Augustus Road

The third market day was the big day of the Vesta Temple Festival. Carapis wisely painted a "free from war" sign in a dark corner in front of the treasury the day before, and carefully tidied the interior environment - the folding bed he commissioned the carpenter to make was put away, turning it into something like a cabinet; the stored plasters, spices, candles, olive oil and other things were all properly placed in the hidden cabinet; and several hired children with Cupid's wings (specially holding candles and lanterns to guide couples) were also distributed ten sestes by him each, and happily sent them home, and each of them had to continue to work for him after the festival.

So, on this day, the sacred treasury of the Temple of the God of the Hearth was very quiet. Except for Carapis standing at the door with his hands folded, there was no one there. Li Xilia, who brought the other five virgins to take the sacred vessels, saw that the whole scene was well-organized and meticulous, and a satisfied expression appeared on her strict face. She took out a small box and said that it contained your salary for the three market days, a total of 300 setes. In order to commend your hard work, Carapis, I specially added it to the full amount.

Hum, I have earned more than 3,000 setes during this period. I don’t know if you, a mature woman, know what happened in the sacred treasury all day. But Carapis showed an extremely surprised expression on her face. She took the money box with trembling hands and said that she would do her best to serve the virgins and the God of the Hearth in the future.

Li Xilia nodded and instructed the other virgins, including the young Zeno, to carry various holy vessels. They would hold a public memorial ceremony on the Capitoline Hill tonight and early morning to pray for the health and stability of the Roman city-state.

After sending the virgins away, Carapis took a few deep breaths. After work, he walked to the cemetery at the foot of Mount Avendini, where Milu and other veterans of the legion were going to hold a ceremony to erect a monument for the deceased.

There, everyone was wearing crude mourning clothes, and Carapis was no exception. He surrounded the carved stone tablet sadly, remembering the years he had lived with the deceased. Carapis really had no past with this character who was lying in the pit and bargaining with Charon, the boatman on the Santu River, but he could only hang his head and say nothing.

At the end of the funeral, Carapis suddenly walked to the tombstone and said to everyone: "Where is your pension for serving in the legion? Where is the land?"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what this freeman wanted to say, but the facts he mentioned were in front of them. The meager pension had been spent long ago, and part of the land was cancelled for no reason due to internal strife in the Senate, and the other part of the land had been sold out long ago. They were all rootless duckweed in this Roman city. Carapis pointed at the tombstone of the deceased and shouted: "Do you want to be like this person, and not even be able to afford an inscription marking your life journey when you leave the world?!"

"Mind your own business, although you have some money, you are still just a freeman, and we are famous Roman citizens." One of the old soldiers felt that his self-esteem was hurt and boycotted Carapis.

Carabis imitated Luculas, put one hand on his chest and said, "Yes, I am indeed just a free man who has just been liberated, but I can see the wealth contained in the city of Rome. You hate the arrogance and extravagance of those nobles, hate that they eat three thousand or five thousand drachmas for a dinner, hate that they reward the gladiators with tens of thousands of sestes for watching a sword fight, hate that they spend dozens or even hundreds of talents to build garden villas - but have you ever thought about where they spend such huge wealth? Yes, why can't it flow into our pockets? I mean, we have all served in Sulla's legion, and we are comrades in a broad sense. Why can't we unite, abandon outdated ideas, and cut a piece of our own from the big plate of Rome with our own knives and forks."

The crowd of dozens of veterans shouted one after another, and many people protested dissatisfiedly that in Rome, since ancient times, only citizens could make impromptu speeches, and it was not your turn as a free man to be presumptuous.

While they were arguing, Milu's majestic voice rang out: "What Carapis said is right. Even if he is a foreigner, why don't we restore the ancient Roman belief of fides and cooperate with him to make a fortune!" After that, he took Pope and Tagus and stood on the side of Carapis.

"You are all crazy. Catiline came to connect with us before and promised Sulla's old soldiers, whether in Rome or in the northern Etruscan colony, that as long as they can support him in the consul election next year, he will give us the power to put on cloaks again and punish the public enemies of the Senate." At this time, a gap-mouthed old soldier shouted, "As long as Catiline comes to power and becomes consul or Dictato, he can issue a list of public enemies, and we can follow the list and grab the property of the senators and knights written on it!"

After hearing these words, Milu said angrily, don't you people think that Rome has shed enough blood in the past twenty years? The open-mouthed veteran was still ready to scream, but Milu said coldly: "Don't forget, twenty years ago, we stayed in the non-commissioned officers and did what we did to the slaves who rushed into the city of Rome and burned and killed people wantonly. What did you say?" Upon hearing Milu's words, all the veterans shuddered. Milu was telling the truth: when Sulla led the army to attack Mithridates in Greece and Asia Minor, Sulla's The mortal enemies Cinna and Marius took the opportunity to join forces and entered the city of Rome. They counterattacked and set off a bloody storm. Moreover, when Marius marched, in order to make up for the lack of army numbers, he announced the release of all the slaves along the way, which numbered five to six thousand at once. A slave followed him, and as a result, this slave legion arrived in the city, committed all kinds of evil, and killed people in the streets. In the end, Marius' general, the one-eyed dragon Sethius, was furious. He led the remaining non-commissioned officers and surrounded four thousand slaves. In the big square, everything was cleared.

"Go back and tell your Catiline - today, if someone uses the public enemy declaration to lynch or extort people at will, I will treat them just like the slave army back then, and I will not show mercy!" Milu finally said By then, a group of veterans had left, and about twenty-two or three others were still staying in place. They had lost everything. Before their children were sold into slavery by their creditors, they would rather believe in Calabis, a free man. , will bring you a turning point.

Calabis gave an impromptu speech and was surprised to see that more than thirty people (including Milu's companions) were willing to obey his orders. He was not unusually happy, so he held Milu's hand and shouted: "fides!"

A few days later, the climate throughout the Apennines had become mild and pleasant. Calabis, Milou and thirty former legionnaires, wearing shabby legionary sweatshirts, carried flat chisels, rulers, and saws like shields and javelins. , lined up in a marching column, stepping on the streets, walking towards the beautiful Prema...

"Believe in yourself and this Milu. We are the only ones who can dig tunnels to introduce seawater, fulfill the wishes of Luculas and Marcus, and make big money!" Karabis kept cheering himself up along the way. .

(End of Volume 1)

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