "The most important duty for Rome as of now is to secure the front with the Gauls. Let us decide who shall be appointed to defend Rome's lands from the Gauls before we concern ourselves with the infastructere of Rome's current holdings. Becasue if our infastructere is sound, this is all well but if the Gauls are tearing through our lands what difference would it make. This, of course, is a generalization, and doesn't not take the merits of our brave legions into account."

[Caesar Rex]

Senators.
I say congratulations to all that were elected in the last elections.
Well done.
There is much talk of war now with Gaul.
And I wholly support this wholeheartedly however my father brought up a very important topic before the end of the last term.
That is honouring our veteren legions and their commanders.
The plebs need to be reminded of our victories and the legions need to be shown that they we are not ungrateful for their dedication.
I believe this must be of our highest priority before we start sending more commanders to fight in more wars.
Also my father made recommendation for the cognomen of Magnus for our now Proconsul of Africa, Spurius Vitruvius Habitus.

Servius Labienus 'the younger' (34)
Senator of Rome

[Winter]

The discussions on the floor are as follows:

1. Improving the infrastructure of the Republic
2. Dealing with the Gallic incursion
3. Honoring our veterans
4. Congnominating(sp?) Habitus.

The matters will be discussed in that order, and that is the order in which they will be brought to a vote.

The senate will now consider the matter of improving the infrastructure of the Republic.

[Xavier Dragnesi]

From my legate in Gaul, the situation is as such:

There are three legions on the Gallic Front, two are understrength, one is up to strength. Some reinforcements for the two understrength legions are currently being retrained at Arretium. There are two Gallic armies in Aventicum, one as the garrison, the other guarding it. One legion is guarding the pass from Aventicum. Another Gallic army is in the pass to the northwest, which is guarded by the full strength legion. The last legion is garrisoned in Massilia, after successfully ambushing and destroying a Gallic army in another of the passes.

Unfortunately, he has not sent me any maps. I shall ask him for some on my reply message to him.

[Caesar Rex]

Infrastructure is a must.
It is however difficult to determine what must be built in accordance to what is already built.
However any facilities that will improve the health, trade and overall happiness among the plebeians is the ideal build program.

Servius Labienus 'the younger' (34)
Senator of Rome

[Kritias]

"It is not that Consul Parthicus isn't able to destroy the Gauls, he says, but there's always Servius Labienus Africanus to take the lead of the war. And may I ask why? Since you, Falco, have said Marius Parthicus is able to cope with the situation, why do you propose Africanus in his stead?"

"The good Senator over here claims that Parthicus is needed to stay back and monitor the progress of the reconstructions; he claims that doing the job of the Censor isn't without honor - and of course it isn't without honor: but it is not a job fitting the Senior Consul of our Republic, is it? Why we are faced with a motion to leave the waging of the war, traditionally bestowed only to the Senior Consul, elected commander of our legions and legal custodian of the Commonwealth for a year, to a Consular individual? Why?"

"Falco claims that we should 'split' power, give minor imperiums to our two elected Consuls, lest we end up giving unlimited power to one man, lest we foment some short of tyranny. However what Falco proposes is in fact something so unheard of and so unconstitutional that I am surprised that no-one has denounced him already! Falco's proposal is to give our elected Consulars some minor responsibilities while Servius Labienus Africanus is given the major Imperium to wage war. This motion is nothing else but a gathering of powers to a person with his consent or not being no matter. If Labienus is a man of honor and respect to the Constitution and the Mos Maiorum, he will turn down the offer. If he does not though, I will."

"Also, Falco claims that the College of Tribunes and the Office of Censor should not participate in the reconstruction works because it is impractical to have several individuals deciding over a matter. Perhaps young Falco means to say that the Republic Herself is too impractical? Why Senator, I ask, you say that the many cannot decide over a matter? Isn't it exactly what our Senate does?"

@ Vitrunius

Senator, let us not forget that the majority of our eight legions rest in our northern borders where Gaul is attacking us. So, taking the six of these legions would not endanger the borders because they would be in fact defending the borders from the Gauls. No?

@ Lucius Aurelius Lepidus

The fact of the matter is that it is quite illegal to not pass any building programs by the senate for vote, which neither plan has mentioned. Also, I don't remember the last time the Tribunes of the Plebeians consented to being removed from the senate to work on architecture work. I am wondering about the merits of either plan right now, to tell you the truth.

Lepidus, naturally any and all reconstruction works would be first ratified by the Senate. Also the Tribunes presence would reassure that aqueducts are indeed build in the provinces they were supposed to be built in - thus favoring the People of Rome. However, if the Senate feels that our College's presence wouldn't be in favor of the Republic, I yield to you.

[Caesar Rex]

The imperium is not for myself Cauis Fabius, but for my father.
I however have not the gall to go out and lead the legions of Rome before my time.
I assume this was an honest mistake and not one directed at me.

Servius Labienus 'the younger' (34)
Senator of Rome

[Kritias]

No, young Labienus, it wasn't aimed at you but at your Father.

OOC:

*Fabius's rant*...while Servius Labienus Africanus...*Fabius's rant*

[Gaius Julius Civilis]

My dear Caius, you completely misunderstood!

If you remembered my words correctly and - more importantly - interpret them correctly, instead of according to your narrowminded Optimatist propaganda, you might recall I also proposed that Quintus Marius Parthicus lead the war in Gaul and someone else lead the construction programs in Italia.

You also oppose my idea of giving the Consuls imperia to avert a dictator or - gods forbid - a tyrant, without giving a viable alternative. Perhaps you have ambitions, Optimate? Perhaps you hope that the senate will give you the dictatorship when the time comes?

The next thing you propose is that the Council of Tribunes - that sacred institution meant to enhance the rights of the poor Roman plebes - be defiled to manage a minor building program. And -oh, coincidence of coincidences - you happen to be a Tribune! Perhaps another ploy to give you more power, methinks?

All your proposals 'for the good of the Republic' seem to be nothing but an ill-disguised plot to give you more power. My plan however provides no power to me now or in the future. Why? Because my plans truly are for the good of the Republic, and if we as the Senate of Rome define the borders of this imperium thoroughly the Republic will be fine in no time. But if we, members of this Sacred, August body, the Senate, follow this Tribune's plan our Republic will corrupt even further and I dare to venture a guess as to who will end up in power, Caius...

[Kritias]

Yours is a magnificent ability, dear Falco. To have the nerve to turn around a denouncement for something you proposed is indeed the deed of an unethical character!

You claim that I am the one willing to be a dictator while your dear friend Labienus Africanus is the one that gathers more and more power, I repeat intentionally or not being no matter. You accuse me that I don't provide a viable alternative so here it is: the Republican system. Let the Junior Consul do his job and let the Senior Consul lead the Republican forces to war.

You say that my party, the honorable Optimates, are those that wish to be tyrants. I'll remind you that thanks to the Optimates the Republic is as it is now; saying that we are those that want to take over the Republic is just small hearted, so forgive me if I will not indulge into such pitiful discussions.

You also say that I want to defile the honorable College of Tribunes by having the Tribunes inspecting a minor building program while in the same time you accuse me of trying to gather more power to myself; however, what a fool I would be if I thought that I would gain much power from a minor building program? Clearly then, I cannot be aiming to my own gratification because this will not bring much benefit to me. However, since you have accused me of being power eager, there can be no better thing for me than to humiliate you by selflessly resigning my office as a point of honor.

However, let me point out something for the House:

But if we, members of this Sacred, August body, the Senate, follow this Tribune's plan our Republic will corrupt even further and I dare to venture a guess as to who will end up in power, Caius...

Of course, supporting the legal commander in chief, Marius Parthicus, instead of Falco's Labienus to have Imperium over war will destroy the Republic and surely will provide me with the opportunity to siege power. Excuse me for being so openly treacherous to the Republic, fellow Senators!