Senatus Populusque Romanus versus Flavius Julius Corvenus

[Kubrick]

It was still early but Caius was already waiting in the room. In this very chamber Flavius Julius Corvenus would be prosecuted. The Republic versus the Madman! He looked outside, at the sun. The tribunal could arrive any minute now. He hoped Corvenus had the guts to show up..

He sat down and checked some more of his paperwork, everything was set and ready to go.

[War lord]

Ah, after so many years finally we shall have justice!

He sits and turns to Dives.

Do you think he'll have the decency to show up at his own trial?

[Merula]

Marcus arrives, happy that this day has finally arrived, but apprehensive thinking of the possibility of Corvenus getting away with what he has done.
Behind Marcus walks the Punic, Gala, still bearing the scars from the assault on his person.
Marcus takes a seat and nods to Dives and Caldius, especially smiling at Dives, 'well done boy, well done!' he thinks.

[Crozimodo]

Lurco strode into the room and approached the two seated Senators, he broke into a smile when he reached them;

Salve Consul, Prosecutor, I trust that there is no chance of dear Corvenus leaving the city? I would hate to see him worm his way out of this, no friends the only way that man will escape this trial must be to go screaming to Pluto either by his own hand or by our own. I look forward to the result, may justice be done. He gave the two a wink before finding his seat in the viewing benches.

[Kubrick]

Caius smiled as more people entered. He turns to Caldius. 'I am quite certain he will show up. You can say a lot about that madman but he has his personal honour. And if he wont show up, I am assured your lictors will make him attend.' He grins. 'That said, I greatly thank you for attending consul. I'm glad it fits within your busy schedule.'

He looked at Merula and his servant. Smiling and nodding at the consul and laughing inside his head as he observed the arm of the African. Beautiful scars. The servant had a straight face but he saw him rubbing the palm of his hand. All he tortured loved the X.

After that he gave a big smile to Lurco. 'Senator Lurco, I see you received my letter! Don't fear for him not showing up, as I just told our dear consul Caldius here, the man might be crazy but he has personal honour! And from what I've heard he has not left the city, he'll come. Mark my words.' He then turned back to his parchments and read over them some more. He looked at the list and swore at himself, out of all invitation he had forgotten to send one. He snapped his fingers and a runner approached. 'Deliver this as quick as you can to the house of the praetor! Tell him I send you!' The runner nodded and sprinted out of the room.

[Nota']

The Praetor Scaeva arrives to oversee the trial. He takes the usual seat, and nods to his son and the consul. He would allow the prosecution to begin once the third member of the tribunal arrived, Poplicola, how typical of him, and the madman

[Maiar93]

*Dramatic LOTR music when Aragorn arrives at the halls of Helm's Deep*

The door bursts out, and a tall figure walks in. His face is concealed in shadows, but the people in could guess who he is.

When he reaches the middle of the Basilica, he turns to the prosecutors and says:

Ave, dear senators! How is the day going?

He smiled, he had regained some of his humor over time.

[High Flying Dwarf]

Marcus Sergius Lucanus enters and takes his seat with haste "Let's get this over and done with...unless Corvenus has some trick up his sleeve"

[Maiar93]

Ah, one more senator arrives. Turning smilingly to the Praetor, he says:

Are we set to begin now?

[Kubrick]

Caius looked up. Great, he had arrived. 'We are all set to go apart from one thing, there is one person missing from the tribunal. We expect senator Poplicola to arrive any minute now.' He turned back to his papers.

Damn that Poplicola. What kind of man was he to get late on such a day?

[Crozimodo]

Should Senator Poplicola not arrive within the hour, in the pursuit of a swift carriage of justice it must fall to the Praetor to replace him from within the ranks of this noble audience. I trust this will not be an issue for Poplicola he would see justice done with the same vehemence that we all would, Lurco called from the benches, he turned to Corvenus and winked subtly, it was barely noticeable. He quickly resumed an impassive face.

OOC: We gotta remember that Drags in a different timezone, it's only about quarter to 8 in the morning there and I know that I wouldn't be up at that time

[Merula]

Maybe, in the absence of Poplicola we may start the trial, but let the scribes take notes on the occurances so that when the man does appear, he will quickly be brought up to speed with current events?

Marcus wished the trial to begin, but he was annoyed at himself for being so impatient...

[Kubrick]

Caius shook his head. 'No, no. We still have a little time before the actual trial will start according to the appointment. I'm sure senator Poplicola will arrive, if he is a bit later he will obviously have a solid excuse for that. I see no reason to start already, the day is still young!'

He looked outside, the sun was going higher and higher. The temperature was rising as the morning coolness disappeared. A shame, he liked the early mornings. He wondered why Merula was in such a rush. Justice would find it's way, what would these minutes matter?

[Nota']

The Praetor may cast a deciding vote if the tribunal are split. However, in a case this important I insist that all the tribunal be present before the trial begins.
The praetor sat, bored, tapping a gold coin on the table as he waited for the missing senator. Soon a side of the coin has lost its round edge.

[Maiar93]

Yes, yes. Fair play, i see some senators were quite eager to start the trial already!

He laughed, and winked to Lurco as unnoticiably as he did to Corvenus. There was indeed something wrong with Corvenus's behavior. But he smiled deep inside. He doesn't know the reason for it, but he feels cold amusement. 'Perhaps it's my "madness"', he thinks, and laughs in his thoughts.

[Gone 2 the Celts]

Flavius sat at the back of the hall, muttering to himself.

Secretly stowed beneath his toga was a knife, in case it was time...

[dragoon47]

Lucius arrived and looked over the scribe's notes as he passed. He had a stack of scrolls in his hands as he took his seat at the tribunal. Sorry I'm late senators, something came up that required my attention. Shall we begin? Lucius was slightly unnerved at the number of lictors in the halls, most of them ones that he knew were corrupted by Publius' never-ending purse, Lucius averted his gaze when one turned and smiled at him and he sighed as he began looking over the scrolls once again in a futile attempt to forget he noticed them.

[Nota']

Spurius sighs, here he is, finally. He discards the coin and sorts his papers.
Silence! His voice booms above the chatter of the room. Alas it appears the entire senate has appeared to watch the trial, and have brought their chatter with them.
Prosecution, defence take your seats. This entire trial shall take place in front of a tribunal of three. Spurius motions to the three senators seated together.
Firstly the prosecution, Caius Geminius Dives shall make his opening speech, and then Flavius Julius Corvenus shall make his opening speech, assuming he has found no land holder to defend him. Spurius pears over his table. And it appears he has not.The prosecution will then make their rebuttle, followed by that of the defence. The prosecution can then cross examine the defence with a maximum of four questions, likewise the defence may cross examine. Spurius pauses. Are we all clear? Another pause, almost as if waiting for an answer. Good, let the trial of Flavius Julius Corvenus begin.

[Kubrick]

Caius had done a final scan of his notes, muttered a few words to himself and as soon as the praetor had finished he rose and stood before the tribunal of three. He cleared his throat. 'Noble tribunal, today I stand before you to bring justice in the name of Rome. We share this room with one of the greatest criminals in our beloved city's history. That man's name is Flavius Julius Corvenus. And why is this man such a threat to our dear Republic? Well, let me sum that up for you. This man has attacked an ally of Rome without any reason to do so. And I have proof that he knows of the fact that the city was an ally at that point. That man can testify to it.' He does a slightly dramatic point towards Gala.
'After attacking and capturing the beautiful city of Syracuse, I say again an ally of Rome, he ordered the legions to plunder it. Innocent civilians where killed, ancient buildings razed to the ground. All of that for one man's ambition. To this day the fate of Hiero is still unknown, but with Corvenus leading the armies we can doubt he still lives.' He stopped talking for a second and took a sip of water, no use in speeching with a dry throat.
'Also, with his ravaging campaign on Syracuse he has provoked a war with the nation of Carthage, a former ally of Rome. The Carthaginians where ready to negotiate about what was happening on Sicily, but no, this mad man didn't let them. Instead he put a legion on boats and sailed to Carthage, besieging the city. Besieging the city of a former ally! Another one! And the result? His assault got crushed. And that, noble tribunal, is the fifth charge. Destruction of the Roman legions due to sheer incompetence.' A small pause.

'To avoid any questions about repeating the whole speech I will now sum up all the things he will be charged for. I, attacking an ally of Rome. II, slaughtering the civilians of a Roman ally. III, destroying the city of the Roman ally Syracuse. IV, provoking war with the nation of Carthage and V, causing the destruction of a Roman legion due to sheer incompetence. And because all these things are the worst a man can do to our dear Republic we will charge him with something that will punish him accordingly for these crimes. The charge, noble tribunal, will be perduellio. A rather old charge, not commonly used. But that has it's reasons as it is very rare that a man deserves such punishment. I sincerely believe that his man does deserve it! Thank you.' Caius does a small bow and returns to his seat. Bring it Corvenus, try to save your hide.

[Maiar93]

Flavius stands, now looking like he'd regret his past mistakes.

Senators, first of all I must inform you that Marcus's actions in Syracuse were not a part of the bill. He was supposed to negotiate for a boat to Egypt, not for alliances that we couldn't hold. The Carthaginians were suppressing the lands, and often we saw Carthaginian equipment and even African soldiers fighting in the midst of our enemies ranks. This is what I and my soldiers saw in Messana. Both sides were provoking each other there, and trust me, i was there at the battlefield. Carthaginians did not even try to negotiate for Sicily, they fought for it like a punic at least. Let me remind you, that your version of the flow of the things is a versionyou heard from Merula, who was not present at any of the six battles i fought in Sicily, except the siege of Syracuse of course.
He then takes a scroll from the scribe, and turned to the rest:

Here I have a copy of the bill which you, dear senators, agreed into.

I. Senator Marcus Atrius Merula will be given the authority to treat with the "Mamertine" pirates.
II. Once said senator has made the treaty official, Messana is to be placed under Roman protection with at least one legion.
III. Once that is done, preparations are to be made for possible aggressive action against Syracuse following the previous events.
IV. Preparations for a fleet to be built will take place during all of the events foreseen in the previous sections.
V. Then and only then, at consular discretion, may an assault on Carthage be a possibility.

Here it is. Messsana was put under roman protection, and assault on Syracuse was carried out like the bill proposed. An assault on Carthage was ambitious and stupid, i agree. But what if I'd succeeded? We would have instantly won the war. It was a risk, a great risk indeed.
He then shook his head like in sorrow, and said:

About Syracuse. I tried to stop my men - i tried, at the town square to speak to them, but they did not listen. That day, roman honour faltered and the city was finally sacked. But i managed to save one, Hiero. He is now the rightful governor of Syracuse.. or was. I don't know what the Carthaginians did to him now when you have exchanged it to Carthage.

Gesturing with his hands, he continued:

Senators, we gained a lot in the war. We had a Socii legion ready to man Sicily, but you chose to disband the legion and sell Sicily away for a Corsica, which is nothing compared to Messana, for example. Indeed, you did a fine job of undermining my efforts although i don't think that was your intention. And at the same time, you undermined Rome's power. It is now vulnerable, very vulnerable to any possible aggression from Carthage while we could've had strong positions in Sicily with Messana and Syracuse under control.
He continued:

When, in times of Rome, have commanders been punished for losing a war? That war - that war was provoked by both sides. Us and them. It is a war, a lost war, but only by an inch. We had indeed lots of time to move the Socii in place to protect Sicily. But no, we chose to sell them away for Corsica. I do not stand against Senate's orders, but a man can always word out his discontent for them. Are these not rights of a roman citizen?