Cvria Ivlia, Consulate of Habitus/Ulpianus (II)

[Caesar Rex]

Qunitus Marius speaks only the truth.
Rome is entering a new era.
Those that rule her now are not the same as those that ruled her two hundred years ago.
The people that support our leaders do so because they trust them to bring victories.
Rome has not lost a battle and that is due to the leadership of men such as Brutus, Corvinus, Parthicus and my father.
Not even our legions are the same.
They consist now of employed men.
Not worrying about serving their 6 campaigns or ten years.
These men have signed on for 25 years.
We are paying them and by god we will use what we pay for.

Servius Labienus 'the younger' (31)
Senator of Rome

[apple]

We do need support from other kingdoms and empires as a war with Greece on ourself will cost to many Roman life´s and it would be much smarter to offer the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus a alliance with us as they surly hate what Sparta has done to Greece and its people.

Edit:

Marcus Aelius Triarius to be eastern envoy
Senator Marcus Aelius Triarius has been doing research on the conditions of many eastern countries, and after his investigations, he found that many of those would probably be willing to accept trade rights. According to him "trade with the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus would bring in a large amount of money" and though they are a Greek based civilisation, apparently they are well fed up of the current Greek system and are currently building up a new type of living separate from the land of their ancestors. Because of his research, he has been recommended for the job of envoy, but no motion has yet been passed confirming it.

Please set up a motion Junior Consul!!

[Gaius Julius Civilis]

Senators!

I have listened, and I have heard. I have listened to requests, debates and motions, but what I have heard was not worthy of mentioning. I am ashamed at all of you for being more interested in quick glory and fame than in the future of the Republic.

We all know of consular Servius Labienus Africanus' request. He needed another legion to defend the western border of the Republic and we granted his request without ever wondering: instead of defeating armies that will keep coming anyway, couldn't we ensure a better solution, one that will - in the long run - save Roman lives?

We have also taken upon us the noble task of protecting the Iberian tribes from foreign foes. However, the only place where we can effectively is far away, in Africa, where no foes threatens the Iberian lands. In the north however the Gauls lurk in their dark forests and foul cities. The Gauls have so far looked east for expansion, but what if they look to their south, to Iberia? They could just march all the way down to the Gates of Hercules.

Who cares, some senators may say, but they do not look beyond their own troubles. With a diplomatic mission to the east, the affected nations will get a (renewed) interest in Rome and its diplomatic history. Based partly on our actions they will decide wether they want ties to us or not. If we left our protectorate to face the Gallic horde on its own, I seriously doubt they will want anything to do with us.

But how to solve these problems, you may ask. Only one act is needed to solve both of these problems: allow the governor of Massilia to conquer Narbo Martius. This will give us a border with the Iberians - allowing us to quickly react to threats to Iberia, pacifying the Gallic coast of Mare Nostrum and it will cover Massilia's western flank.

If Massilia is to be maintained and the Iberian protectorate honoured, then we must take control of the coast of Mare Nostrum in Gaul. Allow Labienus Africanus to take it, for Roman lives and Roman honour!

Also, I am of the opinion Sparta must be destroyed.

[Xavier Dragnesi]

An amphibious invasion of Sparta is possible, I believe, but if we do that, we must expand in Greece quickly, for the Greeks have large lands and large armies, and if we are to be trapped in that one region of Sparta against the rest of the Greek peninsula and Central Europe, we'd be hard pressed to survive. However, the idea is a good one, so I shall expand on it to make a new idea out of it:

As you all know, the heartland of Greece is it's collection of city-states on the peninsula. Though these city-states are no longer that, after coming under the tyranny of Spartan kings, these cities still provide Greece's elite troops, like the differently named hoplites. These cities: Athens, Sparta, Corinth and perhaps Olympia, are all important strategic and military cities that any competent commander would be able to see.

So the capture of Sparta will not be enough to deal with the Greeks. I propose to utilise the many fleets we now have, and land perhaps two or three legions of men, conquer the Peloponnese, and then the Greeks would have lost 6 important cities, plus the ability to train 3 of of their best troops: the Spartan, Athenian and Corinthian hoplites. Instead, we shall gain that priviledge, and I call it a priviledge as with those troops, we can use the Greeks' own powers against themselves. These hoplites, though inferior to Roman legionaries, are still strong fighters, especially against cavalry.

Therefore, I believe there are two options at the moment.
1. Continue defending the north, and once the envoys have reached the east and secure alliances, start attacking the Greeks there.
2. Make an invasion of the Peloponnese to hit Greece's heart and gain some elite Greek troops.

[Winter]

An aged, but confident senator enters the Curia

"Senators, I have returned"

Lepidus silences hurried discussion from the audience with a raise of his hands.

"I assure you that I have been sufficiently updated on the current runnings of the senate, but out of respect to the current debate I will interrupt no more and only observe for a while."

Lepidus takes his usual seat, which has remain vacant in his absence.

[Philos Sophos]

"It is good to see you back,Lepidus.And as I see the sea invasion of Spartamit has to be made by someone who knows about tactics and how to supply his men."

[apple]

I say wait, redeploy and rearm on the same time send a diplomat to the east
to gain importante trade and powerful Alies.
When all this is gone then, and only then are we ready for an invasion upon
the greek peninsula.

We need Alies!

[Pontifex Maximus]

"I would like to make an inquiry about the need of a central home fort gaurd. Is it at all likely we will be invaded in our heartland? What are the chances of the middle being invaded by Greeks? I move that the Legion in the Central fort be moved north to further fortify our border regions, either that or moved to the east to help with the Greeks."

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Yes Junior Consul, I agree that such a man has to be found. Alongside him, he also needs military tribunes with those qualities. But first, we must see if the Senate approves of such a move as an amphibious invasion. If you would set up a division, it would be very helpful.

[Winter]

"There has been a great deal of talk of more legions and seaborne invasions in this chamber" begins Lepidus,

"But I notice that we have not had an official report on the economy from the Censor in many, many months. The last report is clearly from before the invasion of the North! Therefore, I officially request the current Censor rectify this oversight immediatley."

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Yes, I have to agree that our censors have not truly been very active with their jobs in the last few years, we as Senators should monitor what they are doing more carefully. An economic report would be very nice right now.

[Grandis Latro]

Salve Senators!

When I spoke to you last I told you that Patvium was besieged by a Greek army and that I was waiting for them to attack. Well today they did.

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Taking note of the siege engines that they built; I came to the conclusion that they would launch an attack at my eastern gate, using two siege towers and a battering ram. On my northern gate they sent a small force with a battering ram and established two sap points. My tactics were this… I sent cohorts to cover the northern gate in case the battering ram was successful, then I sent a unit of archers to the tower… my hopes were to burn down the ram before it reached it. As for the sap points I sent two cohorts to each of the places that I approximated the walls would fall. The rest of my forces were placed on the walls and main eastern gate.

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They started by attacking my forces on the main gate using their siege engines, but my men hold strong.

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On the northern gate my archers are successful at destroying the ram, thereby ruining any chance the enemy has at a flanking maneuver.

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The siege engines finally reach the walls; the wall fighting begins… and doesn’t end for a good long time… In the meantime the main battering ram breaks through the gate, but the Greeks don’t attack… they wait…

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Finally the walls are safe, the enemy realizing the futility of fighting us on the walls, stop sending troops through the siege tower… instead they try their luck charging through the gate.

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The charge ends in failure, in a few short hours every Greek is either dead or fleeing the field.

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Though many men lost their lives, I consider this a good day, now there are no more Greeks on Italian soil.

I have yet to hear from my brother, I can only hope that he was successful in repelling the Greek invasion to the east, I will leave for the eastern fort soon with reinforcements.

Spurius Vitruvius Habitus

[Xavier Dragnesi]

I believe our Consul has done a magnificent job, not just in this battle, but in the overall war against the Greeks. Here, another Heroic Victory placed before us, we are winning the defensive side of this war, fellow Senators. And once the defence is over, it shall be time to start the offense. Consul, I believe you deserve more than just our congratulations. I think a Grass Crown would be agreeable for all the feats you have so far achieved over the Greeks.

[Caesar Rex]

You must ascertain the battles won by our consul and that of his brother first Quintus.
The senior consul has yet to secure the padus as they are still alying siege to the fort in the north.

ooc: only one heroic victory so far.

Servius Labienus 'the younger' (31)
Senator of Rome

[Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedon]

The greeks must be punished and driven back from italy, I propose massive auxilary legions.
auxillary legions are just as good as ordanary ones if the right man is commanding them. they are also more economical than the expensive legions.

[Caesar Rex]

Auxillary legions may not prove strong on such a lengthy campaign.
We have our legions.
Creating new ones made up of Auxillia would only tax us further Lucius Aemilius

Servius Labienus 'the younger' (31)
Senator of Rome

[Grandis Latro]

Sirs,
I am Titus Vedius, military advisor to Decimus Vitruvius Calidus; you may know him as the brother of Spurius Vitruvius. I have been ordered here, by Vitruvius the elder, to explain the situation in the northeast and to answer any questions you may have. If you don’t know, Decimus and I were stationed in the eastern fort with Legio I Germanica. I have been told to relay to you the exact information that I relayed to Spurius Vitruvius. I have here a letter from Decimus to Spurius.

He pulls out a torn, bloodstained parchment…

[Pontifex Maximus]

"Good work with the victory over Greece, Consul. We are all continually impressed with your accomplishments. We must not thinking about the people of Rome senators, while war is a noble effort, we cannot be draconian in our methods of taxation."

[Grandis Latro]

Dear Spurius,
I hope that this letter reaches you, I fought off the siege, but my spies report yet another coming. Still here is a report of the battle. You know I am a man of few words so I will be brief.

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I attempted to ascertain the most likely points along the walls that the Greeks would attack… I could only hope I was right.

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I tried to weaken them as much as I could with missile fire…

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Then the fighting started… on all my flanks… it was long and bloody… with no advantage to either side, we kept them as close to the break as possible, but over time they pushed us back.

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Frustrated I flanked the hoplites, to my right and charged them. I was determined to route them… they weakened, but didn’t route. I had no choice but to wait for the right time… the fighting was still going fierce.

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I charged the left flank believing them to be weak and routed the enemy there.

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It was only a short time after that when the entire Greek army routed. I lost over half my forces… It is a sad day, brother.

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Spurius… I must have reinforcements; another army of 2500 Greeks are besieging us… and will attack us any day now. I say again, I must have reinforcements. Much depends on this letter getting to you… if it does not… well I dare not think that. I will see you soon.

With love, your brother,
Decimus Vitruvius

[Grandis Latro]

The letter, sirs, did not reach Spurius in Patvium; the reason was not clear until after the second battle, as I was traveling west to Patvium, I came across the messenger and his guards tasked to deliver it, they were brutally murdered, I can only assume by the Greek forces. It was luck that they didn’t find the letter and I did. I then encountered the forces of Spurius Vitruvius. I told him, what I’m about to tell you now…