Rome must fall.

Chapter 366 Caesar's First Entry into Politics
During Sulla's previous tenure as dictator, in order to consolidate his rule and suppress the plebeians, Sulla issued an important decree: tribunes were prohibited from entering the Senate after leaving office, and those who had served as plebeians could no longer hold other important official positions. In addition, the tribunes' veto power over proposals passed by the Senate and citizens' assemblies was restricted.

This decree greatly weakened the political prospects and promotion opportunities of the tribunes, making them no longer attractive to the Roman aristocracy. It also completely cut off the opportunity for common people to enter the Senate through political channels, greatly enhancing the interests of the conservatives.

But after Sulla's death, the decrees he issued during his lifetime were gradually revoked. This key decree that violated Roman tradition aroused dissatisfaction among the Roman people and disputes among various factions in the Senate over time.

Pompey, who was constantly pursuing glory, pushed for the passage of a bill shortly after he became consul - revoking the ban on Suraga from the position of tribune and restoring his various rights.

At this point, the cornerstone of Sulla's legislation was completely removed, and Rome's long-standing traditions returned to the political life of the Republic.

The Roman people were jubilant; they had been looking forward to this day for almost 10 years, and they shouted Pompey's name.

In the process, Crassus, who provided a little help, also shared the public's applause.

Pompey had made a brilliant mark during his consulship, but he soon discovered that the senators were not friendly to him.

Pompey's great military achievements and the illegality of the consulship (Pompey became consul at the age of 36 and had never held any administrative office before)... all these made the old men in the Senate feel resentful and wary, including Catullus.

Crassus was their fellow traveler, and his position as consul was completely legitimate.

Crassus had long realized this, and he took a two-pronged approach: on the one hand, he frequently invested money and held large-scale public receptions to distribute food to the poor for free in order to win the hearts of the people; on the other hand, he constantly whispered in the ears of the senators, slandering Pompey, saying that "he is a politician who misleads the people", and did his best to prevent Pompey from passing any proposals that would make him more popular.

Pompey soon found himself in trouble. In the Senate, it was difficult for any of his proposals to be passed; in public debates, facing the attacks of his political opponents, he was clumsy in speech and made the people laugh.

Pompeo certainly knows who is the culprit behind all this.

Soon, the relationship between Pompey and Crassus deteriorated, and they attacked each other in public many times.

Such actions terrified the Roman people, because these two people were very powerful, and if a conflict broke out, they would likely repeat the mistakes of Sulla and Marius.

So, at the end of the year's Roman consulship, the two men presided over a public meeting in the forum.

A citizen suddenly interrupted their conversation and asked to tell them about a dream he had just had.

The request was accepted.

The citizen said that Jupiter came to him and told him to make a proclamation in the forum that the two consuls should not leave their posts until they were friends.

The square suddenly became quiet.

After a long time, Crassus walked towards Pompey, took his hand, and praised his opponent.

So the two hugged each other to express their reconciliation.

The people cheered.

The reconciliation between Pompey and Crassus at this public meeting did not resolve the growing resentment between the two, but for the Roman people, the year began and ended with cheers, which was undoubtedly a joy.

When people's eyes were focused on the brilliant Pompey, few people paid attention to Caesar, one of the thousands of young Roman nobles. Although he bore the mark of the son-in-law of the former leader of the plebeians, Cinna, the dictator Sulla was almost forgotten from people's memory, not to mention his defeated generals. Therefore, the plebeian halo attached to Caesar had already dimmed. Occasionally, when people mentioned him, they were more about his romantic affairs.

But the year that Pompey became consul of Rome was also very important for Caesar, because he was already 30 years old, which just met the minimum age for running for quaestor stipulated by Roman political tradition.

Quaestor was the only official position that a Roman citizen could hold when he first entered politics. Although it was the lowest of all Roman administrative positions, it was the starting point for becoming a Roman consul. It was almost impossible for a Roman citizen who had never served as a quaestor to eventually become a consul. Of course, Pompey was an exception.

Caesar did not have the good fortune of Pompey, so he could only follow the tradition of Roman politics and start his political career like countless Roman citizens who had just turned 30. Although the position of quaestor was low, it was also subject to election. Only 20 people were elected each year, but there were countless applicants. It was not easy to be elected. Therefore, if a Roman citizen could be elected in the year when he just reached the minimum age for election, it was a particularly glorious thing.

The election of the quaestors took place in the autumn by the Assemblies of the Tribes (the assembly of the thirty-five tribes of Roman citizens).

The meeting was held at the Forum de Mars, an open area outside the official borders of the northwest of Rome. It was once a tidal flat of the Tiber Bay and is now a garden and drill ground. The terrain is flat and wide, capable of accommodating more voters.

On the day of the election, Roman citizens gathered at the Forum of Mars, and the candidates on the platform in front of the forum took the time to give speeches to the voters present.

Wait until the chief executive who presides over the election gives the order: citizens take their places.

Then the members of each tribe gathered in their respective temporary enclosures.

After the voting begins, each member of each tribe will leave their own tribe's enclosure in turn, walk through a narrow and higher aisle, come to the poll watcher responsible for supervising the voting of each tribe, and put their handwritten ballot into a basket.

Officials known as "guardians" monitor voters and are then responsible for counting the votes and reporting the results to the chief executive who presides over the election.

Of the thirty-five tribes of Rome, only four were located in the urban area of ​​Rome, and members of these tribes, no matter how poor they were, could easily participate in elections without much hindrance.

As for other tribal members far away from Rome, only the richest ones are able or willing to go to Rome to participate in the election, so these people's votes are very important. Of course, the votes of the poor who currently live in Rome but still belong to rural tribes are also important.

This leads to a large difference in the number of people from each tribe who can attend the vote, but the weight of each tribe's vote is the same. Therefore, it is very important for candidates to first win the support of their own tribe. Therefore, they will work hard to win over their fellow tribesmen, and members of these tribes will generally choose their own candidates first, and then consider other candidates.

In such cases, the candidate's reputation plays an important role, and voters tend to vote for candidates they have heard of (as long as they are not notorious) rather than complete strangers.

The odds were stacked against Caesar.

After returning to Italy, he worked part-time as a lawyer and performed well in court. He had previously made military achievements in the East, with a warrior's crown as proof. In addition, rumors about his scandal with Nicomedes IV and other romantic affairs, as well as his love of wearing strange clothes, made him famous among the Roman people.

In the eyes of those aristocratic voters, although Ulysses Caesar's family did not belong to the inner aristocratic circle of the Senate, they had produced some chief executives in recent years, making the name of the Caesar family always appear in the vision of the Roman aristocracy. More importantly, Caesar's mother's relatives were very successful in the political arena, and they had produced two consuls in the past five years.

Therefore, even after all Italians obtained citizenship, many wealthy children from Italian city-states came to Rome, hoping to enter politics and participate in the annual election for twenty quaestors. However, Caesar, a member of a firmly established Roman aristocratic family, was not afraid of the competition at all. A candidate could be elected quaestor as long as he won the support of eighteen tribes, and he was successfully elected with a unanimous vote.

This was an important moment for Caesar, because according to the decree issued by Sulla, all quaestors automatically obtained the status of senators, although this was only the lowest level of senator and only served to attend Senate meetings and make up the numbers.

In the same year, Cicero reached his most critical moment.

Six years ago, when he was 30 years old, like Caesar, he was elected as a quaestor at the legal minimum age, and then was sent to Sicily as a provincial quaestor. During his tenure, he was fair and did not over-exploit the provincial people, thus winning the respect of the Sicilians. He also efficiently organized a shipload of Sicilian grain to be transported to Rome, solving Rome's food shortage problem.

He thought that his outstanding achievements in Sicily would be spread among the Roman people, but he found that the Roman people had never paid attention to him, and did not even know that he had left Rome to take office in Sicily.

This was a great blow to Cicero, and seeing Pompey, who was his same age, shine at the triumph last year further strengthened his determination to move beyond the ranks of low-level administrators and into the inner circle usually dominated by the aristocracy.

The opportunity came soon.

At the beginning of this year, a group of Sicilians came to Rome, found Cicero, and asked him to act as prosecutor to accuse Gaius Valles, the former governor of Sicily.

This man was known for his greed and treason. He initially stood on the side of the Commoners, but later defected to Sulla. From then on, he was like a duck in water, obtaining one lucrative overseas position after another.

During his tenure, he plundered and exploited the people of the province and committed numerous crimes, but he used the huge wealth he earned to make friends with Roman nobles and built a huge network of relationships. Many senators in important positions supported him, so no one had ever been able to bring him down over the years, which made him even more arrogant.

(End of this chapter)