At the empty Curia.

[Lanthe]

This is an RP for Ponti and me.



The moments after everyone had escaped Curia except Aulus Junius Horatius who laid on the steps at the middle while Severus was making his way towards the Curia goes as followed:

Aulus, left on his knees watches as no one answers his pleas and the senators start to stream out of the Curia. Soldiers are holding the rioting Plebians so that they may pass. as coninsidence or not the storm clouds that Aulus had seen while speaking in the Rostra had reached rome. It was getting awfully dark and windy. Aulus who knew he had failed to preseve the Republic as a whole and strong power was broken. Limbing towards the seat in middle of the Curia.

After a while it was quiet, everyone had fled to their Villas or with Consul Gnaeus. Aulus cursed for them a while before he hung his head in his harms only thinking of his family and the Horatii as the defenders of Rome while he, the eldest descendant of this ancient family was powerless to stop all of this from happening.

It was dark.

Aulus felt the spit that Gnaeus had spat on him and he wiped it off from his cheek. He had truly lost almost everything.

The darkness got silent, the plebeians had probably been scared off by Aquilas soldiers and were running to meet Severus, their savior.

"Mortui vivos docent." rang in his head as he stayed laying at the steps in the middle alone.

[Pontifex Maximus]

The din of the celebration could be heard from afar, but at this point was a good ways off. It grew louder slowly and more than an hour had passed before it seemed that the entirety of the Roman people were in the forum shouting as loud as they could. Echoes of the mob rang within the marble walls of the Curia, creating an eerie magnification of the clamor. The Senate was empty except for one man.

At last footsteps were heard making their way hurriedly up to the Senate House. Within moments several dozen men of the 9th legion were lining the walls of the Senate while another three drew their weapons upon sighting Aulus.

"Who's this?" One of them asked, clearly a man from near Arpinum, else he would have recognized a tribune immediately.

"He's a tribune unless my eyes deceive me, though I don't know which." Came the reply. "The General will want him"

No sooner had the legionary said this that Severus made his way into the Curia, alone for the moment while his legates secured the city. Severus looked resplendent in his military regalia. The light of the setting sun shone through the doors and illuminated his armor and giving him an ominous appearance. Noticing Aulus crumpled on the floor, Severus knew he had failed his mission. The traitors were gone.

"How goes it, Aulus? Still here? I would have thought you would have joined the others."

[Double A]

-delete-

[Lanthe]

With wavering hands Aulus pulled himself to sit on the stairs still looking weak.

"I" He said with shaking lips. "I am no traitor Severus, they still tried to cast me out of here as one."

Then his eyes turned to the Legionaries.

"Soldiers at the Curia" He said sounding almost amused. "It seems we both have broken the same law."

After his words he drew a dagger from his toga and it made the Legionaries quickly put their hands on their swords.

"No weapons at the Senate" He said and threw the dagger away to corner somewhere. "Yet I was so scared that they would themselves violate that law that I had no choice".

"Could it be Severus that you were right, that those men really were evil as you say, that they are the real traitors instead of us?"

[Pontifex Maximus]

Severus gestured to his men

"Would they be here if it was not so? I am not an evil man. Tranquilus and Lucullus have twisted the minds of the Senate and in an attempt to avoid their own prosecution have magnified my actions. They fear power they cannot match, and my service to the Res Publica has caused this."

Severus walked about the empty chamber and dismissed his guard, leaving the two Senators alone. Severus' footfalls echoed through the chamber. Wearing armor in the Senate, he never would have imagined he would be standing here like this, yet he he was.

"I take no pleasure in this. I was acting to enforce the laws of the Senate, and yet I am labelled the criminal. I cannot deny that I have broken laws, it is a tragic necessity, but I was not the first."

Severus' piercing stare met Aulus'. Severus shook his head...

"But I swear to you the Republic will be reinstituted even if the ink of the new laws must be written in the blood of traitors and scoundrels. I have sacrificed more in the service of my nation than many others. I cannot be help responsible for the effects such service has caused: wealth, loyal soldiers, titles...things I did not ask for but received. And for this I am not trusted? Did I not spend years of my life fighting in the north?"

Severus slumped into the Censorial chair.

"A sat here last week a different man."

[Lanthe]

Aulus wiped sweat off his cheeks and took somewhat better stance to sit.

"And here you try to ease me with words. After my own actions is there really room for me to question yours?"

Aulus watched as the guards closed the doors and the slam echoed loudly in the empty chamber.

"You think you have won yet? Lots of Roman blood will be spilled before you can make Gnaeus and the others stop. Is saving Republic really worth sacrificing it? The balance could been held instead of risking everything that has been built
by our ancestors for the good of the Republic".

[Pontifex Maximus]

Of course not. Tranquilus is a fool and an incompetent commander. He will lead many young, deluded Romans to their deaths. He had better ensure I do not capture him alive...

The war will be short if they give battle, that I assure you.

[Lanthe]

"By the gods" Aulus said to himself whispering, but even this quiet sound could be heard inside the Curia.

"I have utterly failed the Republic haven't I?" Aulus said wailing to Severus.

"I assume that I am no longer a Senator since there is no Senate."

[Pontifex Maximus]

Severus stood and the light streaming from the upper windows landed at his feet.

There is no Senate. The Senate is an outmoded form of government and it can never function again. Rome is too large to be subjected to the insufferably slow form of government that is the Republic. Corrupt men walk free, private citizens reap illegal profits from government positions- no. No longer will I allow this. I intend to be named dictator and establish a new form of government, one that will not fail.

[Lanthe]

After hearing these words Aulus pointed Severus with his hand shaking rapidly due weakness and anger.

"Traitor! The Senate is sacred part of our Republic!" After this words Aulus started cough very badly as his whole throat would be dry. "How dare you say you fight for the better of the Republic when you are destroying it from the inside."

"Why not crown yourself king then!? What is the point to carry on when all the voices have been silenced?"

[Pontifex Maximus]

There will be a new order and Rome will be renewed by it. If you are unable to take part, why not leave it?

Severus kicked the dagger over to Aulus

Incompetent men should not rule by merit of their family's prestige. Look where it has gotten us so far. Africa is Berber.

[Lanthe]

"There is no place for me with those cowards, nor is there place for me in the modern Senate" Aulus took the dagger and behold its curves and edges.

After a moment watching it he threw it back at the feet of Severus.

"Nor is there place for me in afterlife after such failure. How could I go there disgraced as I am now"

After these words he pulled his hands to stand up, but toppled a few times back weak and defenseless. After few tries he managed to stand.

"I will see that the traditions are valued even if the Republic is destroyed." He then shouted from top of his lungs even when it almost made him to fall again. "But I will not let those cowards to think that Rome will ever accept them again as lawful citizens. They are to face trial by us or by the gods!".

[Pontifex Maximus]

Then join me and help build the new Rome. When Brutus challenged the authority of the Kings his position was not universally supported, but when his mission was complete he was lauded as the liberator of Rome from tyranny. I come to liberate Rome from a new tyranny, the tyranny of the Senate. The convulsions and growing pains of Empire have led us to this point, but we must endeavor to weather the the storm and emerge victorious. Everything rides upon this. If we lose Rome will be doomed to suffer under inadequate and weak leadership; men who do not know how to inspire or make war.

[Lanthe]

Aulus looked Severus for a while and then draw a deep breath.

"I will give you my name for you to use as you wish. Let the people think that I support you if they want to, I cannot care for them anymore."

Aulus pointed Severus with his finger while his hands were sweaty and shaky.

"Don't tempt me to take the role of Brutus Severus, I am no man slayer, king or beggar."

After this he waved his hand to his side and started stagger towards the gates.

"I will be at my Villa if you need anything else from me, I'll write you a legal note for the use of my name. Do not tarnish it more than I already have."

The ray that shined before Severus seemed to Aulus as a blink of hope, but before he could succumb into such thoughts he was reminded that the gods truly did hate him.
The passage towards the gates of Curia were almost pitch black and what god would reward his subjects with darkness? No, clearly even Aulus could see that he had reached the bottom.
The dagger that was left in the feet of Severus shined sharp light towards the man. After a bright moment there could be seen few letters that formed words: "From Tullus Hostilius to Publius Horatius, victor of Curiatii".