Chapter 79: Son-in-law and Father-in-law’s Script 2 >
Four days before the Nones (7th) of March, Caesar completed the land reform bill, the core policy of the First Triumvirate.
The Senate was shocked to see the draft of the bill that Caesar brought.
It was so extensive and detailed that it exceeded 100 scrolls.
Caesar had someone distribute copies of the bill to the senators.
Vibullius snorted as he took the pile of scrolls.
“Are you kidding me? How long do you expect us to read all this? It seems like today’s meeting will end just by reading this. I oppose…”
“I anticipated that, so I prepared a summary.”
There was a sheet of paper on top of the scroll that only extracted the key points.
Vibullius closed his mouth with a distorted face.
Cato and Cicero read the bill at an incredible speed and listened to Caesar’s words.
“I think there are many senators who are worried about the land reform bill being submitted. So I want to make it clear before explaining the bill.
There is nothing in this bill that provokes or stimulates the Senate. I promise you this as much as my honor.
I am confident that it is a rational and fair bill. But that’s just my opinion, and yours may differ. So I want a constructive discussion. I want to hear the reasons for opposing from those who oppose and improve the bill more perfectly.”
Metellus Scipio raised his hand and stood up from his seat.
When Caesar allowed him to speak, he pointed to the pile of scrolls with an incredulous expression.
“Praetor, look at this. No matter what, the content of the bill is too long and complicated. There is a summary, but it does not include the details of the bill. Why does the bill have to be so detailed and long?”
“A bill dealing with land must be careful and cover all possible cases. The land reform of the Gracchi brothers was too radical, but at the same time, it had too many inclusive contents. That gives room for arbitrary interpretation of the law. I thought hard and hard to avoid any such possibility. You can think of this long content as the result.”
The conservative senators only exchanged glances but did not actively speak out.
It was because all their speeches were recorded due to Caesar’s amendment when he was praetor.
They had to make plausible arguments if they opposed, otherwise they would be ridiculed.
Caesar saw that no one else spoke up and cleared his throat and put more strength in his voice.
“The current population of Rome is expected to soon exceed one million. It’s a great thing that so many people live in one city.
You won’t find a city like Rome anywhere in the world. But sadly, there are too many poor people who barely survive on the grain law among this population.
The fact that one million people are crowded in Rome means that many lands in Italy are not being used enough. If we send them back to farmland, we can reduce the amount of free grain distribution and save some budget.”
Cato, who was reading the bill, requested to speak for the first time.
He got up from his seat and asked in a sharp voice.
“So, praetor, do you mean that the purpose of this bill you proposed is to reduce poverty and secure Rome’s revenue?”
“There is also an intention to build a more solid social safety net. Do you know how many retired soldiers are wandering around without settling down?”
“How would I know that.”
“Does anyone know?”
Caesar looked around, but no one answered readily.
The conservative senators were embarrassed and Marcus sighed and raised his hand.
“I know it’s close to 500,000.”
“That’s correct. I’m glad there’s at least one person who was interested in this issue.”
As Caesar confirmed, voices mixed with confusion flowed from various seats.
“500,000?”
“Is it that much?”
“They’re not really retired soldiers if they can’t find a place to settle down. Aren’t they just vagrants? And their number is 500,000?”
Caesar deliberately did not stop the turbulent atmosphere of the assembly hall.
It was meant to make them feel the seriousness of the situation.
When some commotion subsided, he opened his mouth again with a satisfied tone.
“Now I believe some of you feel the need for this bill. Again, this is different from the law of the Gracchi brothers.
I have no intention of infringing on the private property of the Senate. Private property must be guaranteed in any case, because that is Rome’s basic ideology. The basic framework of this bill is to distribute public land. If you want to see more details, please look at scroll number nine.”
For a moment, the sound of rummaging through scrolls and spreading them out filled the hall.
“This is the part that proves the rationality of my bill. The most fertile public land in Campania is excluded from this distribution, although it is technically state-owned. This place is already rented out like private land from generation to generation. It would be a violation of the rights of Roman citizens to forcibly distribute such land.”
Some senators who read the bill sighed with relief.
As Caesar said, Campania was practically a land occupied by the senators.
They ran huge farms by occupying this fertile land as if it were their own.
The Gracchi brothers tried to completely confiscate the public land in Campania.
From the Senate’s point of view, they felt as if their private land was being robbed.
Caesar tried to avoid provoking the Senate as much as possible.
“The right to lease public land is also limitedly transferable. The Gracchi brothers completely prohibited this, but it’s an unrealistic law.
If you have farmed for 20 years, you should have the right to transfer it to someone else. It’s more reasonable that a family can have up to 1,000 jugerum (250 hectares) of public land, which is enough to run a latifundium.
The land that exceeds this limit will be distributed after the country pays a fair price and recovers it. There will be no attempt to cut the land price. As evidence, the aediles of the Senate will decide the purchase price of the land. This year’s managers will be Curio and Cassius, who are smart and thoughtful.”
Both were young men classified as pro-Senate.
“Finally, I’ll briefly tell you what effects we can expect if this land reform passes. First of all, distributing the existing public land can send more than 30,000 poor people to farmland.
After buying the farmland that exceeded the limit, he could distribute it to 50,000 retired soldiers who had distinguished themselves in the war as a fair reward. He had enough budget to do so, using the increased tax revenue and the compensation money that Pompey had recovered from the East.”
Bibulus, who wanted to refuse on the grounds of budget, clenched his teeth and bit his tongue.
Annoyingly, Caesar’s bill had little room for attack.
He wished he had brought a more radical bill, but he only included moderate and reasonable contents.
Cato examined how the committee that would oversee the land distribution process was formed.
He was sure that Caesar had played a trick on this part.
But unfortunately, this was different from Cato’s expectation.
The people in charge of the land distribution were selected from the Senate and the equestrian class, and their authority was vested in the Senate.
The only exception was that the Crassus family, the representative of the equestrian class, had a fixed right to participate.
This was rather a favorable clause for the Senate.
The Crassus family was both the representative of the equestrian class and a core member of the aristocratic faction of the Senate.
Cicero accepted this item as Caesar’s consideration for the Senate.
In all these processes, there was a clause that caught his eye: Gaius Julius Caesar was excluded.
Caesar cleverly blocked all possible cases where he could be criticized.
Cicero, who was Rome’s top lawyer, concluded that there was no serious flaw in this land law.
Cato, who was frantically scanning the summary and the bill as if he were crazy to find something to attack, felt the same way.
But he had no intention of letting this land law pass.
He hastily requested a speaking right and opened his mouth.
“Consul, I understand your intention, but the content of this bill is too profound to judge within today or tomorrow. I think it would be better to postpone the discussion for later.”
“That’s a reasonable suggestion. I have no intention of forcing this bill to pass. I sincerely believe that this bill should be passed for the sake of Rome’s future. I will postpone the next meeting until a week later so that you can fully understand the bill content.
I sincerely hope that constructive discussions will take place then.”
Caesar looked at the stenographer who was recording all his speeches with a satisfied expression and adjourned the meeting.
He passed by Crassus and Pompey and bowed politely before leaving the assembly hall.
On the contrary, none of the aristocratic faction senators left their seats even after the meeting was over.
Cato and Bibulus gathered all their colleagues and entered a countermeasure meeting.
Cicero was not classified as a core member of the aristocratic faction, but he attended this meeting.
That’s how much the Senate felt a sense of crisis about this bill.
Metellus Scipio tilted his head and asked in a gloomy voice.
“But I heard it was a fairly reasonable bill. Do we have to oppose it so much?”
“Of course we have to oppose it!”
Cato growled with an angry expression.
“There must be some senators who are confused like Metellus. That’s exactly what Caesar is aiming for. He lures people’s hearts with seemingly reasonable methods, and then cuts off their breaths without anyone noticing. We must never fall for such shallow tricks.”
Marcus cautiously followed Cato’s words.
“I think similarly. Caesar did not propose this bill without any ulterior motive, just for Rome’s sake. Even if he really did it for Rome’s sake, he must have included some tricks to undermine the authority of the Senate. He is capable enough to do so.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying! Marcus, I’m really glad you’re keeping your mind clear. Everyone, Marcus is right. Caesar is definitely attacking us under the pretext of doing it for Rome’s sake. We need to come up with a countermeasure. Bibulus, how about exercising your veto?”
“That would be difficult…Caesar has not officially proposed this bill yet. He just revealed the content of the bill to us and suggested to supplement the shortcomings through discussion. If we exercise our veto here without any reason, it will only look like we are hindering him.”
Cato shook his head and bit his tongue at Bibulus’ answer.
“Then let’s try to find something that doesn’t make sense in this bill. We can use that as an excuse to throw a counter-signature.”
“You want us to read this ridiculous amount of bill?”
“We have to read it not just casually, but without missing a single sentence or word. Caesar is human after all, and there must be some mistakes somewhere. If we find that, we can easily nullify this bill without losing our justification.”
Metellus, who looked somewhat unconvinced, asked in a depressed voice.
“What if we can’t find such a thing? If we just keep shouting against it because of his consul popularity, we will lose the votes from the people.”
“Caesar must have implemented his consul popularity with this land law in mind. As you can see, his intentions are deeper than you can imagine. Every action is connected to another action behind it. So we have to stop this land law by any means. We don’t know what other law it will be connected to and strangle our necks.”
Following Cato’s passionate speech, Bibulus also made up his mind.
“Even if things go wrong as we don’t expect, I will exercise my veto at the end. I don’t care if I get scolded by the people or never get into office again. We have to protect the future of the Senate!”
While the aristocratic faction senators were throwing opinions back and forth to stop Caesar, Marcus lowered his head with a shameless expression.
“I’m sorry that I can’t take the lead while you are working hard for the honor of the Senate. I have too many businesses to deal with right now…”
“What are you talking about! Everyone knows that you are working hard for the Senate!”
Cato waved his hand and shouted. He even approached Marcus and put his hand on his shoulder. He looked around the aristocratic faction senators and asked.
“Is there anyone who feels that Marcus is not doing enough for the Senate right now?”
Bibulus snickered.
“If there is, he must have holes in his conscience. I’m rather ashamed as a consul. There is a young man who performs his duties as a aedile so diligently, but I can’t keep my mind clear because of Caesar’s intentions…”
“Come on, Marcus. As you can see, no one blames you. Strictly speaking, we should be leading you, not the other way around. So don’t feel any burden and just do your job as a aedile well. That will come back as support for the Senate.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll try harder to earn the praise of being the best aedile ever.”
The senators smiled unanimously at Marcus’ trustworthy voice.
They felt relieved even though they were troubled by Caesar.
It felt like they were on a big ship that was stable.
None of the aristocratic faction knew which direction the ship was heading.
※※※※
Marcus’ fatigue reached almost the limit as his work as a aedile overlapped with the Senate meeting.
If Julia and the twins hadn’t welcomed him when he returned home, he might have collapsed long ago. He felt his fatigue melt away from head to toe when he saw his daughter and son crawling around.
“How was the meeting today?”
Julia, who had grabbed the hem of Marcus’ toga, asked with a bright smile.
She had changed her attitude toward Marcus noticeably after giving birth to two children.
She no longer used the honorific ‘Marcus sir’, and she showed more affection and trust in her small actions and tone.
“Same as always, what else. I could feel them wavering over the land law that your father proposed.”
“I saw the draft too, but it seemed flawless…But you still opposed it, right?”
“Of course. They asked for time to read the bill, but they just wanted to buy time to find a reason to oppose it. I’m actually looking forward to it a bit. I’m curious what absurd reason they will come up with to oppose it. They have to do that anyway. Otherwise, Cato will block the proceedings again with his long speech.”
“Is his speech really that boring?”
“Try listening to a story that you’re not interested in at all for eight hours without a break. That’s just hell. I never want to experience that again.”
Marcus shuddered as he recalled what had happened a year ago.
Julia laughed at her husband’s new expression.
Her smile was even more beautiful after giving birth to two children.
Marcus felt his last bit of fatigue wash away.
“But Marcus, I understand why you made the bill reasonable, but this one was risky. If I were in the Senate, I wouldn’t hesitate to pass this bill.”
“It’s okay. There’s no one like you in the Senate.”
“There’s Cicero.”
“If he were the leader of the aristocratic faction, your father and I would have used different methods. But he’s not, right? And I also hinted to your father that he must have some tricks up his sleeve, so he should refuse it anyway.”
“You’re bold.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Marcus smiled satisfactorily and flopped down on the bed.
He closed his eyes slightly and all the events of today flashed through his head like a lantern.
As Julia said, Caesar and Marcus had no intention of passing this land law at all.
They knew well that it would not pass because they made it reasonable so that no one could find fault with it.
Just before he fell asleep from exhaustion, Marcus muttered softly like talking to himself.
“Yeah. It would be troublesome if it passed like this.”
The real game hadn’t even started yet.
The faint smile on Marcus’ lips seemed to say so.
< The script of son-in-law and father-in-law > End
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆webnovel