The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Chapter 42: Julia Caesaria 1

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Verres was dragged away by the soldiers and thrown into his mansion as a prisoner.

His mansion was located on the Palatine Hill, where only the richest people lived.

The size of his mansion was comparable to any noble’s, but it felt cramped because he had filled it with all kinds of statues and artworks.

Every wall was covered with paintings, and even the chairs and tables were decorated with gold.

It was more like a huge treasure vault than a house.

Hortensius, who had applied for a meeting with Verres as his lawyer, entered the reception room.

He frowned at the sight of the space that had no room to step on because of the various antiques.

But Verres had no leisure to care about his lawyer’s mood.

“Hortensius! You came at last! How can I get out of here?”

“Get out?”

Hortensius asked back in disbelief.

“You must have some trick to turn the situation around in the second trial. You are the best lawyer in Rome, aren’t you?”

“Turn the situation around? What have you been watching? Did you see the flood of evidence that poured out? The crimes you committed will be mentioned for decades to come. How can you turn the situation around!”

“But you are not just any lawyer!”

“Even if Minerva herself came, she couldn’t get you acquitted!”

Verres opened his mouth wide.

“Then why are you here? You must have some means to apply for a meeting. You can apply for a recess for up to a year after the first trial, right? If we do that…”

“Even if you apply for a recess for ten years, the verdict will not change. So give up. Why didn’t you tell me about the crimes you committed beforehand? If you did, I would have advised you to voluntarily exile yourself.”

“I knew you would say that, so I didn’t tell you…”

“And that’s why you lost everything. Now it’s impossible to escape at night, so it’s impossible to run away with some money. Just stay here and get ready to be stripped of all your property and exiled to a remote island overseas.”

If a Roman citizen committed a serious crime, he could choose exile instead of death.

Most nobles would run away with enough money to live on for the rest of their lives in such situations.

But Verres was in a situation where he couldn’t do that. He had no choice but to be driven out penniless.

“That’s absurd! Are you telling me, Gaius Verres, to live like a beggar for the rest of my life! Is that why you came all this way?”

“I want to ask you the same thing. Because of you, I became a laughingstock. I, Hortensius, the best lawyer in Rome, was reduced to a stepping stone for Cicero, a rookie from the provinces! He absorbed all my fame and career. He will be called the best lawyer in Rome from now on. It’s all because of you!”

Hortensius raised his voice as he became emotional.

“So I have to at least take my fee. If you become penniless, you won’t be able to pay me anyway.”

“You couldn’t even give me a chance to escape, let alone acquit me, and you want to get paid?”

“It’s not payment, it’s compensation. Let’s get our words straight. But I’ll give you one last piece of advice. Before the verdict is handed down, kneel down to Crassus and beg for his forgiveness.”

Verres snorted with a scornful expression.

“Crassus? Why should I beg for his forgiveness? He’s a traitor who sent his son to spy on me.”

“You are so stupid! Have you forgotten that the pirates you sent attacked when Crassus’s eldest son was with Cicero? You tried to kidnap the current consul and the eldest son of the richest family in Rome.”

“Hmph! Do you think I knew that?”

Verres, who had been cornered to the end, could not accept Hortensius’s rational advice.

All he had left was anger and resentment.

“If you’re going to ignore my advice, do as you please. But I have to take my share.”

There were piles of valuable items in the reception room where the two were.

Hortensius looked for something that he could hide under his toga and take out. A statue of Mars made of gold was chosen as his compensation.

He hid the statue under his toga and looked at Verres for the last time before leaving the reception room.

“It was a mistake to keep all your property in this mansion in the first place. You should have hidden it in different places.”

“Ha! This is only a fraction of my property. Everything else is stored in my villa, except for the finest artworks.”

“Ha… This is not all? You’re really crazy. Verres, let me tell you this. You were the most evil and insane criminal I’ve ever seen. The biggest misfortune of my life was accepting this defense without seeing your true nature.”

“If you had talked like that during the defense, I wouldn’t have been imprisoned like this. The best lawyer in Rome? You’re just a loser who was mocked by Cicero!”

Hortensius turned his body with a cold sneer instead of answering.

No one came to see Verres until the second trial was over.

The verdict came out as expected.

Verres was sentenced to death, but according to the law, he chose exile and confiscation of property instead of death.

But he had no chance to embezzle some of his property, so he fell into complete poverty.

He also lost his status as a senator and a noble.

Verres ignored Hortensius’s advice and cursed Pompey and Crassus until the end.

He did not repent of his sins even until he was exiled.

Did he get what he deserved?

Verres, who was banished to Greece, was discovered by the pirates he had bribed and met a miserable end.

They said there were signs of severe torture on his body when it was found later.

It was not known how the pirates found Verres.

Of course, there was no one in Rome who felt sorry for Verres, who was no longer a senator or a noble.

The artworks and statues that Verres had collected without permission were all returned to Sicily.

The people of Sicily praised Cicero’s name and expressed their gratitude to Rome for giving them a fair verdict.

The Verres trial, which had been the center of attention in Rome for over a month, ended like that.

※※※※

The Verres trial ended, but its aftermath shook Rome for a long time.

The person who benefited the most from this incident was Cicero.

He absorbed all the stock of Hortensius, who had collapsed, and was now called the best lawyer in Rome without dispute.

On top of that, Cicero confirmed and lowered the price of wheat floating in the market.

“I will be able to bring in wheat from Sicily much cheaper next year when I serve as a quaestor! It’s all thanks to your support.”

The citizens gathered in the square chanted Cicero’s name and praised him.

The other quaestors also announced their pledges for next year, but they were overshadowed by Cicero and did not attract much attention.

Cicero was not the only one who raised his stock again, albeit unknowingly. Crassus also did.

The senators praised Crassus for stepping in at the end of the trial.

Thanks to him, the Senate was able to discipline the corrupt senator by itself.

They were able to save their face in a situation where they could have been disgraced.

Moreover, Crassus helped the Metellus family to distance themselves from Verres.

Quintus and Lucius Metellus, who felt that the atmosphere was not good, apologized to Crassus as Hortensius advised.

Quintus did not directly condone Verres’s evil deeds, but he confessed that he was ashamed of taking money from him.

Crassus made them return all the money they received to the Roman citizens and gave them a chance to make an apology speech.

Especially Lucius vowed to Jupiter that he would restore the order of Sicily that Verres had ruined.

He was in cahoots with Verres, but he avoided impeachment by proposing to use his own money to help Sicily.

Of course, Crassus’s influence as a consul played a significant role in this.

With such a pro-Senate move, the nobles believed that Crassus was still on their side and did not doubt him.

Finally, there was one more person who left a strong impression on the Romans.

“Another person to pay attention to in this case is Marcus Licinius Crassus, the eldest son of the Crassus family. The eldest son of Crassus, who was only rumored, finally revealed himself in front of the crowd. His speech was powerful, righteous, and intense enough to catch the audience’s attention. We hope he will grow into a strong pillar that will support the Senate in the future. That’s what it says.”

Septimius had a satisfied smile on his face as he read aloud from the thin book.

It was a memoir of the Verres trial written by Cicero.

He had already published a memoir shortly after the trial ended.

“That attention-seeking guy… He’s really fast as lightning.”

“He’s very close with Atticus, who runs a publishing house. He said he was preparing to publish a book even before the trial.”

“He must have prepared his final speech condemning Verres beforehand. He’s such a flawless person.”

Marcus skimmed through the memoir that Septimius handed him.

The sentences were calm but subtly boasted of himself. It was very Cicero-like.

He wondered if it was a Roman characteristic to enjoy self-praise, considering Pompey and Caesar did the same.

But he appreciated that Cicero mentioned his name subtly, so he decided to thank him later.

“Your name must have been imprinted on the citizens’ minds by this incident.”

“My name is the same as my father’s, so there was no one who didn’t know me from the beginning.”

“Well… That’s true. To be precise, you can say that you revealed your presence as the eldest son of the Crassus family this time. But didn’t you say you wanted to avoid excessive attention?”

“Attention that is positively received by the senators is fine. The important thing is not to be checked.”

“I understand. Then what should we do with this invitation?”

Septimius took out a sheet of papyrus paper decorated with luxury and handed it to Marcus.

“Caesar says he has been elected as quaestor and wants to invite you to his house to thank you. Aren’t there many senators who hate Caesar?”

“That’s because Caesar messes with their wives too much. There are hardly any people who see him as a threat politically. Rather, there are more people who sympathize with me. They say I got stuck with a bad debtor.”

Marcus chuckled as he read down the invitation.

He quickly saw what intention he had for inviting him, but since it was what he wanted anyway, he decided to go along with it.

He sent a reply through Septimius that he would accept the invitation, and Caesar immediately set a date for it.

 It was a place to express his gratitude to Marcus, so he did not invite anyone else.

Marcus brought only Spartacus and headed to Caesar’s house.

Septimius and Danae could not come with him because they had business problems to deal with.

Marcus rode down the Palatine Hill in a luxurious carriage that had become a spectacle in Rome.

Caesar did not have a house on any of the seven hills, unlike other noble families.

His house was in Subura, where the commoners mostly lived.

Of course, he did not live in an insula, a tenement building.

He was a famous nobleman who lived in a detached house on a relatively clean street in Subura.

People who knew the scale of Caesar’s debt wondered why he still lived in Subura.

He did not hate luxury or have little vanity. But he did not want to leave Subura and go to the hill where the rich were concentrated.

Marcus thought it was all a planned act.

Why wouldn’t Caesar want to live in a luxurious mansion?

He probably wanted it more than anyone else.

But Caesar had been regarded as the center of the populares since he was young.

He deliberately did not leave Subura, considering his image to the common people.

To Marcus’s surprise, Caesar himself came out to greet him when he arrived at his house.

Caesar put his hand on Marcus’s shoulder and welcomed him warmly.

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you impatiently.”

“Thank you for coming out of your house to greet me.”

When Marcus greeted him politely, Caesar laughed heartily.

“Ha ha, I owe you so much for lending me money and helping me win the election by a landslide. Of course I have to show you this much hospitality. I cooked with very good ingredients, so eat and drink as much as you want. Of course, I didn’t add lead sugar as a seasoning, as you requested. You said it was bad for your health, right?”

“Yes. I’m developing a new seasoning to replace it. It’s almost done, so I’m planning to have a tasting party later. I’ll send you an invitation, so please come and taste it.”

“I’ll go if you invite me. That’s nothing between us.”

He emphasized his friendship by using the word ‘us’ as if they had known each other for a long time.

He invited Marcus into his house and introduced his family very naturally.

“This is my wife Cornelia. She’s too virtuous for me.”

A dignified lady greeted Marcus pleasantly.

Marcus also smiled back and bowed politely.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Marcus Licinius Crassus.”

Marcus was secretly surprised by her beauty when he saw Cornelia’s face.

She looked like she was in her thirties, but she looked like she was in her early twenties. She also had a very attractive atmosphere of nobility.

He couldn’t understand how Caesar could cheat on other married women with such a wife.

She must have been very upset from her husband’s position.

That’s why Cornelia looked a bit tired and pale.

‘Come to think of it, Caesar had an experience of losing his wife.’

As Marcus looked at Cornelia’s face for a moment, Caesar laughed cheerfully and patted his back.

“You’re a man after all. To be honest, let me brag a little. My daughter is also like my wife, and she already gets compliments for her beauty. And she’s very smart like me, so I think she’ll be a good match for you. Oh, there she comes.”

As he pointed in one direction, Marcus saw a girl walking calmly toward them.

She wore simple but neat clothes, but her appearance exuded elegance that was no less than any other noble family.

Caesar was not exaggerating when he boasted about his daughter.

She looked like she was only twelve or thirteen years old, but she was beautiful enough to catch his eye. Even Marcus, who was used to seeing beautiful women, admired her secretly.

She inherited her mother’s noble atmosphere and intelligent eyes, which were very impressive.

She was still at an age where cute rather than beautiful suited her, but he couldn’t even imagine how beautiful she would be in six or seven years.

According to history, Pompey, who married Caesar’s daughter, was completely in love with his wife and spent time with her rather than politics.

Marcus could easily guess why.

But when he met eyes with the girl, Marcus felt strangely familiar for a moment.

The girl also widened her eyes and looked at Marcus for a while.

Then she smiled softly and a clear voice came out of her mouth.

“I’m Julia Caesaria. I’m glad to see you again.”

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