Chapter 395: Moral Model Cato

Chapter 395 Moral Model - Cato

The envoy thought he had misheard, because the land given by the Nix tribe was not only large in area, but also flat, while the land they wanted to exchange was all swamps and mudflats, with no one living there, and could not even be considered the territory of the Scodisci tribe.

After receiving the other party's answer of "I'm not kidding", the envoy was overjoyed and agreed without hesitation.

The Nix tribe and the Scodisci tribe reached a land exchange agreement and promised to get along in a friendly manner in the future, and naturally they would have to carry out trade between the two tribes.

In order to avoid causing displeasure to the Dacians, the two sides did not conclude any alliance.

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Caesar was successfully elected as a Roman alderman in 65 BC (the eighth year of the establishment of the Nix tribe).

During the Sulla dictatorship, it was stipulated that "the minimum age for serving as an alderman is 37 years old", but Caesar was only 35 years old that year, and he obtained special permission from the Senate.

The reason why he was given special care by the Senate was obviously directly related to his outstanding performance in managing the Appian Way the previous year and his status as a nobleman.

The duties of the aedile were almost all related to the management of the city of Rome, responsible for the maintenance of public buildings, supervising food supply, market activities... and even paying attention to the operation of the women's branch.

For the ambitious Caesar, the main attraction of this position was that he was responsible for public entertainment and festivals, which could win the hearts of the people.

Although the treasury would provide funds to the city government to pay for these entertainment activities, it has long been a practice that the aedile would do his best to hold luxurious entertainment activities, so he often had to pay out of his own pocket to supplement the shortage of treasury funds.

Not only did Caesar have no money, but he also owed a lot of debts when he managed the Appian Way last year, but he did not feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he continued to borrow money after becoming an aedile, and his main creditor was still Crassus.

Under normal circumstances, Crassus would not be so generous to others, allowing them to borrow more and more, but he was obviously optimistic about Caesar's development potential, so he continued to donate generously.

With Crassus's funding, Caesar and another municipal official Bibulus held a seven-day festival in April to commemorate the earth mother Cybele and a fifteen-day Roman festival in September in a high-end and grand manner. The people sincerely appreciated these free performances and competitions and were intoxicated.

However, Bibulus, who also borne part of the expenses, complained that all the credit and limelight seemed to be monopolized by Caesar, and the people always talked about Municipal Official Caesar, not Municipal Official Caesar and Bibulus.

Municipal Official Caesar also did something that alarmed the Senate.

He ordered the re-erection of a monument in the square to commemorate Marius' victory over the Cimbri and Teutons (Sulla had ordered these monuments to be demolished or destroyed during his dictatorship). Most people approved of this decision because they still remembered the terrifying atmosphere when the barbarians invaded northern Italy. It was Marius who saved Rome in times of crisis, which was worth commemorating.

However, the conservative senators led by Catullus firmly opposed it. However, today is different from the past. Caesar persuaded most of the senators and the monument was re-erected in the square.

From then on, people who saw the monument in the square would think of Marius, the leader of the civilians, and perhaps would think of Marius' only relative today - his nephew Caesar.

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Brochi, Mazii and Antizeti were successively occupied by the Nix tribe, and the Pannonian tribal alliance was in name only.

Although the Nix tribe did not continue to attack, the situation of the three large Pannonian tribes in the north is getting worse and worse.

They had to guard against the Nix tribe and resist the attack of the Boyi people, which was very difficult. Especially after seeing the Nix tribe occupy Mazii and Andiziti, they gradually stabilized the situation in the newly occupied areas, which made them even more nervous.

So, at the end of the year, the three tribes sent a delegation to the original Brochi main camp to meet Maximus, hoping to make a truce with the Nix tribe to achieve peace.

Maximus took into account that the Nix tribe had to concentrate all its efforts on digesting the huge new occupied areas and did not want to cause any trouble in the process. At the same time, he also hoped to relieve the worries of the three Pannoni tribes, so that they could concentrate their efforts on defending against the attack of the Boyi people, thereby winning more time for the Nix tribe.

In the end, Maximus agreed to the request of the Pannoni delegation, but with one condition: the three Pannoni tribes must recognize the occupation of Mazii, Brochi and Andiziti by the Nix tribe.

The situation was stronger than people, and in the end, the Pannonian delegation accepted the new occupied territory of the Nix tribe, so the two sides signed a peace agreement, and this time the term was no longer one year, but five years.

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In 64 BC (the ninth year of the establishment of the Nix tribe), Caesar, who had just resigned as a municipal official, served as a court judge.

There were many court trials this year, and nearly half of them were caused by the activities of a treasury officer named Marcus Porcius Cato.

This Cato was the descendant of Cato the Elder, the builder of the Appian Way and the advocate of the destruction of Carthage.

Rome at this time was the hegemon of the Mediterranean. Through wars and the wealth gained from exploitation of the provinces, Rome was constantly pouring in. Most of the elders and nobles had long abandoned the hard and simple style of the early Republic and lived an increasingly extravagant and indulgent life.

Like the famous orator and lawyer Hortens, who used mansions and gardens to show off his wealth;

Like Lucullus, who had just returned to Rome from the East, who was committed to building saltwater ponds, raising sea fish, and enjoying delicacies from the mountains and the sea;

Like the newcomer in the Senate, Caesar, who enjoyed having affairs with celebrities and noble ladies, and his love affairs spread all over the streets;

Like Claudia Metri, the eldest daughter of the famous Claudius family, her villa in Beaune was a famous place for silver chaos, and it was said that there were countless men who had relationships with her...

In this overall decadent Roman society, Cato the Younger was different. He inherited the character of his illustrious ancestors, lived a very simple life, and did things with perseverance.

This year, Cato the Younger served as the treasurer. Unlike the previous Roman youths who only regarded this position as a step for official promotion and delegated the daily management work to the long-term officials who were responsible for this matter, he did it himself and carefully checked every detail of the work.

He dismissed and prosecuted several clerks who embezzled the treasury despite the obstruction of his colleagues. He also investigated some abnormal phenomena left over from Sulla's dictatorship: Sulla had allowed his favored confidants to borrow money from the treasury of the Republic, but never paid it back.

He pursued these borrowers relentlessly until all the money was recovered.

He also launched a special investigation against bounty hunters who received a bounty for killing those exiled during Sulla's dictatorship.

Cato's series of actions were deeply popular among the people, because the horror of Sulla's exile of political enemies was still in the memory of the people, and some people took the opportunity to sue these bounty hunters.

Caesar was no doubt very happy to preside over these trials, because his own experience during Sulla's dictatorship made him have no sympathy for these bounty hunters, and it was a great thing for him to be able to participate in popular causes again in politics.

Caesar was very active in condemning and punishing most bounty hunters, but he showed mercy to one person.

Catiline was born into an ancient Roman noble family, but his family gradually declined over hundreds of years and retreated to the margins of politics.

In order to revive his family's reputation, Catiline joined Sulla during the civil war, not only accumulating a lot of wealth, but also making friends in the political arena.

He once helped the current chief senator Catullus and executed the murderer of Catullus' father.

He also received funding from Crassus and prepared to run for consul this year.

He went around looking for beauties and even hooked up with a Vestal virgin.

He was notorious among the elders, but he had won the support of many Roman poor and veterans, and he also had a strong appeal to young people... In short, he was extremely similar to Caesar.

Catullus defended him in court, Crassus pleaded for him secretly, and Caesar did not pursue Catiline relentlessly, allowing him to escape legal sanctions.

During the entire trial, another incident happened. Cicero was preparing to run for consul. He knew that Catiline also had this plan, so he wanted to be his defense lawyer and hoped that the two could run together.

Catiline laughed at this country bumpkin with aristocratic arrogance.

After Catiline was acquitted, he soon formed an open alliance with another nobleman, Hybrida, to run for consul together.

Hybrida was also a dissolute and decadent guy. It was hard to believe that he was the son of Marcus Antony (Cicero's hero).

Faced with these two candidates with such a bad reputation, the Roman nobles had to cover their noses and reluctantly chose Cicero, who was not the worst; the same was true for the common people.

In the end, Cicero won the most votes and was successfully elected as the consul for the next year; Hybrida ranked second, barely enough votes; Catiline fell to third place, and he was eliminated in such a weak year for the consul election.

Failure was a disaster for Catiline, because he owed a lot of debts, and the main creditor was Crassus, and Crassus was not interested in funding another loser.

In any case, the consul election this year was relatively bad for the Romans, but they still saw a bright spot in the political arena-Cato the Younger.

This young Roman man born in a noble family was able to share the joys and sorrows with his subordinates when he was an officer; he dressed very simply when he was a civilian, and even often walked barefoot; and in the year he served as a quaestor, his diligence and integrity surprised the people, and everyone said that being a quaestor was as glorious as being a consul.