The Magnaura

[The Lemongate]

Anastasios has been getting more and more restless as the discussions grew around him. Nearly getting up and leaving on many occasions, he finally bursts, unable to contain himself any longer, and walking into the middle of the Senate he intones in a clear and loud voice:

ENOUGH!!! I have heard enough of this senseless politicking! You all act as a bunch of scared and greedy old men heckling each other with base insults! You should be ashamed of yourselves! If I had only you for examples I would feel ashamed to be a Senator in this City!

You all act as though Rome was left defenseless after Manzikert! It has been nearly ten years since that terrible day and we have recovered! Have you all forgotten how over fifteen hundred years ago our ancestors began conquering the world with the forces of a single little city on the banks of the Tiber? Were has your fighting spirit of old gone? Have you suddenly all become cowardly little children even afraid to invoke the name of the O-so-mighty Turks, Normans and Lombards that have dealt us stinging blows? Where has the willpower of the Great Justinian gone?

I hear some of you say we must preserve our strength for trials to come. That our treasury cannot support so many fronts. That we should concentrate on securing a few cities close to our homes and let the rest of our glorious Empire in the hands of barbarians and heathens! Nay! Thrice nay! We are from a race of warriors and conquerors and conquering we should be doing rather then throwing worthless accusations at one another!

It is not the lack of military might I hear echo through these halls, but the fear for the personal safety of a few scared Senators who have more in common with little girls then with men of valor and courage! Since when does a Roman need to overpower his enemies two to one to win a war? Let them outnumber us two to one, three to one even! And God being on our side we shall vanquish! Have we not overcome the limitless armies of the Celts? Have we not crushed the mighty elephants of Carthage? Have we not brought about the fall of the timeless Persian Sassanids? What fear can Saracens, Franks and Normans bring to our hearts? We have triumphed over greater evils!

No it is not lack of military might that holds us back, but the will to use it. The will to take the handful of brave men we have and march strongly onto those who would defy our Emperor. To crush those who rebel against our authority and to defy any so-called foreign powers to take those cities and castles away from us. The more land we conquer, the more gold will flow into our coffers, you all know this to be true. Be it Antioch, Bari, Scopia, Smyrna. Be it Crimea or Egypt. Be it even distant Iberia. The further we extend our reach, the more powerful our armies will become and the richer our lands be. There is no need to antagonize our neighbors by walking into their lands, but there is certainly no justification into shirking away from rebellious settlements simply by fear that our might will not be enough to hold them or that our coffers will be so taxed that we will not be able to reinforce them. A city produces its own defense either in gold or through the valor of its defenders. And should one of us fall in defense of the Empire, glory to his name and his family! It should be an honor to fight and die for the Empire of the Romans and the Greeks!

Many Senators seem to have brought a political agenda into this Senate session which seems to constrain the Empire, to force us into a defensive position where we appear weak and vulnerable, where our lack of action will let our enemies grow stronger while we take only tiny steps into restoring a portion of our former glory. We should not fear another Manzikert. No! Instead we should sharpen our swords to win the next one!

I say march forth into rebellious lands Senators and bring with you your best horsemen and all your retainers and conquer in the name or Rome and her Basileos! The nay-sayers are the vilest of cowards! Blasphemous wretches who forget that God Himself, in his magnanimity has given us His Word to guide our actions. Our Lord commands us to war! Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

And unless someone in this chamber is such a fool as to doubt our victory over rebel forces and over the foreign powers that might want to rob us of our lands, then there is no question that our soldiers should assembled at this very moment to march out towards those rebels and assure our control over them before someone else moves into those areas. From the Levant to the steppes of Hungary, from the isles of the Mediterranean to the shores of Italy, we should be the first to pacify our disgruntled subjects and reap the rewards of these conquests.

A free town cannot call reinforcements, yields taxes and is a possible outpost against further invasions. If every Roman soldier kills two enemies, who should we fear? And in truth any commander worth his rank can beat a force four times superior to his.

So are you the Senators who will lead Roman arms to renewed glory? Or are you just a bunch of robed monkeys, more apt at throwing insults then arrows and javelins?

I know where I stand.

I urge you to strike down those vile legislations that would bind all of our hands and push our Empire to its knees.

Face flushed with anger, his fists clenching nearly uncontrollably, Anastasios exists the Senate before anyone has had any time to recover from his tirade. The guards even take a step back as he passes them, sensing that the man could probably kill someone with his own bare hands should anyone challenge him at this moment. As he leaves, nearby Senators can hear him mutter curses on the foppish, paper-pushing fools that would have us refrain from fighting rebels camping outside this very city, for fear it would anger the Rus or the Scots...