Augustus Road

The Prima Villa is located in a tent by the Ostia River. Lepidus, wearing a cloak, lit a pine torch with a flint. At this time, a small boat floated over the silty water. Two short young men stood on the bow. The leg of the one lighting the fire was obviously a little unsteady. Lepidus nodded and took Boti to the deck of the boat and asked the little pigeon: "Have you recruited enough people?"

"All are complete. There are several centurions behind me who followed my adoptive father in Lusitania before." The little pigeon patted the sword on his waist proudly and said, "They are all companions who were helped by my adoptive father to settle their property in the city of Fasule in Etruria. I found no less than fifty people and entered Rome."

"Dear sir, I followed you before." Several centurions behind the little pigeon hurriedly stretched out their hands and shook hands with Lepidus to show their loyalty.

At this time, another short man put his hand on the gold medallion on Lepidus's cloak and said, "Ambrosius? Is this a new thing popular in Africa? But I seem to have seen this name at the Eunonian Colonial Committee."

"Nothing to complain about, my friend Curio. Marco Antony is very good in my legion. Now he has been out for less than two years, and he should have received assets of 800 to 1,000 talents." Lepidus quickly hid the gold medallion under his collar, shook off Curio's hand, and shook off the grass on his cloak.

At this time, the boat turned around, silently cut through the water as dark as the night, and slowly headed towards the river port of Rome.

"I heard about the will. I remain neutral in my attitude, but who asked Marco to be in your tent now. To be honest, I would have an intersection with you, or that Lepidus, an exile, would stay in my house during this period. I'm afraid we never thought of it before." Curio said, looking at the sparse lights on both sides of the river and touching his nose. Speaking of.

"Because young Cato could not have imagined that I was not with Claudius or Crassus."

"Tell me, what are you going to do next? How to balance your position between the political interests of various factions. Isn't it your strength to be able to handle things with ease?"

Lepidus stroked Botti's thick black hair, and then began to swear, "Fuck the interests, fuck the position! There are only two things I want to do now. The first is to fulfill Tuna's last wish and bury his bones in the cemetery of the Temple of War. The second is to go to war with these damn Republican villains, including Pompey. I will kill them. Just like killing a few fish on the beach, I will gut them and never show mercy."

"Do you still care about the inheritance of 4,000 talents?" Curio's tone was full of confusion.

"It's not about Talent, it's for my father's face." Lepidus gritted his teeth and said, Botti leaned beside him. Originally, she wanted to spit out Brutus and Portia, hoping that the man would treat them differently from the "fish on the beach", especially Portia, who was the one who sent someone to take a shortcut to report the news. Although she was a little later than Domus to tell the truth, it also showed her sincerity. Thinking that she might also be the target of her man's revenge (who told her that she was Cato's daughter and Brutus' wife), becoming a fish in Lepidus's palm, she couldn't help but shudder.

"So, you are going to find dozens of retired centurions, and then stab Pompey, Cato the Younger and all their followers to death in the Forum? Lepidus. I don't remember you being such a simple and rough person."

"Of course not. I will set out from your house tomorrow, put on the best and latest clothes, and go to visit someone."

"Who?"

"A woman who lives on the Bull Head Street at the edge of the Palatine. Her son should be able to play the game of hitting walnut shells. Atia, and her son, Caesar's nephew Turinus." After saying that, Lepidus coughed a few times and stopped talking.

The next morning, Lepidus got up on time according to the fourth sentry in the military camp and sat in front of the mirror. Botti helped him carefully shave off the messy hair and beard on his face, and tucked in his complicated and heavy toga. This was an experimental product that Lepidus brought specially in Cyrenaica and dyed it purple with madder. Then Botti kissed the man and said to do it well.

Carrying a bag of gifts, Lepidus, wearing a beautiful purple toga, swaggered onto the streets of Palatine, with fresh hair, like Apollo descending to earth. In the flower walls of the mansions behind him, countless fiery eyes intertwined behind him.

The house where Atiya lived as a widow was not easy to find. The Palatine Hill, which was like a pyramid, had houses distributed like those in Roman society. The richest consuls or former consuls, of course, lived on the top of the mountain with beautiful scenery, and then were distributed on the hillside according to their ranks and status. But the Octavian family that Atiya married into was obviously not a prominent family. His family was originally a famous family in the local area, similar to Cicero. His ancestor had defeated the barbarian attack on the city. It is said that this ancestor was offering sacrifices to the god of war Mars at the time. When he heard that the enemy was attacking, he took the half-cooked beef entrails from the fire to the altar and hurriedly offered sacrifices, and then led his troops to repel the enemy. Later, the Roman city-state treated the Octavian family in a special way. That is, after every public sacrifice in the Forum of Mars, the priest position would be given to someone from this family.

But despite its long history, the Octavian family did not have smooth sailing in the long river of the Republic, especially the branch of the family where Turinus belonged. No one had held an important position for a long time, and they had long been demoted from lower-class nobles to civilians. Turinus' grandfather was just a local city official. His family was rich but had no status, so he used money to intervene in the bribery of Roman politics and obtained knighthood for his son. Turinus' father served in the same military camp with Lepidus when suppressing the Catiline rebellion (of course, the two were not close friends). Later, when he was preparing for further promotion, he died of an acute illness.

Only Caesar's niece Atia was left to live with her young son. It was still the kind of rich but restrained days, and she always considered her own status. All hopes were placed on Caesar. Once he really won the pinnacle of honor in the Gallic War, his brothers and sisters would be able to regain their noble status, which would be a great thing for the future of Turinus, who was only six years old.

So the house was very new, even the trees in front of the courtyard were newly planted, and the walls were freshly painted. After knocking on the door and briefly announcing his arrival, Lepidus met Atia, a young widow, in the middle of the courtyard. Then, with a charming smile, she said, "I am Lepidus, the deputy general of Julius Caesar and the guardian of Turinus. I am here to visit you today."