ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 665 The City of Seven Hills—Rome! (two)

However, it seems that the Roman people have long been accustomed to such a living environment. Pedestrians coming and going are crowded in the narrow streets, everyone is busy with their own lives, but the expressions on their faces seem a little calm, and they are not disgusted with this. Despite the terrible environment, they were not worried about the two ongoing wars in Rome. This open-minded mood was somewhat similar to the Thurii people of the Kingdom of Dionia.

Minucius led them around a street, and the view in front was much wider. They could see a low hill lying in front, which was also densely covered with houses. There were many Roman people in ordinary clothes with solemn expressions. traveling between the hills.

"That's the Laventine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome." Minucius saw Tapirus looking at it carefully, and he was busy making introductions: "It is said that we are the younger brother of Romulus, one of the two founders of Rome. Remus once lived on this mountain with his tribe. Now in the center of the mountain is a temple of Diana built by our former king Servius. Diana is the goddess of hunting among our Latins. The patron saint of herdsmen. King Servius once made a rule that, 'As long as you revere this goddess, you can come here to worship regardless of whether you are a Roman citizen.' If it weren't for the war during this time, you would Seeing that Latin tribesmen from the surrounding areas of Rome come here to worship every day, Laventine Hill will become very lively, but also very noisy..."

Scipio said proudly, his face filled with pride that "Rome is the center of the Latins".

Tapirus nodded politely and said nothing.

The group of people followed the road and turned north.

The streets here were originally quite spacious, but both sides of the road were filled with Roman people setting up stalls. The various noisy cries and bargains made Tapirus and the others feel a little irritated as they crowded forward. However, during the war in Rome, It was still filled with a strong atmosphere of life, which also surprised them.

"Where is the arena?" one of the entourage asked, pointing to the front left.

Through the gaps in the crowd, you can see a huge circular building standing in front of and to the left of the envoys. The shape of this building is very familiar to the envoys.

"Yes, this is our Colosseum in Rome!" Minucius said loudly: "We Romans often hold sports competitions here, as well as the most popular gladiator competitions!..."

Hearing this, Tapirus showed a bit of disgust on his face, because he had already learned about the gladiator games mentioned by Minucius from the materials in the Thurii Library, which were for Roman prisoners of war. Or slaves holding simple weapons fought bloody battles in the arena, using their blood and screams to exchange the joy of the Roman people watching the game...

Tapirus, who was born as a slave, believed: This is not a competition, but a brutal and backward bloody game!
As they passed the arena, the envoys also heard shouts coming from inside.

A member of the entourage pretended to be curious and asked, "Is there a gladiator match going on in the arena?"

Minucius shook his head and said intentionally or unintentionally: "Military training for underage Roman citizens is being carried out inside. Although most of the young and middle-aged citizens in Rome are going out to fight, once an enemy attacks, we can still summon many people around us Roman citizens in the colonies came to the rescue and did not have to worry about the safety of the city of Rome. But let the Romans get used to holding shields and spears from an early age. When they grow up, they can bravely face the enemy and have the ability to kill the enemy. And they also need to be educated since childhood. Being familiar with Roman formations and tactics, when the city-state needs them to fight, they can quickly integrate into the army... so we Romans are not afraid of any strong enemy!"

Hearing this, Tapirus was shocked: This approach is very similar to Dionia's practice of allowing children to undergo military training from an early age.

His eyes made contact with an entourage behind him. That person was an official sent by the Ministry of Military Affairs. I believe he had deeper feelings.

But what the Dionysian envoys didn't know was that it has always been a Roman tradition for Roman children to receive military training from an early age, but allowing them to practice Roman combat methods and tactics from an early age only started in the past ten years.

Ten years earlier, Rome had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Gauls on the banks of the River Aria, and the Gauls eventually occupied their homeland.This painful lesson made the Romans realize the shortcomings of their own fighting methods. After some investigation and thinking, the dictator Camillus carried out military reforms in the Roman army.

He studied Celtic tactics and first changed the Roman army's previous large square formation, similar to that of Greece, into multiple small square formations (i.e. squadrons). A legion had 50 squadrons, which could carry out separate assaults, making the previous bloated and clumsy The Roman legions had more flexibility and mobility.

Secondly, the principle of the configuration of warriors in the legion was changed.Where the military tradition of the past had wealthier, better-equipped citizens at the front and poorer citizens at the rear, formations were now organized according to age and degree of training.The first column is the young people, the second column is the soldiers in their prime, and the third column in reserve is the veterans with rich combat experience.

Third, the offensive and defensive weapons of soldiers have been improved.Iron helmets replaced leather helmets, long leather shields replaced wooden shields, iron spearheads replaced bronze spearheads, and leather breastplates were mostly replaced by chainmail... Of course, Carthage's assistance played a role in this It played a great role in allowing many poor soldiers to use the standard equipment distributed by the Senate, thus expanding the source of troops. Of course, it must be returned after the war.

Fourth, it emphasizes the need to build a strong and comfortable camp when going out to fight...

Although Rome's traditional military tactics have been practiced for hundreds of years, once the Romans, who had grown up in battles, found that this military reform was beneficial to their combat, they quickly began to implement it. From adult citizens to children, almost everyone was seizing every spare moment. Time is spent training in order to become familiar with the new equipment and tactics as early as possible, and it has already begun to produce obvious effects.Over the years, Rome has almost maintained complete victory in battles against surrounding forces.

Due to Davos's attention, the Dionysian Military Ministry also had an understanding of Rome's current military system. They were surprised to find that these military reforms of the Romans were very similar to the military tactics of the Dionysian heavy infantry. Everyone believed that the Romans must have secretly learned Dionia's tactics. One of the purposes of sending officials into the envoy this time was to witness the Roman army with their own eyes.

After passing the Colosseum and heading north, the situation in the neighborhood changed again. Not only were the roads really wide, but there was less garbage.Even the houses have become luxurious.Although there are still simple houses mixed in, and the arrangement of the houses is still a bit disordered, the number of large houses with red bricks and white walls has obviously increased, especially the two not far from the north and south sides of the road, which are not very high and appear to be large. There are more such houses on the rather large hills.

An official of the envoy from the Household Registration Department of Dionia asked curiously: "Is this a rich area?"

Minucius understood the meaning of his words: it used to be a slum area with garbage on the ground and a bad environment, but this is a wealthy area with a good environment and good housing. Is there such an obvious gap between the poor and the rich in the city of Rome? !
He replied wittily: "Every city-state has poor and rich people, and conflicts between the poor and the rich are inevitable. This is inevitable, and it is the same in Rome. But the difference is that the Roman people quarreled, and once the citizens Once the conference passes the resolution, we will work together to complete it..."

Having said this, he looked at the hills on both sides of the road and said seriously: "Not all the rich people live on these two hills, but most of them are the earliest founders of the city of Rome and the early founders of Rome. The citizen clan, they once contributed more to the city-state, and now they are also a group of people who are willing to sacrifice more for the city-state!"

Minucius pointed to the hill on the left: "This is the Partini Hill. Romulus, the founder of the city of Rome and our first king, lived on this hill with the people who followed him from the beginning."

Then he pointed to the hill to the right: "This is Mount Cilio. It was once the center of our Latins 200 years ago - Alba Longa was defeated by our Rome, and its inhabitants were not taken captive, but invited , moved to this mountain and became a Roman citizen!”

Tapirus keenly felt the pride in Minucius's bones when he spoke, and subconsciously asked: "Where do you live?"

Minucius pointed to the Palatine Hill on the left seemingly casually. In fact, he did not tell the Dionians his full name: Minucius Cornelius Scipio. .Cornelius is the name of a Roman clan, a noble among Roman nobles and a wealthy family among wealthy families.

Tapirus obviously felt this too. This young man with a smile, fluent Greek, and elegant words actually exuded the aura of nobility inadvertently.

In the Kingdom of Dionia, there are of course some nobles who joined when Dionia conquered neighboring city-states. Some even retained part of the land wealth and entered the Senate.However, under the strict control of King Davos and the laws of Dioria, they do not have much power, and the kingdom can basically treat nobles and commoners, old citizens and new citizens equally, so like Tapi People like Ruth who were born slaves could also gain wealth and power through their own efforts.

It is precisely because of the short time that the Kingdom of Dionia was established and the fairness promoted by Davos that Tapirus could hardly feel the class differences at home. Today, he felt it, so a feeling of discomfort suddenly arose in his heart that he didn't want to talk to this young man.

　Thanks to Death Beast Sky Suzaku for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)