The Will of the Senate - Senate Deliberations IV

[econ21]

This thread is devoted to in-character communications about the Rome Total Realism Platinum PBM explained here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=65972

For all out of character business - including volunteering to join the campaign - please post in the out of character thread:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=67616

This thread should be for Senate business only.

On a personal note, I will post in two strictly separate capacities: as Senate Speaker (which I will preface by SENATE SPEAKER and write in normal type) and as an ordinary participant (which I will preface by the name of my avatar, currently Quintus, and write in italics).

During formal sessions of the Senate (every 10 turns of the game), motions can be proposed. Each motion requires TWO seconders before it can be voted on.

*******************************************************
ANNOUNCEMENT: Emergency session of Senate!

Voting will open at noon UK time, Tuesday, and close the same time on Wednesday.

Emergency motion 2: This House impeachs Servius Aemilius for unconstitutionally taking the Republic to war with Iberia. It immediately removes him from office. (Note: requires 2/3 majority)
Proposed: Numerius Aureolus
Seconded: Tiberius Coruncanius, Cnaeus Caprarius, Lucius Aemilius

Emergency motion 3: This House impeachs Servius Aemilius for the murder of UPS Maximus on the Senate floor. It immediately removes him from office and orders him kept under permanent house arrest at Palma. (Note: requires 2/3 majority)
Proposed: Numerius Aureolus
Seconded: Tiberius Coruncanius, Cnaeus Caprarius

Emergency Motion 4: No Roman army is allowed to enter Italy, except: small city garrisons which are to remain in cities; and newly trained troops which must be deployed away from Italy as soon as they are ready to do so. The northern boundary of Italy is defined as the limit of the regions of the cities of Arretium and Ariminum. This is a constitutional amendment.
Proposed: Tiberius Coruncanius
Seconded: Lucius Aemilius, Numerius Aureolus

Emergency motion 5: Because of excessive abuse of power, Servius Aemilius is immediately removed from office, banished from Italy and loses all rights as a Roman citizen.
Proposed: Lucius Aemilius
Seconded: Appius Barbatus, Numerius Aureolus, Luca Mamillus

Emergency motion 6: Because of excessive abuse of power, Servius Aemilius is to be considered an enemy of the state. It is the duty of any freedom-loving Roman to kill him on sight.
Proposed: Lucius Aemilius
Seconded: Tiberius Coruncanius, Numerius Aureolus

[Lucjan]

Your motion passed senator Verginius, and although it has been a minor irritation to my economic plans, it has not hampered us as much as it potentially could have.

All governors have been temporarily ordered to refuse slave imports, except for myself. While I remain here in Rome, the only slaves delivered throughout the Republic this season will be to the construction fields of the hippodrome.

[TinCow]

These projects will benefit you whether you like them or not, Consul Aemilius. The plebs care not who legislated them, only who funds them and actually builds them. You may soon find yourself the most publicly celebrated Consul since Marcus Furius Camillus.

[Lucjan]

These projects will benefit you whether you like them or not, Consul Aemilius. The plebs care not who legislated them, only who funds them and actually builds them. You may soon find yourself the most publicly celebrated Consul since Marcus Furius Camillus.

Senators, if we may take a moment to observe the final entry of senator Augustus Verginius into the archives of these senatorial proceedings and reflect upon his attitude. Augustus took a constant stance of interest in the plebeians. And, perhaps, worked to give them a more comfortable life than what is led by most of our lower house senators on campaign. A noble cause, but, as man is time given form, all time passes, and all men die. In the spring of 499 AUD, Augustus Verginius left this world. However, in his passing, he has completed the final works necessary around Gergovia to seal it off from Iberian movements, and the western frontier with Iberia can now be called complete. I will say more later in the consular report. For now, let us give a moment of silence.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Senator Verginius was a noble Roman who worked to spread Roman greatness throughout his career. From the Battle of Bononia, where he fought off a Gallic ambush lead by the Gallic warchief Lucco, to his consulship bringing in much money and the start of the Greek conquest, this man should be a role model to all of us.

It was an honor to serve with him and have him in the Senate. Senator Verginius, you will be missed.

[Mount Suribachi]

Augustus Verginius is no longer with us.....words fail me at this moment Conscript Fathers.......

That man was as much a pillar of this noble as house as the great columns of stone & marble that surround us. Before I was even born he was a mighty veteran on not one, but two battlefields - the political, and the military. All my life Augustus Verginius has been part of the very fabric of Roman government.

I shall not mourn his passing as much as I shall give thanks to Jupiter Optimus Maximus for blessing us with such a man. I urge the Consul to give him a state funeral.

[Lucjan]

While Augustus Verginius was a strong opponent of mine, I am not the kind of man to hold a grudge with the dead. He was an honorable man, and in that respect, he will receive a noble funeral. One week from today there shall be a parade in the Roman streets, all goods purchased in the Roman forum will be payed in half by the state coffers, and a lyceum will be commissioned in Syracuse, where the plebeians are in much need of entertainment.

EDIT - A consular report has been filed for the senates review.

It seems while I have been generous in my tribute to Augustus's passing, my uncle Marcellus has outdone me. Congratulations Marcellus on the birth of your son, Augustus Aemilius.

[Glaucus]

May I suggest, Consul, that you send in Roman forces to capture the Island of Salamais from the enemy?

[GeneralHankerchief]

My hope is that my boy will do half the things that Verginius has accomplished in his lifetime. For that alone will place him in the company of legends.

[Lucjan]

Cyprus cannot be touched, doing so would be in violation of motion 12.01. Roman expansion will stop at the town of Side, and go no further east under my rule.

Although it is an appealing prospect, it is for later man to consider.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

* Lucius Amilius enters the senate in mouring dress, looking old and careworn *

Words fail to describe the grief I feel at the passing of my friend Augustus Verginius. He was one of ther few men left that could still recall when, under the standard of Quintus the Victor, Rome drove the Greeks and Cartheginians out of Italy, turning a tiny nation into a force to be reckoned with. A former consul, who made the word 'Roman' into a byword for defeat and terror for all our enemies, he was also a brilliant general. Who among you has not studied brilliant Gaul campaign ? Aside from his brilliant qualities as a general and statesman, he was a Roman of the old school. Never in his long life did he put his own ambitions before the good of the state, an example I hope you young men take to heart.

* sadness shows in his face as he walks out of the senate, and a few senators can hear him speak to himself *

Now all I have left to talk to is Tiberius, ah, it is a cruel fate to grow old...

[Lucjan]

Senators, Appius Barbetus has just been given the order to advance on the Ptolemite army holed up on the outskirts of Side. We've spent the last two seasons blocking this army in the province and with the fall of Arsinoe, our route to it has been opened. This will be the most significant battle in our eastern campaign since the expulsion of Seleucia from Thrace. This battle will make or break Roman dominance in Asia Minor by ending the Ptolemite presence on the mainland once and for all. Let us all extend our prayers to Mars for Senator Barbetus's victory.

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/252-Appius-Side.zip

[Braden]

Consul,

Was it also Appius Barbetus who took Arsinoe? I do not see any entries in reports about it falling to us.

I am gladdened that my forces will be rejoined again by our alie who have been missing for so long and that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for my men. More duties elswhere perhaps? we are all still young.

[Lucjan]

Senator Barbetus has, in a covert maneouver down the coast, taken Arsinoe from the Seleucids. The lack of any public mention was to avoid the Seleucids warning the Ptolemites ahead of time. Let's face it, enemies they may be, but a chance for them to break a Roman army together would be enough to unite them for at least a moment.

As for your legion, Manius, I will be honest with you. The future of Rome is now with consolidation. We have reached our limits in the eastward push, but cannot now withdraw the legions there without suffering events that would cost us dearly. To move you west at such a critical time would be folly. Defending the Republic may not seem, at first glance, to be as glorious as conquest, but taking such a view could not place one farther from the truth. I would lay my very life down if the meant the defence and salvation of Rome, but I would not so much as entertain the thought of conquest unless I was absolutely certain I could win.

As the situation stands, I wish the state of affairs to become as such by the end of my consulship.

The East - Manius Coruncanius will hold two forts in the central riverlands of the Ancyran plateau. Appius Barbetus will defend a fort at the mountain pass near Heracleia. Numerious Aureolus will defend a fort near the straits of Cyprus. The eastern consular fleet will reside in the port at Smyrna, with two sub admirals endowed with 3 ships each at Rhodes and Sparta, for the purpose of pirate and stray foreign navy watchers.

Carthage - Oppius Aemilius will reside in Tingi, in preparation for the Iberian war. I myself, will reside in Palma, also, awaiting the Iberian war. The western fleet will be split into two praetorian size fleets, one stationed in the port at Tingi, the other at the port in Palma. Flavius Pacuvius will be mobilised within the region on the central fleet, ready to respond wherever necessary.

Italia, Hellas, Macedonia, Illyria - Various Upper house generals will be allocated to our cities where order and good governance are of significant need.

Danube - Lucius Aemilius, Quintus Libo and Tiberius Coruncanius will oversee the continued defence of the Danube.

Transalpine Gaul - Marcellus Aemilius will take over in Gergovia when he is finished in Carthage, and Cornelius Saturninus will take over command of the Comata legion. I will be relocating Servius Nero to act as Tribune for senator Saturninus, he is an adopted son of Quintus Libo and, regardless of being an upper house general, has proven of significant capabilities against the Thracians near Oduba. He could learn much as a tribune, and become a promising lower house general in the future.

This is the general plan, but you never seem to know with the world these days, anything here can change.

[Tamur]

(hastily scribbled letter from Appius)

My men and I are closing on Side. Good morale after the fall of Arsinoe despite the phalangites. My apologies to the Senate for a lack of report but in all respect, my duties have lain with my troops at this most pressing time. Will report again after the inevitable and bloody fall of those Ptolemite dogs at Side.

Vale.

[Tamur]

Fellow members of the Senate,

Side is ours.

I can only claim that my men, especially the cavalry, were not only strong and tireless in their execution of my commands, but also frightening for our enemies to behold! Our cavalry mercenaries in particular defied the enemy to break them, and in large measure they have won this victory.

I myself took part in the fighting only to have the pleasure of putting Antigonos Auletes to the sword myself. It is a pleasure fraught with difficulties to slay one who, were he not a Ptolemy, could possibly have been a noble member of our own company. What will happen to his wife? His aged parents and his children? These question plague me as I write this message. The fear in his eyes as he knew I had battered his sword away for the last time is something I will not forget soon.

It is with sorrow also that I note that my noble and trusted record keeper, Marcus Vibanius, fell to a stray javelin from some Ptolemite skirmisher. I will fill his position as quickly as possible, but because of his fall I have only pictures of the first half of the battle for Side.

I will post a full report soon. In summary, the enemy fielded well over 1500 troops to our 1000. They had perhaps a dozen leave the field, while nearly 900 of ours walked away from the field under their own power.

Truly the gods have blessed us this day!

[econ21]

[A letter from NUMERIUS AUREOLUS]: Senators, while private matters are preventing me from taking up duties in the Lower House, it is with a sense of shock that I learn of the death of my father-in-law, Augustus Verginius. Although we had become estranged over time, he was a most formiddable Roman who cut a swathe across any foe unfortunate enough to cross his path in battle (and some will say, in the Senate too). My wife, his daughter, is of course deeply saddened. I will make offerings to the gods in thanks for a life well lived. With sons like that, can anyone doubt Rome's destiny?

[Lucjan]

I am pleased to report that the finalisation of the eastern border is 75% complete.

Side and Adana will from this point on mark the locations of Rome's two easternmost settlements, and both will be host to consular sized legions under the command of senators Manius Coruncanius, and Numerious Aureolus with Appius Barbetus as tribune.

Forts have been constructed at the two river crossings in central Galatia, where Manius Coruncanius is fighting a battle now, protecting our eastern border on this front. Another has been constructed at the land crossing between mainland Asia Minor and the isle of Cyprus.

All that is left is to clear out Prusa when we can acquire some freed up forces from the garrisons and to take Heracleia.

[SwordsMaster]

I have been contemplating the events quietly from the cities entrusted to my command, senators, but I believe that this moment of relative tranquility is a good one to shift the focus of our consul to the education and development of our governors. I feel like my own skills have been wasted in the dull and inactive life of governorship, and I believe that there are many others who would feel that way too.

I will propose a motion addressing this issue in the next senatorial session, but I wish to put this forward to the consul's consideration.

[Lucjan]

*There is a clearly irritated look from the consul.*

If any wasting has been done it's been done by yourself Senator Mamilus. Someone who has said absolutely nothing for the the last several years, not to this senatorial body nor to myself personally, has no place to complain now that he is bored and his life is dull. Our governors are placed where they are to ensure stability throughout the Republic, I will not go about maneouvering them all and risking revolt and dissension because you feel bored due to your own inability to be proactive in the events of these discussions. I have one piece of advice for you senator.

Get a hobby, and don't waste my time.

[SwordsMaster]

My dear consul, you of all people should know, that the most useful person is not the one who shouts loudest. Or would you have us ruled by those market traders who sell vegetables and shout to attract customers?

I have been following the events, reading the reports and voting on the motions, even though I abstained from proposing them and shouting out my opinions, as the motions concerned mostly the military aspects of administration. If you, in your blindness refuse to accept criticism from one who cares for other things but war, I have to question what kind of consul you are. Are you a politician or a butcher who likes nothing better than feeling the blood running through your fingers?

You claim I am bored. Maybe I get mistresses and slaves to entertain myself, but I do not butcher roman sons to do so.

[Lucjan]

...you know senator, perhaps you should be allowed to entertain yourself more. Perhaps you should be moved to the front lines near Iberia. Your opinion of my accomplishments may change when you run fleeing like a coward in your first battle.

[SwordsMaster]

...you know senator, perhaps you should be allowed to entertain yourself more. Perhaps you should be moved to the front lines near Iberia. Your opinion of my accomplishments may change when you run fleeing like a coward in your first battle.

I will do my best to justify your trust in my abilities, consul. I am sure you would not just waste my life away because of your personal dislike of my person.

You know, with 10 years of military service behind my back, an accusation of cowardice speaks more in your detriment than mine, consul.

[Lucjan]

Serving in the legion does not mean you've actually fought a battle senator. There are many governors with many years service in the legion, it doesn't mean they've ever actually thrust a sword into a man's flesh.

I don't need to waste your life away because I don't like you, you said it yourself you've wasted your own life away. Now stop wasting mine with your pitiful whimpering.

[SwordsMaster]

Serving in the legion does not mean you've actually fought a battle senator. There are many governors with many years service in the legion, it doesn't mean they've ever actually thrust a sword into a man's flesh.

I don't need to waste your life away because I don't like you, you said it yourself you've wasted your own life away. Now stop wasting mine with your pitiful whimpering.

Of course, consul. Thank you for your attention, consul. I shall resume my silent contemplation of the barbarous ways imposed to this our republic, consul.

[econ21]

[NUMERIUS AUREOLUS]: Legate Mamillus, do not worry, your qualities are not overlooked by all who serve the Republic.

Senators, I believe now is the time to discuss Rome's future direction. The Consul has done a superb job bringing down Carthage. She now stands as an empty shell of her former self, her generals skulking in barren desert provinces while Roman civilisation begins to take root in her great cities.

Where now should Rome look for the next challenge? Senators, I believe we face a clear choice: east or west?

There are some here, I fear the Consul himself is among them, who believe the right direction is west. There are calls here to prepare for war against Iberia. I support those calls. Those who wish for peace should prepare for war. Strengthening our western defences is only prudent.

But I emphatically do not support the demand that we start a war of aggression. It would be reckless and bloodthirsty to start a new war with Iberia. Have we forgotten that we are still engaged in four other bloody wars - with Seleucia, Ptolemy, Thrace and Carthage? Only this season, Praetor Coruncanius had to fend off a Consular sized army of Thracians. Senators, we have enough fighting on our hands already! Senators, a war of aggression is not the Roman way. We do not start wars - we finish them! To spill the blood of Romans and innocents for mere conquest and greed is dishonorable. But there is no greater honour than to fight to defend our homeland and to end war.

Senators, it may be that the day will come when we must strike Iberia. If, like Gaul under the reign of Consul Lucius Aemillus, she marches into our lands and clearly intends to strike at us, then a pre-emptive move would be justified. Indeed, the constitution allows such a strike without a Senate vote for a declaration of war. But that day has not yet come. Iberian armies do sometimes wander deep into our lands. But successive Consuls have shown great restraint and the wandering Iberians have done no harm to us. Iberia does not intend to attack us at this time.

This has been proved beyond all doubt by the current Consul. His stunning and bold Viberi maneouvre, which I opposed, showed beyond all doubt that Iberia is not presently interested in taking our settlements - even if offered up undefended. She is fixed on her war with Germania and for as long as that continues, we may be able to avoid war with her. I say we let sleeping dogs lie. Indeed, we should support our ally Germania, with gifts of gold, to keep this conflict running for as long as possible.

Instead of launching a great conflagration in the west, I say this: let us use this window of opportunity to settle old scores in the east. Seleucia and Ptolemy are still great powers, with vast hinterland resources. Only this season, we have seen Prusa - a settlement well within our borders - stand against us, as rebels loyal to Seleucia. Let us move decisively against these vile Successor states. Do not forget their unprovoked attacks on us. Do not forget the Co-Consul, my mentor, Publis Pansa, lying dead on the field at Maronia. Do not forget their armies ranging deep into Thrace, forcing Lucius Aemilius to adopt scorched earth tactics while we scrambled to muster the men needed to stop them. Let us not let them regain their former strength. If pitiful Thrace can summon up a Consular army to try to breach our frontier, how many such armies do we think Seleucia and Ptolemy can produce in the next six years? No, passivity in the face of such potential, such danger, is folly.

Senators, after the next election, I plead with you: unleash me. Let Legio V and the other armies of the east march. Let us march, yes, right down to Antioch. But then further - to the Nile and to destroy Ptolemy. Let us seize the western cities of Seleucia - rip out her heart and let Parthia and the other eastern factions feast on her dying corpse. Our future must not be a war without end. We must impose a Pax Romana and allow our citizens to enjoy the fruits of their labours, without the burden of endless military campaigns.

Senators, we have sat on the defensive in the east for too long. It offers vastly richer pickings than Gaul and Iberia. It houses our real enemies - factions of great power. The east is where we must go. Turning west would only needlessly create new enemies and deliver a few barbarian villages.

In the past, I have been accused of warmongering, of recklessly pressing for expansion in the east. Those charges were false, baseless lies. I started no wars, but merely worked hard to end two: with Macedon and Greece. This I achieved: my men slew the last King of Macedon and the last King of Greece. I say - let us provide the same service to the oppressed peoples of the Kingdoms of Seleucia and Ptolemy.

The lies told against me were malliciously spun by a vast Aemilli conspiracy seeking to set up myself and Praetor Coruncanius in order to advance the political ambitions of my late step-father, Augustus Verginius and Marcellus Aemillius. Unforeseen events frustrated that coalition but I fear it is on the march again. My step-father may rest in the earth, perhaps roaming the underworld in search of more Gauls to slay. But Marcellus still stands, frustrated but powerful - the de facto ruler of Afrika. I have no doubt he regards as his right the Consulship, which was his to claim four years ago but which he fumbled. He is resentful of his nephew assuming power before him and will stop at little to secure what he considers rightly his.

But this time things are different from when the lies were first told against me. Now we are indisputably at war in east and it is my rivals, not me, who stand as the warmongers. And it is expansion in the west that is reckless, while an advance eastwards is only prudent. I say we move east and I intend to stand for Consul on that platform. Who will stand behind me?

[Braden]

Senators,

I for one would like nothing better than to finally settle our issues with the Seleucids. Placed as I am, on our far Eastern border and with a Consular sized formation, it seems that I am ideally placed to strike against our enemies here and put these whelps to flight.

I am, at the behest of the Republic and will follow her instruction to the letter.

Manius

[Lucjan]

Numerious, are you so bold as to presume to make a bid for the next consulship before mine has even ended? This does not insult me, it shows ambition, willingness to carry on my actions where I have left off.

However..I do not feel that such extensive eastward expansion would yet benefit the strengths of the Republic. If Marcellus promises to maintain the borders "as is" in our Asian lands, when my consulship ends, I will stand behind him should he make a bid for the consulship. Provided there is nothing of any significance that I would have to dispute him on.

As for the specifics of my stance on Asia...I would agree to expansion only to the settlement of Sinope and the isle of Cyprus.

[Tamur]

(letter from Appius Barbatus)

I for one, Senators, will stand with Senator Aureolus on this issue. I have been here in the East for some time now, seeing the people and buildings and farms and mines of these new provinces. And there is wealth here beyond anything that Iberia could offer; anything, I say, short of Rome itself.

Copper mines? Pah. Let us talk of iron, gold, rubies, diamonds, trees of myrrh and cyprus, and the black water they burn here instead of tallow. All these riches, and only the ghosts of what once were the mighty empires of Seleucia and Aegyptus to face for them.

How can we possibly consider taking the war to Iberia? In six years do we wish to give our legionaries land for their families where they must live in the mud hovels of the barbarians? Or do we wish to give them a reward fitting to their unwavering service, a land rich in civilisation and wealth?

The citizens of Seleucia and the Ptolemites cry out to us to free them, to bring the peace of good Roman government, of law, the Gods, and the legions. Let us not lay aside this opportunity, or spill good Roman blood to defeat dirty-haired barbarians who will give us nothing in return but their fleas.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Ah, our esteemed Numerius Aureolus makes his presence known once again in our hallowed halls. I almost missed his ranting and warmongering in here. Almost.

But I emphatically do not support the demand that we start a war of aggression.

Senators, after the next election, I plead with you: unleash me. Let Legio V and the other armies of the east march. Let us march, yes, right down to Antioch. But then further - to the Nile and to destroy Ptolemy. Let us seize the western cities of Seleucia - rip out her heart and let Parthia and the other eastern factions feast on her dying corpse. Our future must not be a war without end. We must impose a Pax Romana and allow our citizens to enjoy the fruits of their labours, without the burden of endless military campaigns.

Come on, Senator. You used to be much more persuasive than this. And I am anything but the de facto ruler of Afrika. As we speak, I am currently marching to the minor port of Lepcis Magna with a Praetorian-sized force, while Flavius Pacuvius commands his mighty army and takes the major coastal cities.

Senator Aureolus' words betray him. Listen to his language. "Unleash me," he says. He wishes to take Legio V all the way down the Levant to the Nile in order "to destroy Ptolemy." And then, for Seleucia, he wants to "rip out her heart and let Parthia and the other eastern factions feast on her dying corpse."

And he calls me a warmonger. Wow.

Our Eastern border is now stable, thanks to the motion passed in the midterm session. But once the Carthaginian Expedition is finished, we will now border Iberia pretty much everywhere. From the Strait of Gibralter to the forests of Germania, there will be a tense peace between the two great powers of the West. Soon, it will break. They are barbarians, they know nothing other than war. We much teach them, brand it into them, that war with Rome is folly.

If we head east, we risk disturbing our borders and making Rome no longer the center of the Republic. But if we go west, we further secure our borders, get rid of an extremely dangerous enemy, and, once again, making Rome the center and most important city of our great Republic.