The Mad Tycoon of Rome

< 236. Triumph 5 >

Triumph was a word that always made the Romans’ hearts beat faster.

They were second to none in their pride for their country.

And triumph was the festival where they could savor that pride in a concrete form.

The triumph for the Hunnic War, which could be called the greatest victory in Roman history, was decided to be held in three parts.

The first one was to commemorate Caesar’s achievement of repelling the massive invasion of the Huns and defending Hispania and the Italian mainland.

And three days later, there was a triumph planned to celebrate Marcus’s recovery of the Greek region and his expulsion of the Huns.

Finally, there would be a triumph to honor Caesar and Marcus’s joint campaign against the Huns, and their expansion of Rome’s territory to the Bosporus.

Naturally, the last triumph would be the most magnificent and grandiose.

This could make the first triumph, which was held on the first day, look relatively modest.

But Caesar did not seem worried at all.

Even if the first day’s triumph was relatively small in scale, that was only compared to the last day’s.

The scale of the first day’s triumph, which Caesar held, was already majestic enough to rival any previous triumphs.

True to his personality of liking attention, he also added several elements that were different from ordinary triumphs.

First of all, the basic procession was not much different.

The consuls and senators led the way, followed by actors and musicians who played music and danced.

The chariots carrying the spoils were not very noticeable, but instead there were decorations and paintings depicting the scenes of war that joined the parade.

What was far from ordinary was Caesar’s outfit, which would receive the most attention in this procession.

He wrapped a purple toga with a golden eagle pattern embroidered on it with a splendid silk.

The laurel wreath he wore on his head was also made of melted gold and shone dazzlingly when it caught the sun.

He especially paid a lot of attention to this laurel wreath.

He had to divert people’s attention to the wreath so that they wouldn’t notice his rapidly thinning hair.

Caesar did not stop there and gave some points to the white horses that pulled his chariot as well.

He dressed them in the equipment he received from Marcus and added some more heavy elegance.

Of course, if the horses that pulled the chariot wore armor, they would have physical limits, so he did not forget to add two more horses for consideration.

The Romans had seen cavalry equipment before, but they had never seen heavy armor made of plates.

To them, the horses wearing heavy armor looked like not horses but other animals from mythology.

The procession that started from Mars Field soon turned around Capitoline Hill and reached the ruins of Servius Wall.

It used to be a place where walls were, but since Marcus had demolished them, it was now crowded with people.

“Ooooh! There they are!”

“Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!”

The citizens who were excited by the appearance of the great hero who saved Rome stomped their feet and raised their voices.

One of the reasons why this triumph was overwhelming was also the number of legionaries who participated in the march.

The elite soldiers led by Vercingetorix wore lion skins over their armor and decorated their helmets with horsehair crests.

The ordinary citizens felt awe at this huge number of soldiers marching, but the nobles of the Senate felt the opposite emotion.

No matter how they thought about it, they couldn’t shake off their anxiety that they were becoming more and more dependent on Caesar.

Just for this triumph, not only ordinary senior consuls but also two consuls were forced to attend.

This was because one of the three heads had more authority than a consul as a triumphant general.

Therefore, although the two consuls did not directly participate in the procession, they waited for Caesar’s chariot at the temple podium with other law officials.

The senators who led Caesar’s procession were mostly young populares senators, and they were all fervent devotees of Caesar.

This point also irritated many seniors.

“Has the Senate decided to play Caesar’s lapdog? Is that our line?”

Cato muttered in a place where his expression was not visible to the citizens.

It wasn’t a very loud voice, but it sounded like thunder in the ears of seniors who were huddled together.

Cicero whispered in Cato’s ear with an embarrassed face.

“Don’t show too much hostility in this auspicious place. It won’t do us any good.”

“···This is me holding back as much as possible. I wouldn’t have been so angry if this was just a flashy triumph. But this is not. Caesar is breaking too many traditions.”

The Senate had already been notified of how this triumph would proceed in detail.

First of all, the scale of Caesar and Marcus’s triumphs was similar.

To the general public, there was no difference to be found.

But in the eyes of the Senate seniors, Caesar’s demanded privileges were very annoying.

The most representative one was the number of lictors who escorted the triumphant general.

The number of lictors that a consul-level triumphant general had was usually 24.

Marcus followed this and said he would have 24 lictors.

He only said that he would modify their outfits as he wanted.

On the other hand, Caesar had not 24 but a whopping 72 lictors, three times as many.

Since there were tens of thousands of soldiers marching anyway, the citizens couldn’t see what the lictors were doing.

But these trivial acts felt like intolerable rebellions to Cato, who was a principled man.

“What do you think Caesar’s intention is with having 72 lictors? He is implicitly showing that he is the supreme authority of Rome. He is not just a mere consul or governor. He must still have ambitions to become a king.”

“A king? Again with that?”

Some senators frowned as if they were tired of hearing that.

“I agree that Caesar has a strong desire to show off. But beyond that, saying that he wants to be a king is too far-fetched, don’t you think?”

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s wrong to want some special treatment considering his merits in this war.”

As some senators who were close to the populares added their comments, Cato couldn’t get any more angry and suppressed his temper.

But he didn’t intend to give up his opinion and bend easily.

He whispered secretly to his nephew Brutus, who was sitting next to him, and pointed at Caesar’s procession in the distance.

“What do you see? Do you really think I’m overreacting?”

“···I’m not sure yet.”

“That’s because you’re close to Caesar personally and you’re trying to ignore your intuition. That’s why I told my sister to keep you away from Caesar.”

“But I also know some things because I was close to him. Caesar may pursue reforms, but he is not someone who wants to change the fundamentals of something.”

Cato’s face showed curiosity at Brutus’s objective assessment.

“So you mean that you’re sure that Caesar won’t shake up the republic?”

“No. It depends on how he perceives the roots of Rome. If he thinks that the republican system is the foundation of Rome, then he won’t want to do anything about it. But······.”

Brutus couldn’t finish his sentence and let it go.

He couldn’t get rid of the conversation he had with Marcus last time.

‘Why didn’t Marcus give me a clear answer then?’

Brutus wanted to hear a clear answer from him and asked him specifically.

But Marcus refused to answer, saying that it was not his problem to answer.

Instead, he left a meaningful remark.

‘You should evaluate based on what you see, hear, and feel yourself. And then come back to me. It’s not a bad advice.’

In fact, looking back now, he felt ashamed of himself for trying to rely on someone else’s judgment.

He had eyes and ears and a mind that could think, so why couldn’t he see for himself?

Giving up on finding the answer and depending on others was tantamount to sentencing his own intellect to death.

‘But as far as I can see······.’

Brutus sighed as he watched Caesar finish his ritual at the temple.

To him, Caesar had something that clearly distinguished him from other senators.

He could feel it clearly just by talking to him.

He didn’t think he was behind Cicero or Cato, or even himself, in terms of intellect.

But Caesar had an intensity that overwhelmed people regardless of such superficial things.

He seemed like the only person fit to be an emperor.

That’s why Cato felt more anxious.

Of course, he was not the only one who felt such anxiety.

Although they expressed it politely, Cicero also recently uttered words mixed with worry.

Just look at this triumph right now.

There were so many loyal soldiers who would give their lives for Caesar if he said so.

“How can we stop them if they rebel? Look at the cheering citizens. They will probably side with Caesar even if he hangs our senators one by one.”

The source of Cato’s anxiety was that they had no means to oppose Caesar.

It was true.

Even if the Senate tried hard and gathered soldiers, they would be lucky if they had two or three legions.

On the other hand, if Caesar just rolled his foot once, he would have at least 10 legions loyal to his name.

The support of the citizens was also overwhelmingly higher for Caesar than for the Senate, which was always seen as quarrelsome.

“The only hope is that Marcus will check Caesar… but unfortunately he doesn’t seem to want to stay in Rome for long.”

“Yes. I heard that too. He will stay for a few months after the triumph and then go back to Antioch. He said he still has a lot of work to do…”

“That’s where the difference between them shows. Does Caesar have nothing to do in Gaul or Britannia? He just wants to do something more than managing his provinces in Rome.”

Brutus felt heavier and heavier as he watched the splendid triumph.

He couldn’t see the spectacle of the triumph anymore.

Cato, who hated to see Caesar’s coronation-like appearance, quickly left his seat.

Fortunately, Marcus’s triumph, which was held three days later, calmed the anxious minds of the Senate.

His triumph was as grand as Caesar’s, but it showed that he was faithfully following the basics in several places.

Even so, there were definitely scenes that caught more attention than Caesar.

The most eye-catching thing for the Roman citizens was the strongest cavalry unit that Marcus used.

It was the Aquilani.

The citizens fixed their eyes on the Aquilani, who spread their eagle wings and passed by, and exchanged words of admiration.

“Wow! What are those cavalry?”

“Don’t you know? That’s the strongest cavalry unit that Governor Marcus created.”

“The Huns must have been no match for them, right?”

“Of course. They just swept the Huns wherever they went. You know Gavius’s eldest son from next door participated in this war, right? He came home and sang Aquilani Aquilani all the time.”

The last triumph, which followed the second one that gave the Senate some peace of mind, was definitely the biggest spectacle of the year.

In front of hundreds of thousands of spectators, Hunnic prisoners wearing Bayatur’s armor showed their faces in front of the Romans.

And all the theaters built by Pompey and Marcus showed plays at once.

Of course, the climax of the play was the scene where Marcus executed Bayatur and declared Rome’s victory.

The festival continued even after the triumph was over.

Marcus presented gladiator games, card and chess tournaments, and horse racing competitions, which he had been paying more attention to lately.

Then he held a huge public banquet where Rome’s free citizens could participate.

Food came up so much that their legs would bend and wine flowed like water.

The slave market had a surge of new slave supplies that had to be controlled so as not to disturb the market balance.

If you slept for a day and woke up the next day, there was a new building somewhere in Rome, and new entertainment or systems were introduced one by one under Marcus’s leadership.

Of course, not all changes were welcome.

Caesar finally brought up the issue that the Senate wanted to avoid the most publicly.

“I think we need to expand the garden of the Senate and listen to more diverse voices. I’m thinking of holding a debate if necessary, so please give your appropriate opinions.”

It was not asking for approval or disapproval of the bill, but rather a notification in fact.

The Senate turned into a hellish place.

< 236. Triumph 5 > End