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(OOC - They are, but this is the senate! It'd be a sin not to try to trump everything in an instant! :laugh4: )
Then perhaps a simple review of the current legions capabilities, and a legion at Palma would suffice. The plan was not suggested to be set in stone, any if not all three of our defending legions could venture forth to capture land if it seemed the necessary course. The Palma legion was intended to sow confusion and secure a foothold in Iberia itself.
That sounds like a plan Consul. However, I would have preferred that the Consular Legion be stationed in Mid-Gaul perhaps rather than isolated on an Island.
An invasion by Iberia will come via our Gallic lands and whilst a harassing force located on Palma is an excellent plan, I would feel better if our main reserve or rather our active force was located nearer the epicentre of the issue.
….see, I can show caution too.
I still hold with your original plan for Palma in its completeness.
Perhaps that might be Consul Servius's leaving present to the Senate? - an invasion force for Iberia, rather like former Consul Lucius Aemilius left an invasion force for Afrika
[SENATE SPEAKER]: The deadline for motions has passed. A poll will be posted shortly.
I would like to see that my departing present to the senate is the security of this nation on all fronts. But I have some other things in mind.
To clarify one thing with the Iberian plan, some interworkings and revisions with the logistics of other plans have set us up for the following scenario.
Provided Iberia does nothing drastic before the end of my consular term, we will have the following defences aligned on Iberia's borders.
Quintus Libo and his current praetorian legion on the Luvavum bridge.
Augustus Verginius, who I would like to grant a tribune, in Gergovia with his praetorian legion.
Quintus Naevius, who I would like replaced with a lower house senator, will be updated to a consular sized legion, as his force is at the center of Iberia's northern lands.
I will be leading a praetorian sized legion to take and hold Palma, from which we could launch a naval invasion of Carthago Nova, a significant Iberian stronghold in the south.
Oppius Aemilius, with a praetorian legion, will take and hold Tingi by the end of my consulship, this will give us the ability to strike at Gades, Iberia's southernmost settlement, and a close one to Carthago Nova, allowing us to relieve each other should anything unexpected occur.
Five seperate points from which Iberia would have to contend all at once, two of which it will most certainly not expect to be assaulted from.
This is the plan for Iberian deterance or war that I would leave the senate with at the end of my consulship.
A good plan Consul. Those forces are more then enough to counter-assualt Iberia should she try anything against us. In fact, I think if you put is in the position you say you will, I will move for war with Iberia next session...
An excellent plan Consul, to hit Iberia with a succession of powerful, near-simultaneous blows. They will have lost the war before they realise its even started!
Thank you Oppius, I only wish my mind for personal relations were as great as my mind for military strategy. Were it, I may not have such trouble with losing the good graces of the senate, or in finding myself a suitable wife.
As the issue has been raised, I am significantly pleased by Consul Aemilius' achievements in creating a secure border in Europe. The system he has arranged so far goes a long way to providing security for the Roman people and for our most important provinces. Whatever else anyone may say about the Consul, he should be given credit for this most important success.
Servius,
You haven’t been threatened with impeachment or to be removed from office for at least TWO whole days! Surely, that is some form of moral victory for you friend?
As for Women….erm…word to the wise. You have to stay somewhere where there are women rather than just Legionaries or smelly, barbaric, and I’m told very hairy, Carthaginian females!
That's why I said suitable, I'm not quite that desperate yet. Hahaha.
And thank you Senator Verginius, I know I may not always be amongst the senators' most respected compatriots, but I make good on my promises. Of that you can be sure.
Speaking of..the Danube is due for some reinforcements. Servius Nero and grandfather Lucius have seen strong successes against the Thracians, but forces, even with success, dwindle. I will see what can be done to raise their strengths in the coming years.
Consul Servius,
I wish you good luck and wisdom in your next term. As I have already privately expressed, while not enraptured by your overal strategy, you have certainly presented the senate with succes after succes. I will make the appropriate sacrifices to the Gods to ensure that fortune continues favouring you.
I would bother you with one last matter. While you have already fulfilled most of the earlier motions, or at least working on completing them, the anxious people of the cities of Capua and Ancona have pleaded with me to remind you of
Motion 11.7: We will extend citizenship (i.e. build citizenship building) to the cities of Capua and Ancona during this consul's term.
which still needs to be acted upon I believe. I hereby fulfill my promise to them to remind you of this senate decision and convey their pleas to you.
Senator Lucius Aemilius,
What I am concerned with now, is that the Senate has voted for more spending on building projects – motion 12.06 – such a commitment as this is huge! Even compared with building the required administration buildings in Capua and Acona.
I, personally, cannot see where the Consul will get the funds for BOTH motions to be completed in the next 2.5 years.
If it was a choice between them, I would reward the people of Capua and Acona.
I do not agree senator,
We should easily be able to afford to implement both these motions. I am confident that the consul to execute the will of the senate.
Firstly, grandfather, the appropriate buildings are already well under construction for the extension of citizenry to these cities.
Secondly, save the sacrifices for the next consul, and pray that he does a better job of keeping this senate more united than I have.
It is not something I am keen to admit, but I am judgemental, and rarely change my opinions. That, coupled with the fact that my passion lies with the greatter good of Rome, and not necessarily with all of the individual desires of the senate...it is easy to see where our opinions collide.
So far, the only passed motion that was voted on before the midterm that has not in some way yet been acted upon is the invasion of Rhodes, which was stalled due to the plague being reported on the island. But the situation there has subsided and it has once again become a viable target.
Consul,
I trust your comments were in good humour as a lesser man may have taken such words directed to your Elder in anger?
As such, I agree that you require little in extra sacrifice to the Gods to fulfil your remaining duties, though, perhaps one of them could loan the Republic some coin so you can complete these "games" arena's.
Do not feel too aggrieved Consul, you are young and perhaps many years will pass before such responsibility will weigh you down again.
We have discussed this in private, remember my words to you.
I myself have considered running for Consul but have previously stated I will not do so until I have passed my 30th year. I hold to that pledge, it is, perhaps too greater burden for one as young as us?
They were in good humor, forgive my coldness, even the deserts of Afrika have done little to warm my tone of voice. There is a wry smile from the consul.
The Senate speaker picks up the weighty tome recording the Senate deliberations and frowns. He mutters to himself:
"Sixteen pages... it's getting quite a handful. The end of a mid-term session seems a suitable place to stop."
He wraps the tome in string and calls out to the scribes to bring in a fresh volume.