The Curia, 49 BCE

[Pontifex Maximus]

Magistrates:

Consules: Severus Vipsanius Cincinnatus (for the second time) et Decimus Pontius Artillius (for the second time)

Censor: Tiberius Caesar

Praetores: Quintus Lucro et Marcus Felix

Quaestores: Aulus Ovidius Priscus et Titus Felix Celatus

Tribunes: Sextus Tuccius Alexander et Lucius Primus Marcellinus

Proconsules: Gaius Scipio, Gaius Marius Aquila, et Servius Quinctillius Scaeva


Senate-People Relationship Meter: -1 (Poor)

Random Roll: 8 (no event)

The session for the year 49 BCE has been called to order. Pressing matters of discussion include (and must be resolved before other measures):

• Paying, rearming, and moving the legions
• The addition of the area "Provincia" into the Republic
• Populist measure: Italians Demand Citizenship (3 points)

[Pontifex Maximus]

A letter arrives for the Senate:

To the Senate and people of Rome, Greetings!

I have crushed all Allobrogian resistance in the area that shall now be referred to as Provincia. This newly carved out section of the Empire shall consist of all territory in Gaul across the Alps reaching all the way to Spain. We suffered enough casualties in our final assaults upon these territories that require immediate attention. Able-bodied citizen volunteers should be sent as soon as possible to fill the ranks. I am returning to Rome and I will leave two Legions in Provincia, bringing the I Victrix back to Cisalpine Gaul. I send to you two things, 4,000 denarii of spoils from the Gallic Wars as well as General Catugantrix of the Allobroges to be tried as the honorable Senate decrees.

Consul Cincinnatus

[Celsius]

Titus rises
"Our Consul has performed in an excellent manner by crushing the Gallic forces! But yet, every victory for Rome comes loss as well. I propose the follow my fellow Senators:"

• A Triumph be held in honor of Consul Cincinnatus.

• The I, II, and III Legions be replenished with fresh troops immediately.

• Consul Cincinnatus be given the title "Gallicus" for his victories over the Gauls.

• Make the conquered Gallic territory "Provincia" a province of the S.P.Q.R. and thereby subjugating it to Senate authority and rule completely.

[Lord Slayer]

Servius enters the Senate and sits down having not heard the Senators words until the end. Servius decides not to respond and instead sips his wine slowly as he waits for the rest of the Senators to come into the Senate house

[Aetius]

Corva adds to the discussion;

An interesting turn of events, the legions should indeed be reinforced, but let honor be bestowed if the Consul wins an absolute victory, the war is not yet over...

[Celsius]

"Perhaps, but I highly doubt that the Gallic tribes will ever recover. They have lost over 30,000 men in our war, where as we have lost less than a third of that under the command of Cincinattus. I would say his victories have given the Republic a straight highway to absolute victory, and only by his actions is it now possible."

[Magicman2051]

"It would be unwise to make assumptions Celatus," spoke Priscus plainly.

"The facts that present themselves demand our time more than speculation, but before there can be any decisions made we must asses the state of the Republic... and how much this victory has cost us."

[Captain Blackadder]

The new Praetor stands before the curia and begins to give a speech.

I am not one to bow to the wishes of the mob. I have in the past voted against the so called populist bills put up because they hurt Rome or they hurt the poor themselves. However in saying this sometimes the popular thing is the right thing to do. In this case I must say we Romans have taken our allies for granted for centuries. Our Latin allies have contributed to the success of Rome 1000 times over. They have shed blood for Rome and helped pay for Rome. To me it is only fair that they get to shape Rome as well. Our Latin allies have stood fast with Rome when Rome was near defeat. They did not go over to Hannibal when he invaded despite all the power and glory that he promised them. It is only fair that we return the favour. It is high time these people who have helped Rome ever since Brutus overthrow the hated Tarquin became Roman Citizens just like you or me. They are Roman in Spirit and in deed it is high time they became Romans in actuality.

Socius Civitas

All members of the Latin Tribes are to be granted Citizenship in Rome and all the legal protection that it entails.

[Celsius]

"It would be unwise to make assumptions Celatus," spoke Priscus plainly.

"The facts that present themselves demand our time more than speculation, but before there can be any decisions made we must asses the state of the Republic... and how much this victory has cost us."

"It is not speculation. Cincinattus has decimated 2 of the most powerful Gallic tribes, and has had strong victories over both, killing one of their leaders and capturing another. There is no doubt that he can subjugate the Northern, weaker Gauls."

Titus looks at the Praetor
"I completely agree, and you have my full support."

[Pontifex Maximus]

ooc: Here's the way it works now. The northern Gauls have no reason to invade us unless a random roll compels them to or if we decide to invade them and complete the conquest of Gaul under a different pretext. For the forseeable future we have nothing to fear in Gaul until next term at the earliest.

[Lord Slayer]

Servius stood up to speak " Victory is a understatement. We might have beated the Gauls. But they where weaken already from all the fighting they had been doing with other Barbarians scum. But How do you suppose we hold the new Territory that we have Acquired ?. How do you suppose we keep the population under our control after they been under the control of Barbarians for so long ?. Do you think the Population would just accept Roman order and law ?. I do not think they will just accept our rule. No they will turn towards the others of their kind and ask for help. And then what !. We will be at war with all the barbarians nations!. Do you think we can defeat all those barbarians and keep the other nations at bay ? !"

Servius turned to look at all the Senators present " The cost of victory is high and I hope we all pray to mars to give our soldiers strength. Because they will need it when the Barbarians unite and decided that fighting among themselves is not as important as uniting and fighting Romans !. But I have faith that our men can defeat the barbarians raids that will happen every month because of our victory that we had. I hope we can come up with some way to keep the land we just took. As their is no doubt that we will have problems with it as long as the other tribes are still around ! "

Servius turned to face the Praetor" Have these Latins helped us recently Praetor ?. Do their men fight in our army or along side it ?. Do they pray to our gods and listened to our laws ?. When is the last time a Latin helped us in recent memory Praetor ? . I do not think they had helped us in recent time and the only reason we are considering them for Citizenship is because of their past deeds . But that is not reason enough. If our forefathers did not give them Citizenship why should we ? "

[Magicman2051]

((And somehow our characters are aware that they live in a world where events are decided by random rolls because?))

"We shall see Celatus."

He listened carefully to the statement made by the Praetor.

"Anything that lends strength to the Republic has my vote."

[Celsius]

Servius stood up to speak " Victory is a understatement. We might have beated the Gauls. But they where weaken already from all the fighting they had been doing with other Barbarians scum. But How do you suppose we hold the new Territory that we have Acquired ?. How do you suppose we keep the population under our control after they been under the control of Barbarians for so long ?. Do you think the Population would just accept Roman order and law ?. I do not think they will just accept our rule. No they will turn towards the others of their kind and ask for help. And then what !. We will be at war with all the barbarians nations!. Do you think we can defeat all those barbarians and keep the other nations at bay ? !"

Servius turned to look at all the Senators present " The cost of victory is high and I hope we all pray to mars to give our soldiers strength. Because they will need it when the Barbarians unite and decided that fighting among themselves is not as important as uniting and fighting Romans !. But I have faith that our men can defeat the barbarians raids that will happen every month because of our victory that we had. I hope we can come up with some way to keep the land we just took. As their is no doubt that we will have problems with it as long as the other tribes are still around ! "

Servius turned to face the Praetor" Have these Latins helped us recently Praetor ?. Do their men fight in our army or along side it ?. Do they pray to our gods and listened to our laws ?. When is the last time a Latin helped us in recent memory Praetor ? . I do not think they had helped us in recent time and the only reason we are considering them for Citizenship is because of their past deeds . But that is not reason enough. If our forefathers did not give them Citizenship why should we ? "

"Senator, each "barbarian" group is different from the other. They may not believe in the same Gods, same ethics, same morality. Your statement is like saying, if Rome needed help, we would turn to the Egyptians. It's not an approachable argument, nor is it really valid.

And on the note of citizenship, we evolve. Our way of thinking and our ways of doing things. We are not as strong as we are because we have done the same thing for decades. No, things change. Our forefathers do not live in this day in age, we do. We our capable of doing things for ourselves without following some of the backward examples of Senators who lead over 100 years ago."

[Captain Blackadder]

Servius turned to face the Praetor" Have these Latins helped us recently Praetor ?. Do their men fight in our army or along side it ?. Do they pray to our gods and listened to our laws ?. When is the last time a Latin helped us in recent memory Praetor ? . I do not think they had helped us in recent time and the only reason we are considering them for Citizenship is because of their past deeds . But that is not reason enough. If our forefathers did not give them Citizenship why should we ? "

How dare you!!! These men are dying for Rome as we speak. How do you think our armies have gotten large? Our latin allies contributing troops to us when we ask of them. These men have done much for their citizenship. To dismiss their contribution to Rome is to dismiss us all. If not for their work Rome will be a village in the Carthegian Empire. You would be a descendent of a slave working in the mines of Sicily for the Carthaginian's. It is only fair and only right to give them the citizenship that they deserve.

[Magicman2051]

"Senators, we have not gathered here to recount history or question the morals of out Latin brothers. Let us not be distracted from our duty by sentiment or opinion, our votes will decide the matter more than our voices."

[Lord Slayer]

Servius laughed as he listened to the Senator speak" You honesty think that is the case. That The barbirans will not unite under one banner and try to sack Rome ?. Do you honesty think that they will not unite to fight for a common cause. Because if you think that.. Then pray to the gods you learn the error of your ways. Each barbarian is different but that does not mean they will not unite under one banner to fight a common enemy. As for the Egyptians.. They are more like us than the Latins. Their gods might not be the same as ours. But their Morals and their way of life is !. But that is for another debate as one can aruge that they are nothing like us. In a way that is true but they are more alike to us than any other nation ! "

Servius sipped his wine slowly " I have been on this earth long enough to understand that our forefathers where not wrong in what they where doing by not giving Citizenship to the Latins. Our forefathers is what made this Republic so great !. You dare speak ill about our Ancestors ! then I hope you pray to the gods that they do not strike you down for your words. Our Forefathers where Smart and they lead this Republic to its glory. If it was not for them we would not be here as we are now !. They knew what was right for the Republic so their way of thinking was sound !. "



Servius sipped his wine and banged his hand hard on the stone. He did not feel the pain in his hand but he knew he would in the morning. He turned to face the Praetor " You have yet Convinced me that they should Receive it. Many people help us fight Hannable and yet you only honor them ?. They are good allies and that is how they should stay. After all if you give them Citizenship.. Then you might as well give all our allies the same thing as that is only fair to them. You are saying to disregard our other allies and how they helped us to honor one ally with Citizenship ?. Everyone wishes and prays they could have roman Citizenship. So what makes the Latin allies so much better than our other allies ? "

[Magicman2051]

"It would take years for the Barbarians to unite themselves, warring tribes with many different values and objectives would compete to control the horde. If we were to be so blind as to not see such an event occurring then perhaps it is past time we leave this world, as clearly we no longer possess the will and awareness to rule. If you have information you are choosing not to share with us Servius, perhaps now is the time to do so."

[Captain Blackadder]

Servius sipped his wine slowly " I have been on this earth long enough to understand that our forefathers where not wrong in what they where doing by not giving Citizenship to the Latins. Our forefathers is what made this Republic so great !. You dare speak ill about our Ancestors ! then I hope you pray to the gods that they do not strike you down for your words. Our Forefathers where Smart and they lead this Republic to its glory. If it was not for them we would not be here as we are now !. They knew what was right for the Republic so their way of thinking was sound !. "

Servius sipped his wine and banged his hand hard on the stone. He did not feel the pain in his hand but he knew he would in the morning. He turned to face the Praetor " You have yet Convinced me that they should Receive it. Many people help us fight Hannable and yet you only honor them ?. They are good allies and that is how they should stay. After all if you give them Citizenship.. Then you might as well give all our allies the same thing as that is only fair to them. You are saying to disregard our other allies and how they helped us to honor one ally with Citizenship ?. Everyone wishes and prays they could have roman Citizenship. So what makes the Latin allies so much better than our other allies ? "

Well if that is what you believe then many of the men sitting here should not be Roman citizens even the ones that call themselves Patricain. I believe many of them are from the Samnites should we strip them of citizenship they are not Romans they are members of a tribe that did not even speak latin. Our latin allies do.

[Lord Slayer]

Servius laughed once again " Those Samnites earned their Citizenship. They worked hard for it doing things that many Roman Citizens do not even do now and over many years their familys have earned that right to become Citizens . They earned that right to become a Citizen in the end and they where not handed it like our latin allies as you suggested . But you are telling the body that we should just give citizenship to our Latin allies just because they are allies and in their past they had helped the Roman people. Do we even know that they wish to become Citizens of the Republic ?. They might want to remain our allies without such a honor. And how do you know how our other allies will react once they see our Lain allies given Citizenship ?. What if they too want to become Citizens and we do not grant it to them. Then what happens ?. "

Servius looked around the Senate house " Our latin allies should just remain our allies as that is and honor in itself. Allies with one of the powerful Nations of the world is a honor !. Lets not make our other allies angry by granting one of our allies citizenship while the others are not. All our allies are treated equally. Why should one be better than the other ? "

Servius looked at the Senator that accused him of having information " Senator I have been around long enough to see things like that happen. Tribes unite under one banner when it benefits them. And Since we are not on the best of terms with the other tribes. Logic dictates that when you have a common foe you unite to defeat that foe. and it will not take years it will take months as it appears that we are going to pushed more into their lands. "

[Celsius]

"It would take years for the Barbarians to unite themselves, warring tribes with many different values and objectives would compete to control the horde. If we were to be so blind as to not see such an event occurring then perhaps it is past time we leave this world, as clearly we no longer possess the will and awareness to rule. If you have information you are choosing not to share with us Servius, perhaps now is the time to do so."

"Hear Hear! I could not have said it better myself."

Titus looked at Servius
"When they live, work, and die for our country, they are no longer allies Senator, they are us, and it is high time we make it official!"

Servius looked at the Senator that accused him of having information " Senator I have been around long enough to see things like that happen. Tribes unite under one banner when it benefits them. And Since we are not on the best of terms with the other tribes. Logic dictates that when you have a common foe you unite to defeat that foe. and it will not take years it will take months as it appears that we are going to pushed more into their lands. "

"Oh really? Then please elaborate on the last "Barbarian Horde" that unified for anything~ Please do so. I am anxious to hear the story."