The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Chapter 82: The Agent of the Goddess >

The Senate had planned to stir up trouble between Pompey and Caesar, but their opponents were faster.

As soon as the bill was passed in the assembly, Caesar demanded two more clauses to be added.

One was that all the senators would swear to abide by the bill immediately in the assembly.

The Senate was supposed to follow the bill passed by the assembly anyway.

But they had not clearly specified the deadline.

So the Senate often delayed implementing the bill by dragging their feet.

Caesar had preemptively finished the work to prevent the Senate from doing such a thing again.

He also included the regions of Campania and Capua, which were originally not to be reclaimed by the land law, and Latium, which was adjacent to Rome, in the redistribution target.

The Senate could only boil with anger, but they could not openly oppose it.

The citizens’ rage was too great.

The very next day after the bill was passed, angry citizens surrounded the Senate house and urged them to make a decision.

When Caesar and Pompey urged them to swear quickly, most of the senators eventually started to swear.

Cicero, Metellus, Afranius, and Lucullus also reluctantly gave in.

Even Bibulus was broken, and only Cato was left.

But he stubbornly refused to swear.

“I will never comply with this unilateral proposal. This is an act of ruthlessly trampling on the authority of our Senate.”

Cato’s determination was admirable, but it did not win him any support.

The Senate had already lost its legitimacy in this situation.

All Caesar asked for was a pledge to follow the law.

Refusing it was tantamount to saying ‘I have no intention of obeying the law.’

Caesar calmly pointed out that point.

“Cato, are you declaring that you will not follow Rome’s law even though you are a senator?”

“…I have lived by obeying the law and I will continue to do so.”

“Then you should rightfully declare that you will follow the law passed by the assembly. Why do you want to ignore the authority of the assembly that is stipulated by law?”

“This is an attempt to intimidate the Senate with the law! I will never comply with this absurd demand even if I am exiled.”

Caesar did not bother to persuade Cato who persisted until the end.

Anyway, even if he did not step up, other senators persuaded Cato.

Cicero approached Cato’s side and sighed heavily.

“My wise friend, Cato. Please make a rational judgment. The Senate has always had a duty to announce the law passed by the assembly. That is the right of the assembly guaranteed by Hortensius’ law. If we refuse here, our speech will be immediately posted on Porro Romanum. How do you think that will look to the citizens?”

“I will not bend my will for the sake of gaining popularity from the citizens.”

“Ha… Cato, don’t you know well that in order to do politics in a republic, you need to get support from the citizens.”

“That’s only for those who want to be elected to high positions. I am now, and forever, a single senator.”

When Cato showed no sign of accepting persuasion, Marcus stepped in.

It was inconvenient for Cato to disappear at this stage.

He had a lot of things to do for him in the Senate in the future.

“Cato sir, you need to think more calmly. If a storm is raging, shouldn’t you catch your breath until it stops? If you go out on a boat recklessly, you will just sink.”

“…Do you think it will end once you bow down? Never. Caesar will surely continue to oppress us mercilessly.”

“Then all the more reason for you to stay and fight. If Cato sir leaves politics like this, who will stand at the forefront of Optimates? Who will raise their voice to protect the republic?”

Marcus’ persuasion added up and Cato’s stubborn eyes trembled.

He thought rationally that Marcus was right.

If Cato left here, he would just do Caesar a favor.

He had no choice but to accept it even if it was humiliating.

Cato finally swore to respect the resolution of the assembly immediately, and thus all the senators’ oaths were completed.

Caesar announced that he would record this oath firmly and display it on Porro Romanum.

Now the Senate had nothing they could do about the land law.

They regretted that they should have accepted the bill as it was submitted at first, but it was too late for regret.

When Caesar left for Porro Romanum with the lecturers, the remaining senators were half-panicked and did not know what to do.

The state-owned land in Campania, Capua, and Latium near Rome was the place where the senators had been running large latifundia for generations.

They could not even imagine how much damage they would suffer if the land in these regions was redistributed.

They had to find a way out somehow, but no one had a clever idea.

In the end, Marcus stepped up again.

“I will talk to Caesar sir. He is still my father-in-law and son-in-law, so I hope to appeal to his personal feelings and try to reduce the redistribution target as much as possible.”

“Oh, will you do that?”

“If you can do that, we can breathe a little easier… Is it really possible?”

The aristocratic senators flocked around Marcus with hopeful and desperate eyes.

He felt the pressure of their eyes on his whole body.

“I can’t guarantee it, but if I cling to him, he won’t be able to reject me mercilessly, right?”

Bibulus bit his lips as if he had no face.

“We are putting too much burden on you. Even if you don’t get any concessions, no one will blame you, so don’t feel too pressured.”

“Yes. Then I’ll go after Caesar sir right away and ask for a conversation.”

Having found a good excuse, Marcus immediately got up from his seat and left the meeting hall.

The senators of the Senate gave him generous encouragement and applause.

Marcus left the meeting hall and headed straight to Caesar’s residence.

He spent time chatting with the Vestal Virgins he met after a long time while he was guided to the reception room.

After he drank about two glasses of diluted wine, Caesar returned from Porro Romanum where he had displayed the senators’ oaths.

Of course, Pompey was with him.

The two men who had openly shown their alliance when they passed the land law were almost always together now.

When the Vestal Virgins gave way, Marcus smiled slyly and poured diluted wine into his glass.

“Are you two getting along too well? That’s why the Senate is jealous and trying to separate you.”

Caesar sat down heavily and took the glass.

“Is that what the aristocrats say? That they want to separate me and Magnus?”

Pompey gulped down his glass and chuckled.

“It’s a ridiculous thing. Let them do whatever they want.”

“But you have to be careful. I don’t know about the other senators, but Cato sir seems to have a sharp scheme.”

“He’s pretty smart. But you’ll tell me everything beforehand, so I don’t have to worry. I’ll know exactly what they’re going to do to mess with us.”

“Of course, that’s true. But if they come up with a really elaborate plan, we have to pretend to fall for it. Otherwise, they might suspect that there is a spy.”

Pompey and Caesar nodded at the same time.

They had to act as if they were fooled by their tricks sometimes in order not to arouse suspicion.

It would look unnatural if they showed too perfect a picture.

Pompey scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

“I’m not very confident in my acting skills… I’ll have to practice so I don’t look clumsy.”

“Don’t worry, Magnus. I’ll watch you well.”

Caesar smiled softly and turned his eyes to Marcus.

“So, you didn’t come here just to tell me about the Senate’s trends, did you? Did they ask you to negotiate with us?”

“Yes. That’s why I came here confidently without worrying about other people’s eyes. The aristocrats are completely cornered right now. It’s too much to reclaim all the land in Campania, Capua, and Latium near Rome.”

“Yeah. They might as well try to assassinate me and Magnus by now.”

“There is a saying in the far east that a cornered mouse bites a cat. If you block their retreat completely and drive them into a dead end, they will eventually explode. How about giving them some room to breathe?”

Caesar rubbed the rim of his glass with his finger and gave a meaningful smile.

“Yeah, since you came here personally and desperately persuaded me, I guess I should listen to you. I really don’t want to compromise, but for your sake.”

Marcus couldn’t hold back his laughter and smiled back.

“That’s right. I hope you will compromise a little for my persistent and passionate persuasion.”

It was a play that had been intricately planned from the beginning.

Of course, neither Caesar nor Marcus wanted to drive the Senate into a dead end at once.

Caesar took a pen and wrote a revision of the law on parchment.

“I’ll exclude Latium completely from the redistribution target. I’ll also reduce the land near Capua and Campania by half. That should be enough for the Senate to accept.”

“Yes. They certainly will. They would be grateful enough if you just excluded Latium.”

Marcus’ prediction was exactly right.

He received almost heroic treatment from the Senate when he brought Caesar’s revision of the land law.

It was painful that some of the land in Campania and Capua became distribution targets, but they succeeded in keeping Latium intact.

And they also excluded a considerable amount of fertile land in Campania from the redistribution area, so it was a situation where they could breathe a sigh of relief.

The Senate owed Marcus a huge debt again.

He performed his inspection duties excellently and also mediated between Caesar and the aristocrats so that they would not be completely devoured by Caesar.

Now Marcus’ influence in the Senate faction was absolute.

It contrasted sharply with Cato, who had been passionate but had hardly achieved any results.

Crassus did not show up on the pretext of his health, so Marcus naturally came to stand at the center of the Senate faction.

While being outwardly the center of the aristocrats, he was secretly the mediator of the Triumvirate.

Completing this delicate position was the real benefit that Marcus wanted to get from this turmoil.

He hit all his targets.

From now on, Marcus could draw whatever picture he wanted.

Neither the Senate, nor Pompey, nor even Caesar knew what his plan looked like.

※※※※

Thanks to the perfect passage of the land law, the atmosphere of the Ceres festival was also heated up.

The poor people who were excited by the hope of becoming farmers by renting land also enjoyed the festival sincerely.

Pompey’s veterans were also filled with anticipation for a stable life that would start anew.

There were also farmers from various regions of Italy who joined them.

Marcus actively introduced the new land law here.

The four-field system was originally a method that had the greatest effect when implemented in modern Britain and France, or Britannia and Gaul in Roman times.

The Italian region has a hot and dry Mediterranean climate in summer.

It is inefficient to adopt the British four-field system, which is specialized for the maritime climate of the west, as it is.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be used at all.

If they have the Roman irrigation canals, which are more advanced than those of the early Middle Ages, they can bring enough water even in summer.

This was already an experiment that had been completed on the farmland owned by the Crassus family.

The most important thing in agriculture is productivity.

The indicator that shows this yield in a simple way is the harvest-to-seed ratio.

It means how many seeds can be harvested when one seed is sown.

Before proper sowing methods were developed, it did not reach 4:1. 

Here, since the seeds for next year’s farming must be stored separately, it means that they can’t even get three seeds if they sow one seed.

This desperate productivity led to the prevalence of large-scale slave management like latifundium.

In fact, the only place where food was abundant at this time was Egypt.

It was because they didn’t need fallow thanks to the periodic flooding of the Nile River.

On the other hand, in Rome, even after spreading proper sowing methods, the yield was slightly over 4:1.

But when they brought as much water as possible and executed the four-field system, they got a figure close to 7:1.

The food production increased by almost twice as much.

If they use the four-field system in Gaul and Britannia regions, this ratio will increase to 10:1.

Simple calculation shows that food production will increase by almost 2.5 times.

If food becomes so abundant, there will naturally be more room for commerce and technology to develop.

The spread of the four-field system could be called an agricultural revolution that could transform Rome into a different country from before.

Of course, conservative farmers who accepted new farming methods did not believe Marcus’s words as they were.

So Marcus took advantage of this festival to actively promote the excellence of the four-field system.

The farmers under Marcus who saw amazing effects with this new farming method played a big role.

“So you’re saying that the yield really increases by almost twice as much?”

“Yes, that’s right. We were skeptical at first too. But if you have enough water, you’ll see that the yield increases like a miracle. You don’t even need fallow.”

“Where can I get the seeds of that crop? Can I get some? I’d like to see the farmland where you applied that new farming method.”

“Of course we can give you some. We can also show you around our farmland. Our master told us to help anyone who is interested in the new farming method. He is always right, so we don’t doubt him anymore.”

“Oh, is he such a great person?”

“Of course! There is no one in Rome who doesn’t know Marcus Crassus, the land commissioner. He is the one who received the wisdom and blessing of Ceres goddess.”

At first, farmers from different regions who were negative changed their minds when they saw the results with their own eyes.

The farmers who were able to rent land and farm thanks to the land law learned the four-field system from the beginning.

They would spread this new farming method all over Rome.

In fact, after the Ceres goddess thanksgiving festival, the four-field system spread throughout Italy in no time.

It could only be used in areas where irrigation canals were well equipped, but its effect was tremendous.

The farmers accepted this new farming method as a miracle given by God.

From then on, Marcus was called Ceres goddess’s agent among the farmers.

It was the highest compliment they could give him.

Without anyone noticing, Marcus’s name spread not only in Rome but throughout Italy.

As Marcus built up his reputation as a blessed man by God, an envoy from a country where they served their king as a living god visited Rome.

The richest granary in the Mediterranean world and a country with a long history and tradition.

It was his first encounter with Egypt for Marcus.

<End of Chapter 82. Agent of Goddess>