Chapter 149: The Counterattack of the Nobility 2
Chapter 149: The Counterattack of the Nobility 2
The mansion on the Palatine Hill, where only the richest of Rome could reside.
A few years ago, the nobles who encountered him nearby treated Clodius as an abnormal person.
He was the head of the Pulcher family of the Claudii clan, the most prestigious noble lineage in Rome, but he chose to become a commoner himself.
It was natural for the nobles, who were full of pride and privilege, to regard Clodius as a heretic.
Even after he became a tribune of the plebs, their eyes only became stronger.
For the nobles, the tribune was nothing more than a position that the plebeians passed through to obtain a seat in the Senate.
It was not a place that a person who was born as a noble would covet.
The people of the nobility faction criticized Clodius for tarnishing the honor of the nobility.
But now the situation had completely changed.
No one dared to look down on him or point fingers at him.
The luxurious mansion was crowded with supporters who asked him to listen to their stories every day.
Clodius tilted his wine glass while enjoying the beautiful scenery of the well-groomed garden.
“The wine tastes even better today. Yes, this is what power is.”
Clodius was very happy these days.
After Cicero fled from Rome in a mess, the political situation leaned completely towards the popular faction.
Clodius took advantage of the momentum and exerted a great influence on politics.
He dragged his supporters around like his personal army and swung them with violence or intimidation.
He had so much wealth that he could rank among the richest in Rome, so he spared no money.
The popular faction could not control him either because of his merit of driving out Cicero, the core of the nobility faction.
Thanks to that, Clodius was able to exercise his authority as a tribune as he pleased.
He vetoed any bill he disliked and passed any bill he thought necessary through the assembly.
The Senate, which could not control the rampage of a single tribune, only proved their incompetence with their whole body.
“Caesar, Pompey…and Marcus.”
Clodius muttered softly as he drank his wine.
Recently, he began to have some unrealistic imaginations as his confidence overflowed.
He pictured something that he couldn’t have dreamed of before in his head.
It was because of Marcus’s absence.
Clodius felt nothing uncomfortable when he crossed over to the East.
“Marcus still has a lot of time left before he returns to Rome. Caesar too. Pompey is not very interested in politics…Then we need a focal point to lead the popular faction and pressure the nobility faction.”
Clodius did not hide his ambition.
Two of the three top power holders in Rome were absent. And the last one looked like he was not far from retirement.
“The nobility faction is nothing but a scarecrow now. There’s no difference whether Cato comes alone or not after Cicero was driven out. The problem is Crassus…Well, he’s lost a lot of his edge lately, so I don’t think I need to be afraid of him.”
Clodius looked up at the sky as he lay obliquely in a place where he could see the garden well.
“It would be nice if the old men would step down and retreat to the back room. Should I take action first with this momentum?”
If he could tie up Crassus, then Clodius’s world would unfold. By the time Caesar or Marcus returned, Rome’s political scene might have already fallen into Clodius’s hands.
His chest was filled with thrilling excitement.
But that feeling didn’t last long.
The report of a slave who entered the garden made Clodius’s elated mood cool down again.
“Sir, Crassus has arrived at the mansion right now. Shall I take him inside?”
“…Crassus is here? So soon?”
He thought he would stay in the East for a while longer, but his expectation was wrong.
He stiffened his face with tension and got up from his seat.
“Take him to the reception room. Bring some wine and water to dilute it, and some fruits of the best quality.”
“Yes.”
Clodius went to the reception room first and waited for Crassus to come in while taking a deep breath.
He wouldn’t have been so nervous if it was just one of the big shots of the nobility faction, but Crassus was also Marcus’s father.
What if he brought Marcus’s letter with him?
How should he react then?
He was racking his brain with complicated thoughts, but he greeted Crassus politely as soon as he saw his face.
“When did you come back to Rome? If you had contacted me that you were coming, I would have prepared properly and welcomed you…”
“I had no choice but to come when I heard that Rome was in a bad situation.”
Crassus sat down and looked at Clodius with an indifferent eye.
If it had been before, he would have flinched, but Clodius was not the same as he used to be.
Still, he couldn’t completely hide his somewhat stiff expression.
Clodius was not a person who was good at politics from the beginning.
He couldn’t suppress his original personality and asked in a slightly blunt tone.
“It may not be satisfactory from the perspective of the nobility faction. But most people are probably satisfied with the current situation.”
“Are you satisfied with the situation? Where the vulgar thugs parade around Rome as if they own it, and the dignified senators are too scared to make a sound?”
“You misunderstand. My supporters may seem rough, but they are all gentle by nature. I don’t know where you heard such rumors…Did you meet Cicero?”
“I did. He said your supporters turned his mansion into a wasteland.”
Clodius sneered bitterly and shrugged off Crassus’s cold gaze.
“That was not something I ordered. It was something that the excited people did in anger because they couldn’t contain their rage. Cicero made an insulting remark about the citizens of Rome. I think it was a natural reaction.”
“What do you think about the accusation that you incited them to do so?”
“I am a tribune. I only exercised my lawful rights given to me. If you call that incitement, then you should also see the speeches of the senators as incitement.”
Clodius did not back down in front of Crassus.
He saw Crassus’s eyes twitch with displeasure.
But Clodius was not afraid.
At the same time, he felt a strong conviction.
He no longer needed to bow down in front of anyone.
Even if Crassus frowned, what could he do?
The nobility faction was already pushed by the popular faction and only looked at their faces.
“I guess we need to talk a little more by ourselves.”
Crassus scanned Clodius’s slaves who were standing behind the reception room with an icy eye.
“You can say whatever you want right here. My slaves are tight-lipped.”
“Don’t be mistaken. I’m telling you to clear the surroundings for your sake.”
“…Yes?”
“If you don’t want to listen to my advice, then do as you please. But you will have to bear all the consequences that come with it.”
Clodius’s face turned pale at Crassus’s voice, which became colder and colder.
This was not bending his body, but giving him some courtesy considering his position, he rationalized.
He told his slaves to go outside and turned his eyes back to Crassus.
“Okay, as you wish. We’re alone now. What do you want to say?”
“You’ve completely lost your mind.”
“What did you say?”
“Don’t misunderstand. This is not my opinion, but what my son asked me to tell you verbatim.”
Clodius flinched for a moment when Marcus was mentioned.
He owed him a huge favor that he could never repay in his life.
But he didn’t want to live as Marcus’s puppet either.
“How dare you say such an insulting thing!”
“Really? Then do that. Use all your great wealth and connections. How much is your fortune anyway? 50 million sesterces? Or 70 million?”
Clodius realized that he had made a slip of the tongue because he was too excited.
He momentarily forgot who was in front of him.
“Wait, please wait a minute. I just made a mistake.”
“Here, take this. Marcus said to give this to you if you keep being uncooperative. I hope it works.”
Crassus threw a paper envelope that he took out of his pocket and added a word.
“You can see by the seal that I don’t know what’s written in there either.”
Clodius was momentarily distracted by the strange texture of the paper he had never seen before.
He soon regained his composure and glanced at Crassus before reading Marcus’s letter.
And in less than 10 seconds, he felt his heart sink.
“Huh! What is this…”
“Your reaction is dramatic. It seems like there’s something interesting written in there.”
“How did he know about these things…”
The letter detailed how Clodius had embezzled his assets secretly.
Clodius had run for the tribune election every year, and of course he had paid a huge amount of campaign funds out of his own pocket.
Of course, he had to resort to illegal or tax evasion methods to make up for the loss.
He had been careful to collect money secretly, but he didn’t understand how Marcus knew about this.
It seemed likely that he had planted spies next to Clodius from the beginning while pretending to support him.
Crassus looked at Clodius, who was dyed with confusion, with a satisfied smile.
“He said you would ask that question when you read the letter. Then he told me to answer like this. He knows much more than what’s written in the letter. And if you continue to be uncooperative, he will have no choice but to dispose of you.”
“Dispose of me? How dare you say such a humiliating thing!”
Clodius jumped up from his seat with an angry expression.
On the contrary, Crassus calmly and coldly ordered him.
“Sit down, don’t stand there and lose your mind. Or is that your final decision?”
Clodius bit his lip and sat back down.
“I have connections and wealth now. If I decide to fight back…”
“Yeah? Then do that. Use all your great wealth and connections. How much is your fortune anyway? 50 million sesterces? Or 70 million?”
“It seemed to me that the thoughts you had been harboring in your usual times had unconsciously slipped out. Shouldn’t you have continued? I’ll make it clear to you now that I’m going to hire three times more people than you do. Go ahead and do whatever you want. You think you won’t be pushed back by the aristocrats because the populists are pressuring them and you have connections? Have you already erased from your memory who Caesar’s son-in-law is? Don’t you delude yourself that Pompey, who is returning to Rome now, will side with you rather than Marcus, with whom he has shared a long friendship, just because you are both populists? I’m looking forward to seeing you fight back. Let’s see how well you do.”
Crassus rose from his seat and left the reception room.
Clodius felt a chill in his bones and took a deep breath.
“Lord Crassus! That was a mistake. I was momentarily feverish and blabbered nonsense. Please listen to me.”
He quickly blocked Crassus’s path and raised both hands in a sign of complete surrender.
If Crassus decided to fight with Clodius, there was nothing Clodius could do.
If he didn’t have Marcus’s letter, he might have been able to incite the citizens, but that was impossible now.
If all the corruption he had committed so far was exposed, the support of the citizens he had built up with difficulty would collapse.
Then he would have to face Crassus with his own personal power, but there was no one in Rome who could do that.
No matter how much wealth Clodius had, it was nothing compared to Crassus.
And the men Crassus used as guards were qualitatively different from the riffraff Clodius had gathered.
Most of them were veterans who had actually held weapons and stood on the battlefield.
Crassus couldn’t openly use these people as vigilantes, but he could easily create a situation where he could turn a blind eye and play dumb by using freed slaves.
Clodius knew this well because he had also organized gangs of violence and had some fun.
Crassus didn’t even glance at Clodius, who was rubbing his hands together.
In the end, Clodius, who couldn’t stand it, knelt down.
“I’m sorry. I momentarily harbored a foolish and impetuous mind. Please forgive me.”
Crassus’s sharp words stabbed into the back of his head, which was bowed low.
“Don’t forget who put you in that position. If you keep acting out of line here, I’ll have no choice but to carve out your swollen liver again.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Clodius trembled without moving from his kneeling position.
Crassus took out a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it in front of him.
“This is an order from Marcus for you. From now on, act according to this policy.”
“Yes, I’ll follow it…huh?”
Clodius, who was reading the order, widened his eyes and tilted his head.
“Excuse me, Lord Crassus. Are you sure this is what we should do?”
“I don’t know exactly what’s written on it either. And all you have to do is just do as you’re told without thinking anything.”
“…Yes. I understand.”
Clodius nodded his head with a look of incomprehension on his face.
It wasn’t because he was dissatisfied with Marcus’s order, but because he sincerely didn’t understand it.
‘I can understand leaving Cicero and Cato alone. But why push the confrontation between the populists and the aristocrats to the brink?’
It was an order that didn’t make sense logically.
But Clodius had no choice but to follow Marcus’s order.
After Crassus left, Clodius became quiet as if nothing had happened.
Crassus skillfully resolved the chaos in the political arena and brought Cato back to Rome.
The populist senators thought Clodius would go wild, but unexpectedly he showed no reaction at all.
Rumors spread that something had happened between them when Crassus visited Clodius’s mansion beforehand.
Most people thought Clodius had been intimidated by Crassus and lowered his posture.
The aristocratic senators praised Crassus as expected.
Cicero, who returned to the Senate with enthusiastic cheers from his colleagues, sued all the thugs who had destroyed his mansion and made them pay the price.
Crassus promised the populists that he would recognize and support Pompey’s special law.
And in return, he asked for their cooperation in punishing Parthia, who had dared to assassinate Rome’s governor.
The populists said they would agree to the Parthian expedition if they promised to give Caesar the same treatment as Pompey when he returned.
Crassus accepted this without hesitation, and the Senate unanimously declared Parthia as Rome’s enemy.
This way, the conflict between the populists and the aristocrats seemed to be somewhat healed on the surface.
But this was nothing more than an unstable peace built on sand.
Clodius, who had received Marcus’s secret order, had already finished preparing to start his action.