The Will of the Senate - Senate Deliberations

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I wish to congratulate senator Quintus on his sharp insight concerning motion#13. This will prevent accusations in the Senate and free the first consul in his actions. Still, I feel I say I expect a strong military presence on our borders. If a first consul leaves his borders wide open in order to encourage an act of war I will not hesitate to impeach him for 'warmongering'.

[econ21]

[SENATE SPEAKER]: The deadline for nomination of candidates for First Consul and for proposing motions has now passed. Voting will begin imminently. Debate may of course continue freely.

[Dutch_guy]

I wish to notify my support for my noble college Augustus Verginus, I deem his ideas best for our noble republic, I would however like to quote him on certain issues - which I would like him to expand on..

Yet, despite these successes, our future remains uncertain. ..... No plans for the conversion of any of the Sicilian provinces or any of the Greek cities has yet been layed.

Well I think now would be a good time to make your plans, and make them public. I would like to know wat happens to these newly conquered provinces, as they will eventually provide much of our trade revenue.

Despite all of this, some Senators yet push for war with Gaul. I ask you, brothers, war for what end? War with what armies? We have achieved much, yet we have much still to achieve. We must secure our new acquisitions, ensure that their men are organized so as to provide auxiliaries for our Legions, improve provincial infrastructure and economics, and raise further Legions to secure our borders and to prepare for future conquests.

Spoken like a true Roman ! We do not seek war, we merely have the means to fight an expansive defensive war*winks*.

Now, I know some Senators will undoubtedly say we can do both at once. Perhaps we can, but perhaps we will make ourselves vulnerable. Is five years such a long time to wait? ....... In such an event, options may become available to make expeditions to the Carthaginian island cities of Melite, Caralis, and Aleria. These are mere extensions of our existing conflict with the Punic nation.

Are costly expeditions like these necessary ? Do we even have the fleets to launch these attacks, and keep order in the newly conquered provinces. And who will govern these provinces ?

I don't believe in conquering far away Punic territory, if we aim to cripple Carthage, we must take their main cities, namely Carthage and Hadrumentum.
Why waste a costly and risky sail to these provinces of which we gain no immediate benefits. Surely we could better spend our ships and soldiers to wage a full scale war against Carthage itself, instead of taking their backwater provinces of Caralis and Aleria ?

Now I would like to compare your Manifesto to the ones of the other candidates....

Senator Tiberius Coruncanius proposes to build a navy, an idea I sympathize with, but do not read in your manifesto Verginius, which in my opinion is a shame.

Also, Verginius, I haven't read anything of your plans to secure our northern borders. If you did mention this, would you care to do this again, just to humor me...

As for my next query I ask you this, how will you revive our economy, which Lucius described as and I quote '' [bringing our] economy out of its sorry state ''.

Do you agree with this statement Senator, or do you not ?

My last question senator is this one: do you agree with senator Pansa's comments concerning the Greeks, Illyrians and other neighboring ''sovereign'' countries, or do you not, and why did you answer the way you did?

[ShadesWolf]

I wish to also notify my support for my noble college Augustus Verginus.

Fellow senators now is not a time to open up new theatres of war. We are already fighting on two fronts. If we declare war on the Gauls we will be surrounded by enemies. How can we survive if we are having the air choked out of us.

We should take this time to prepare to future conflicts. You all know they will come. Can you all honestly see the Greeks and Carthage allowing us to take the southern cities with such ease.

We need to defend these, we need a fleet and an enlarged army. Once we have these then YES we can take the war to our enemys. The Greeks are weak we should ally ourselves with their enemies.

The enemies of our enemies are our friends. I say leave Carthage to lick her wounds and once we have our army we should invade Greece and exterminate her.

The world should learn to fear us Romans, this can only be done by enslavement and exterminate. We cannot merely occupy cities and hope to earn the populations love. We must force our will on our enemies or die trying.

I wonder if my fellow senators have the stomach for such things, maybe I should have stood for office myself.

[Glaucus]

We must force our will on our enemies or die trying.

Illustrious Senator, were you fathered in far off Sarmatia by a barbarian king? Are you mad? The answer to one of these must be yes, for that is not a Roman way of thinking. We fight when we must, or against those who asked for it. The Gauls are barbarians, no excuse is needed for civilizing them. The Greeks are a modern people, why should we continue to fight them? Tell me, Senator, would you rather live next to a Gaulic barbarian or a Greek scholar?

[Tricky Lady]

Senators, I will keep it short: there is only one Roman who knows what's best for our Glorious Republic. Lucius Aemilius is our man. Seems that he is the only Roman with at least a tiny bit of intelligence who realises that we should kick the Gauls' hairy butts over the Alps! I have talked to my men, I have talked to my bodyguards, I know what our brave soldiers want. We do not care about "consolidating" territory. We do not care about economy. We, soldiers, want to show what we are capable of. Those stinky Gauls are soiling our fine Italian lands; they are ruining our future farmlands. We will not accept this. Let's kick 'em out. I say: vote Lucius Aemilius.
I, Titus Vatinius, have spoken.

[TinCow]

Well I think now would be a good time to make your plans, and make them public. I would like to know wat happens to these newly conquered provinces, as they will eventually provide much of our trade revenue.

It is my firm belief that a protracted war with Carthage is unavoidable, even if hostilities cease or are lukewarm for the next decade. I do not believe that we will ever be able to establish dominance in Africa without being able to raise armies directly from the Sicilian provinces. Thus, in Sicily my priorities will be to being training these new allies to provide us with Auxiliaries, in addition to any economic infrastructure that would benefit us. I see less of a need for Auxiliaries in the far southern Greek provinces, but they are valuable trading provinces and investments will be required in that area. Elsewhere, our northern provinces bordering Gaul must also be made ready to provide Auxiliaries in the event of an attack by the unwashed barbarians. Finally, our most prominent port cities must receive support so as to enable construction of larger, more powerful warships.

Are costly expeditions like these necessary ? Do we even have the fleets to launch these attacks, and keep order in the newly conquered provinces. And who will govern these provinces ?

No, I do not believe they are necessary. However, they are bases for Punic fleets and can act as valuable trading ports, further increasing our treasury. They are worth siezing if such a taking can be had without risk. No, we do not currently have the fleets to launch these attacks. For this reason I do not propose to attempt an expedition immediately. I would prefer to wait until sufficient naval forces are constructed to allow for the safe transportation and protection of up to a full Legion. The question of governance is beyond my means to answer effectively. If sufficient governors are available, they would be allocated to the provinces once annexed. However, I would expect that they would have to be supervised by the local garrison captain for some time before notable Romans step forward for the position. That said, it would be my intention to request that Senator Quintus personally lead any expedition to Caralis and Aleria. He could certainly provide at least short-term governance for those areas before going on to other areas.

I don't believe in conquering far away Punic territory, if we aim to cripple Carthage, we must take their main cities, namely Carthage and Hadrumentum.
Why waste a costly and risky sail to these provinces of which we gain no immediate benefits. Surely we could better spend our ships and soldiers to wage a full scale war against Carthage itself, instead of taking their backwater provinces of Caralis and Aleria ?

I agree, but I do not believe that we are yet strong enough to maintain a full scale invasion of Africa. Foremost I believe in building our strength for the coming conflict so that we will have the strength to land in force at the heart of their territory. My aspirations for the Punic islands are simply because I believe it is possible to sieze them with little cost to ourselves, both increasing our security from Punic fleets and adding to our Treasury. If events resolve in such a way as to make the siezure of these islands difficult or otherwise risky, I would not do so.

Senator Tiberius Coruncanius proposes to build a navy, an idea I sympathize with, but do not read in your manifesto Verginius, which in my opinion is a shame.

Also, Verginius, I haven't read anything of your plans to secure our northern borders. If you did mention this, would you care to do this again, just to humor me...

You are correct that I failed to address these issues in my manifesto. I confess that I did not anticipate the wide range of issues that this body would want information on and did not elaborate sufficiently at the time. As you can see though, it is my intention to build a naval force strong enough to keep our ports free of blockade and to enable the transportation of large armies to foriegn lands. I also wish to increase the quality of our port facilities to enable construction of better hull designs.

As for the Gallic border, I intend to send spies into Cisalpine Gaul to ensure that no barbarian army can catch us unawares. In addition, the northern Legion will be brought to full strength and it will be joined by a second Legion in a seperate fort. I would attempt to provide smaller outposts and further reinforcements if a Gallic buildup made them necessary. It would be my ultimate goal to develop a force strong enough to strike deep into their territory and secure the Alpine passes if future Consuls decided to do so.

As for my next query I ask you this, how will you revive our economy, which Lucius described as and I quote '' [bringing our] economy out of its sorry state''.

Do you agree with this statement Senator, or do you not?

I do not believe that our economy is in a sorry state, but I do believe that it needs to be improved. We have recently conquered a large area and we simply need time to develop it. It is simply a question of patience and investment. There is no risk in this, there is simple fact.

My last question senator is this one: do you agree with senator Pansa's comments concerning the Greeks, Illyrians and other neighboring ''sovereign'' countries, or do you not, and why did you answer the way you did?

The Greeks have shown their evil intents towards us and the Illyrians are nothing more than semi-washed Gauls. I say let them fight each other. Let them weaken each other. We shall deal with them soon enough. However, it seems obvious that the Greeks will divert at least some of their attention to us if we maintain this conflict. Let us make peace, thus letting them get fully involved in a deep conflict with the Illyrians or possibly the Macedonians. In the end, we will envelop winner and loser alike... if the Senate so decides, of course.

I do hope I have sufficiently answered your questions for now. I shall respond to the statements of others who came after you in time, however I have business at home to attend to and these queries can be time consuming. I shall respond later in the evening to any other inquiries, you have my word.

[econ21]

[QUINTUS]: Senators, after some deliberation, I have decided to abstain from voting in the election for First Consul. I will also vote on motions in such a way as to maximise his freedom, but abstain from those covering contentious issues (such as a declaration of war on Gaul). My intention is to allow the rest of the Senate to determine the future of our Republic, free from any undue influence on my part. Perhaps at a later date, some emergency will arise that will lead me to lobby for some particular response. But for now, I am content to acquiesce to the will of the rest of the Senate.

In truth, I believe that our Republic is in an extremely strong and secure position. We are not impelled to act in one way or another. I believe the clearly differentiated manifestoes of the candidates are all viable and would benefit the Republic in one way or another. While my sword-arm might encourage me to support one rather than another, I do not wish to browbeat the Senate into a course of action that most of its active participants would oppose.

I also wish to reaffirm that I stand ready, eager to serve on the field of battle for whoever of our fine candidates is elected First Consul.

[Ignoramus]

We ought not to invade Africa. Tiberius Coruncanius has expressed that we invade Africa. I proposed a compromising motion, but this it seems, will not be passed. I urge the next consul not to invade Africa until we have secured eastern Iberia.

[ShadesWolf]

Illustrious Senator, my parentage is of no concern to you. All you need to know I was born a Roman, I will die a Roman

Tell me, Senator, would you rather live next to a Gaulic barbarian or a Greek scholar?

I would prefer to live next to a Roman, The hairy Gauls will come, we should wait for this opportunity rather than forcing the issue. When they come we will send them packing and take thier lands.

As for the Greek scholar, his days are over, we should make friends of his enemies, and when WE are ready, we should take his lands and exterminate him. Do not forget we did not ask for the war with the Greek, why should we beg for peace. If he wants peace, then let him come to us and we will give him our terms.....

[Ignoramus]

Be not not hasty senator, the Greeks have culture, though they are are the most dishonest and treacherous race, cultural cities like Athens ought to be spared bloodshed. However, those that are barbaric, by all means destroy.

[Avicenna]

All Greeks are barbaric, so us Romans should show our superiority, and spare the Greeks death. They can work for us as slaves, which would be far more productive than the destruction of their peoples. However, if merely occupied, they will be too arrogant for our militia to deal with, and so this is no longer an option.

Anyway, let us get back to events closer to home. The ideas put forward by Verginus seem quite solid and practical. The Italian states can be improved economically by now, while Sicily can be transformed into our troop recruiting base for the upcoming battles in this Punic War.

[Ignoramus]

Have you no admiration of art? The Greeks may not be greater than Romans, but their art is far better than anything we have. All Greeks hate Rome, and for that, they must and will be punished. But there is no need to destroy the artworks.

[Dutch_guy]

But there is no need to destroy the artworks.

Indeed, I have enough room where I live for those. No need to destroy them.

[Mount Suribachi]

May I be the first to congratulate Senator Lucius Aemilius on his election to the Consulship. May the Gods smile upon you and bless you with a prosperous and successful reign.

[Tricky Lady]

Ay, senator Lucius Aemilius will be a worthy consul. And now I should go back to Sicily, my men need me!

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Honored senators,

It is with humility I accept this great honour you bestow upon me. I will do my utmost to do justice to your confidence in me. I must say, with such distinguished senators running for office alongside me, I had not counted on winning this election.

Feelings have run high during the deliberations running up to this election, as is only proper, given the immense responsiblity the office of consul represents. I myself have lost my temper on the senate floor and for this I offer my apologies to this house. Let me be frank in saying that I have no animosity toward any of my fellow candidates. They are all great and respected men of our country and I have no doubt they will one day carry the burdens of this office themselves.

I see the most division in this house has been created by the question of going to war with Gaul. You all know me as a peaceful man, and it is not lightly I counseld you to take this step. If you remember, I was one of those who argued against war with powerful Carthage. Consul Quintus proved that that war could be won decisively in Sicily, to my great relief, but you understand I do not take this step lightly. I only desire Cispine Gaul because it is vital for our nation strategically and rest assured, I will not strike against them untill I am certain of victory. Now that this house has come to this decision, I beg you to stand behind me as one man. We must not let ourselves be divided by internal struggle !

As to who should be appointed historian of the republic, I myself would recommend senator Augustus Verginus (TinCow), who has already served us excellently as the resident Senate Librarian. I will not force him into to position, but I offer it to him out of respect for his achievements. I also ask other senators to volunteer for this duty should senator Augustus Verginus decline. We all know he is already overworked by this house.

Now, my fellow senators, I must immediately get to work, as there is much to be done.

Hail Rome !

[econ21]

[QUINTUS]: Let me belatedly congratulate First Consul Lucius Aemilius on his success. I am particularly pleased to note that the motions passed by the Senate are largely in accord with the First Consul's manifesto. Sir, the Senate does indeed stand behind you!

[Mount Suribachi]

Consul Lucius Aemilius, may I humbly request that you move me from Paestum back to Rome so that I may continue my studies at the Academy?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Senator Amulius Coruncanius,

I regret to inform you that you are currently stationed in Tarentum to help control the rebellious Greeks. This was necessary to allow me to move troops around. I have taken note of your wishes and will try to relocate you as soon as I have a replacement for your position. I will move you to Syracuse instead of Rome. I need a governor there and that city also has an academy.

Sincerely,
First consul Lucius Aemilus

Out of character :
Note that this is a bit of problem for me. As generals need to hang out in the field all year long in order to get promoted and there are few sons available under 20. The only ones expendable are the students. I don't like to move generals in and our of cities all the time, I feel that is too unrealistic and it is a hassle. Soon the reorganization will be complete and I will have enough garrison forces to move everyone freely and still get some taxes in our coffers.

Edit : Well, it seems getting you to Rome was easier than getting you to Syracuse, so there you are now.

[flyd]

Congratulations on your election, Consul Aemilius. I must admit that I am a little worried about your intention to get us into a two-front war on purpose. I hope you are cautious in conducting your planned war in Gaul. I wish you luck.

[TinCow]

It is with a heavy heart that I congratulate Senator Lucius Aemilius on his election. I will not pretend that I am now in favor of war with Gaul, but I will not shrink from duty. Rome has voiced its opinion and has cried out for war. As a loyal Roman, I consider it my duty to defend the Republic anywhere it is threatened and under any circumstances. If Senator Aemilius believes that I would be of any use at the front, I would serve readily and without question.

On another note, while I am humbled by his suggestion that I stand as Senate Historian, I fear that it may be too large a task to accomplish to my satisfaction. In such affairs, I tend to be rather... elaborate... and can find myself absorbed in all aspects of the endeavor for hours at a time. While this is enjoyable for me, my dear wife finds my distractions irksome and she can make life rather difficult for me when I neglect her interests. As such, I feel it is in my own best interests (and longevity) to decline this offer.

[Ignoramus]

I willing to stand as the Senate historian, should the republic require my services.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Members of the senate,
One year of my consulship has passed, and I bring you my preliminary report while I await the outcome of the battle of senator Publius Laevinius who is raiding Melite.

[econ21]

[QUINTUS]: First Consul Aemilius, we are honoured to receive such an early report of your progress. I am particularly grateful that you have been able to give Legate Laevinus a taste of battle, as I know my inability to satisfy him in that regard was a source of much frustration to him. I wish him every good fortune in his expedition.

I would like to clarify one point in your report, however, where you speak of setting taxes high where possible. Can I confirm that the taxes are not so high that they prevent any population growth?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Senators,

The question of our attacking Gaul is moot, as they have invaded our territory, marching on Arminium and I have ordered offensive action to be taken in accordance with senate motion #13 of their second session. Thus we are now at war with Gaul !
I have prepared an emergency report which describes the current situation and my actions thus far. I hope I can count on your full support now our nation faces another enemy.

Hail Rome !

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I see I've forgotten to answer our consul Quintus. The city growth is not decreasing anywhere but Messana, which cannot be helped unfortunately. I have instructed all our cities that this administration has a 'Financial build policy'.

[Mount Suribachi]

Consul Lucius Amelius, I thank you for moving me to the academy. I shall be making offerings to the Gods for victory over those Barbarians who would dare to threaten Rome!

[econ21]

[QUINTUS]: First Consul Aemilius, war with Gaul was inevitable. We are fortunate to have elected a man who recognised that and so is now in a position to better respond to the present crisis.

First Consul, the Senate stands behind you. All Roma holds her breath and awaits news of our fortunes.

[Dutch_guy]

Consul,

I wish you good luck with your comming battles against the barbarians !

I'm sure you're the right man for the job, and as we have the best soldiers in the known world, I daresay it will all be over soon !

On a side note, I'd glady fight beside my fellow Romans against the barbarians, it would be good for my battle field experience I'd say.