Chapter 486: Chapter 354 Caesar Enters Politics
During the previous period when Sula served as Dictator, in order to consolidate his rule and suppress the Civilian Faction, Sula enacted an important decree: prohibiting the People’s Guardian from entering the Senate after leaving office, and preventing those who have served as People’s Guardian from holding other high-ranking positions. Additionally, he restricted the veto power of the People’s Guardian over proposals passed by the Senate and citizen assemblies.
This decree greatly weakened the political prospects and advancement opportunities of the People’s Guardian, making it no longer attractive to the Roman Nobles, and completely severed the opportunity for the commoners to enter the Senate through political means, significantly enhancing the interests of the Conservatives.
However, after Sula’s death, the decrees he enacted gradually began to be removed, and this key decree that violated Roman tradition increasingly provoked the dissatisfaction of the Roman citizens and the disputes among the factions of the Senate.
The ever-glory-seeking Pompey, shortly after assuming the position of Governor, vigorously promoted a bill to lift the ban imposed by Sula on the People’s Guardian position, restoring its various rights.
At this point, the cornerstone of Sula’s legislation was completely removed, and Rome’s ancient traditions returned to the political life of the republic.
The Roman citizens were jubilant, having awaited this day for nearly 10 years, and they shouted Pompey’s name in response.
Meanwhile, Crassus, who offered a small assist in this process, also shared in the public’s applause.
Pompey wrote a brilliant Chapter during his tenure as Governor, but soon thereafter, he found the Senators were not friendly to him.
The glorious battle achievements of Pompey, his irregular tenure as Governor (Pompey became Governor at thirty-six without having held any administrative office beforehand), made the Elders of the Senate, including Catullus, deeply resentful and wary.
Crassus, on the other hand, was their ally, and his position as Governor was entirely legitimate.
Crassus had long realized this and adopted a dual strategy: on one hand, he frequently funded large public feasts distributing free food to the poor to win their hearts; on the other hand, he constantly whispered to the Elders, slandering Pompey by saying "he is a demagogue," and did his best to thwart any proposals that could win Pompey more public favor.
Pompey soon found himself in a predicament. In the Senate, he could hardly get any proposal passed; in public debates, facing attacks from political foes, his speech was clumsy, drawing public ridicule.
Pompey knew full well who the culprit of all this was.
Soon, the relationship between Pompey and Crassus deteriorated, leading to mutual attacks in public settings.
This approach terrified the Roman citizens, as both men wielded great power, and a conflict could likely repeat the rivalry between Sula and Marius.
Thus, when the term of the Roman Governors was nearing its end that year, the two of them hosted a public assembly in the square.
Suddenly, a citizen interrupted their speeches, requesting to share a dream he had just had.
The request was granted.
The citizen said: Jupiter appeared beside him, instructing him to announce in the square that the two Governors were not to leave their positions until they became friends.
The square was silent at once.
After a long while, Crassus walked towards Pompey, held his hand, and praised his opponent.
Thus, the two embraced, signaling reconciliation.
The citizens erupted in cheers.
The reconciliation performed by Pompey and Crassus at this public assembly could not dissolve the growing animosity between them. However, for the Roman citizens, this year began and ended with cheers, which was undoubtedly delightful.
When the public’s gaze was focused on the radiant Pompey, few paid attention to one of the many Roman noble youths, Caesar, despite carrying the mark of being the son-in-law of the former Civilian Faction leader Qinna. Even the Dictator Sula was nearly forgotten by the public, let alone his vanquished general, so the Civilian Faction’s halo associated with Caesar had dimmed, and any mention of him was more about his romantic escapades.
However, the year Pompey served as Roman Governor was also quite significant for Caesar because he was already 30 years old, exactly meeting the minimum age for candidacy for Financial Officer as stipulated by Roman political tradition.
The Financial Officer was the only position Roman citizens could undertake when first entering politics, although it was the lowest of all Roman administrative offices, it was the starting point towards becoming a Roman Governor. Without serving as a Financial Officer, it was almost impossible for a Roman citizen to eventually become a Governor, though Pompey was an exception.
Caesar didn’t have the stroke of extraordinary luck like Pompey and could only follow Roman political traditions, starting his political journey obediently like many Roman citizens who had just turned 30.
Though the position of Financial Officer was low, it was still subject to election, with only 20 selected each year among countless applicants, making it not easy to get elected. Thus, if a Roman citizen could be elected in the year they just reached the minimum age for candidacy, it would be a special honor.
The election for Financial Officer occurred in the autumn, elected by a tribal assembly (a council of Rome’s 35 tribes).
The meeting place was in War God Square, located in an open area outside the formal boundary in the northwest of Rome City District, once a tidal flat of the Tiber River Bay, now turned into gardens and training grounds. The area was flat and wide, accommodating more voters.
On the day of the election, Roman citizens gathered at War God Square, and the candidates on the platform at the front of the square seized the time to address the voters present.
Once the administrative officer presiding over the election gave the order: citizens, take your places.
Then the members of each tribe gathered in their temporary enclosures.
After voting began, each member of each tribe would, in sequence, leave their tribe’s enclosure, walk along a narrow elevated passageway, and place their handwritten ballot into a basket in front of the person supervising the voting of each tribe.
Officers known as "Guardians" would oversee the voters, and then be responsible for counting the votes and reporting the result to the administrative officer in charge of the election.
Among Rome’s thirty-five tribes, only four tribes were located in Rome City District. Members of these tribes, no matter how poor, could easily participate in the election without much hindrance.
However, members of tribes far from Rome City, only the wealthiest had the capability, or were willing to make the trip to Rome to vote, thus their votes were very significant, of course, the votes of those who currently lived in Rome City but still belonged to rural tribes were important too.
This led to a large difference in the number of voters able to attend each tribe, but the weight of votes for each tribe was the same. Therefore, for candidates, winning support in their own tribe first was crucial, and they would strive to endear themselves to their fellow tribe members, who typically would tend to vote for candidates from their own tribe before considering others.
Under these circumstances, the reputation of candidates played an important role; voters were more likely to vote for those they had heard of (as long as they weren’t notoriously infamous) rather than completely unknown candidates.
Caesar’s odds were very high.
Since returning to Italy, he had worked part-time as a lawyer and performed admirably in the courtroom. He had previously accomplished military achievements in the Eastern region, with the Warrior Crown as evidence. Additionally, rumors of his scandal with Nicomedes IV, other romantic escapades, and his penchant for wearing exotic clothes...all contributed to his widespread fame among Roman citizens.
In the eyes of the noble voters, although the Ulysses Caesar family did not belong to the inner circle of the Senate’s noble circles, in recent years they had produced some administrative officers, ensuring the Caesar family name remained in the Roman noble’s view. More importantly, Caesar’s maternal relatives were enjoying political success, having produced two Governors in the past five years.
Therefore, even though after the Italians were granted citizenship, many scions of Italian City States flocked to Rome, hoping to enter politics and participating in the annual competition for the twenty Financial Officer positions, Caesar, as a sturdy member of a Roman noble family, was not at all afraid of such competition; a candidate only needed the support of eighteen tribes to be elected Financial Officer, and he was successfully elected with unanimous votes.
For Caesar, this was a significant moment because, according to the decrees Sula enacted, all Financial Officers automatically obtained Elder status, although this was the lowest rank of Elder, serving only to make up the numbers in Senate meetings.
Likewise, in this year, Cicero reached his most critical moment.
Six years ago, when he was thirty, like Caesar, he was elected Financial Officer at the statutory minimum age and then posted to Sicily as the Financial Officer of the province. During his term, he acted justly and did not overly exploit the province’s people, earning the respect of the Sicilians. He also efficiently organized shipments of Sicilian grain to Rome, easing Rome’s grain shortage problem.
He had initially thought that his distinguished political achievements in Sicily would spread among the Roman citizens; however, he discovered that Roman citizens had never paid attention to him and were not even aware that he had left Rome to take office in Sicily.
This left Cicero deeply frustrated. Coupled with witnessing the pomp of Pompey of the same age at the Triumph the previous year, this further solidified his determination to surpass the benchmark of low-level administrative officers and enter the inner circle commonly dominated by the Nobles.
The opportunity came soon.
At the beginning of this year, a group of Sicilians came to Rome, found Cicero, and earnestly requested him to take on the role of Plaintiff to prosecute Gaius Valerius, the former Governor of Sicily.
This man was notorious for greed and treachery, initially siding with the Civilian Faction but later defecting to Sula, which allowed him to thrive, securing one lucrative overseas position after another.
During his term, he plundered and oppressed the province’s people, committing numerous atrocities, but he used the enormous wealth he amassed to form connections with the Roman Nobles, creating a vast network of relations, with several high-ranked Elders backing him. Therefore, for many years, no one had been able to prosecute him successfully, instead making him increasingly arrogant.