Chapter 24 A Solo Banquet (Part 2)

After sending Saab's mother away, Lepidus wandered quietly in the hall where he and Saab first met. At that time, Saab was not even twenty years old. He was just a young man in the city hall in name. He was accompanied by financial slaves all day long, but... He was busy with his work seriously; and he was not yet thirty years old, and he was a newcomer who had just started in the Roman military.

Now, as time flies, the layout here has changed too much. The original patio has been sealed up, and a new courtyard has been opened outside. Some shrubs and common flowers have been planted, and there are benches for the slaves to rest on after working. , the floor filled with straw and wine cans, and the closet were also removed, but the huge rough wooden table was still far away. At that time, the somewhat thin Sabo was sitting there, with a stubborn and serious look in his eyes, holding a He picked up his pen and answered all the questions asked by him, who was just a temporary provincial financial officer at that time. Now this place is just a resting place attached to the government hall. On weekdays, few people come here. There are only a few handymen sitting on the steps, lazily drinking crude drinks. This scene is really evocative. Li Bida's memories.

"Time has passed like this, just like this hall, some things have changed, but some things have never changed."

Four days later, Lepidus' inspection team came to the city of Cadiz in a mighty manner. At the same time, the expedition teams of Paluma and Hitius also came in triumph on ships.

King Saptaros of Mauritania betrayed his relatives and committed suicide by taking poison in his palace. His head was cut off by his attendants, and the entire kingdom surrendered in front of Paluma's army; while Bocchus fled deeper into the desert, he also Being overtaken by Paluma's cavalry, he was even more concerned about his life. Or maybe he was trying to take advantage of the time when Caesar fought against the King of Juba. Past achievements in assisting Caesar's party. To excuse myself, "I can sit in a cage and follow the high priest in his triumphal return to Rome, or I can hand over the kingdom to the Republic, but I hope that I will not be executed on the Vilia Mountains. As long as I keep my assets of two hundred thousand dinars, I am willing to stay in an apartment in Rome and spend the rest of my life."

In front of the Temple of Hercules in Cadiz. Bokus in the cage, with his body in rags, disheveled hair, and a chain around his neck, was begging pitifully. "In that case, I'll give you a little mercy for a while. After I board the ship and return, I will ask someone to loosen your chains." The high priest standing in front of the cage looked like he was looking at a talking treasure. Beastly, so to speak.

then. The high priest slowly ascended the temple and unveiled what he had presented to the city. And the new statue of this hero temple - a huge bronze statue of a sword and a plow, "This statue has represented the current situation of the entire Iberian Peninsula, that is, under my conquest, all peace and Order has been restored, no, it is more splendid and peaceful than before. All the tribes in the entire peninsula and the soldiers who were recruited in advance will be dismissed. This is the meaning of this statue. From now on, it will be cast not only in Spain, but in the entire country. Swords for plowshares.”

Then, Lepidus hung the garland of olive branches under the statue, turned to the thousands of soldiers and centurions lined up at the foot of the steps, and said, "However, we still cannot throw away the sword in our hands lightly. , for in the far east the enemy's armies and ships are still raging, Brutus and Cassius, their actions are more abominable and despicable than the younger brothers Pompey, my mission still calls me, that is Cut off the heads of these people and send them to the Temple of Love in Rome to worship the deceased former dictator." But then, the consul and high priest suddenly changed the topic, and he took out the heads in front of everyone. He picked up the scroll and said, "Everyone, since I took the oath to fight in Rome, I have been fighting for four months. I have used fifteen legions and fought for tens of thousands of miles. I have destroyed fifteen enemy legions. I have captured and killed two Romans. The enemy king pacified four provinces and two kingdoms. Before me, all the generals of the Republic had to go through three or even more than ten years of tug-of-war when fighting against such a powerful enemy. So now In the Senate, some people are attacking me in private corners, saying that I am spending too much public money. This is completely a lie by fools or people with ulterior motives. I hope that most of these people belong to the former. If it’s the latter, I will have to use some extraordinary means to protect my honor—but.”

The high priest on the steps raised his hand and said, "Compared with the poor and incompetent performance of Young Caesar, the governor of Illyria, in the Greek war zone, I think this group of people will not cause too much harm to the country. As we all know, Young Caesar Caesar had seven legions, which was only half of mine in terms of number. However, Brutus, who was directly confronting him, only had four legions, but he was defeated repeatedly. Someone told him that he was on the front line and When the enemy is facing off, he will only give orders and then sit in the camp in a daze. I am not prepared to protect anyone, even if I am his guardian, even if my daughter Corinna is engaged to him, I never do it on the basis of personal relationships. The examiner, or the impeacher - Paluma, who is about to be promoted to the envoy of the new province of Mauritania, is proof of this. Then it will be time for me, as the consul, to take over the affairs of the Greek theater. There is no need for the Republic to be indifferent. The young men of the war camp continue to spend endlessly. Perhaps time and opportunity have proved that Young Caesar is not a suitable person to engage in war camp affairs. Perhaps other places are more suitable for him to hold public office and win other glory for the Republic. ”

Hearing this, all the generals and officers felt a chill in their heads. To put it bluntly, the high priest was "heartless". Although most of the commanders and lieutenants of the fifteen legions understood that this was an opportunity for Lepidus to take advantage of, everyone knew in their hearts that Lepidus would soon deprive the other "former allies" of their power and army. What they didn't expect was that the first person he would attack was Octavian.

Only the commander of the Tenth Legion, Secundus, was still listening carefully to every word that Lepidus said, and nodded sincerely.

"The high priest is right."

"The young Caesar does seem to have such a problem."

"From the perspective of law and national policy, I support the high priest."

"Yes, that's it!"

Finally, Lepidus publicly stated that he would return to the City of Seven Hills in the second half of the election season with the power of victory and continue to run for the consul next year, because the Senate had approved a new law that granted him, Antony and Octavian the power of consul or chief executive for five years. Their election was no longer restricted by age and interval - according to the lex passed when Pompey was still alive, the consul had to wait until ten years after his term of office before he could nominate himself for the election again. (To be continued...)