In the last issue, we described how the situation steadily escalated to a bright white glow, and all interested persons (and there were so many of them there!) Attended to the gathering of troops. In addition to Cicero, who decided to sit out the horrors of the division of power in the country.
As part of the increase in the number of units, Octavian drove to the south of Italy, where Caesar's campaign veterans and current legionnaires settled, who for some reason did not trample the sand in distant Libya or Parthia. The warriors were not too eager to fit into another conflict right now, and even against Anthony, a well-known ally of the late dictator and, on the whole, a good commander, but the Octavian cleverness in handling arguments did the trick. Having promised everyone a lot of money, fame and vengeance to the murderers of the adored "father of the nation" and hardly saying that he would have to kill Mark, Guy was able to gain several thousand supporters - so that there was nothing to return to Rome.
In the capital, however, there was a small hitch. The young politician willy-nilly had to declare the purpose of his campaign in order to win over those who were deeply annoyed by Anthony - in Rome they were in order and among the noble class - but some of the recruited soldiers did not understand this anymore. However, Guy did not leave much - he promised very uplifting amounts, and most of the soldiers remained with him. Senators, however, did not dare to declare Mark so immediately an enemy of the republic - after all, a significant and dangerous person. And Octavian, who did not go through all the legal procedures and formalities, is just who, though popular.
Having drawn conclusions for himself for the future, Guy left the city and camped in Arezzo, to the north, while secretly sending specially trained people to the camp of Anthony, who was just marching to Rome with the idea to express everything he thinks about some impudent upstarts, controlled by all sorts of speakers with an overly active civic stance.
Having reached the city, Mark, having not yet reached the Senate with a new armful of profitable (for himself) proposals, received very sad news for him - the legion of Mars left his submission and rushed into the arms of the generous Octavian. The balance of power began to shift.
The wounded Mark developed a vigorous activity, trying to recognize Guy for such tricks as an enemy of the people, but the parliamentarians did not show much enthusiasm and generally held the opinion that it would be better for the respected to make peace already, and not to arrange another storm in the long-suffering Italy. While the embittered politician was banging his sandal on the platform, the next news came from the troops - The IV Legion, after listening to the brothers in arms stories about a satisfying life, spat in unison in the direction of the former commander and walked along the already beaten path to Octavian.
Staying in Rome has become dangerous. If Guy had been a supporter of the same decisions as Mark, the latter would have been smoked from his own home, simultaneously setting fire to property that could not be stolen, and Anthony understood this perfectly. Scoring on charges in the direction of Octavian, he quickly and energetically chattered the Senate to redistribute the provinces, squeezing out even more tasty and nutritious Gaul, and then luck finally smiled at him.
Decim Brutus, one of Caesar's conspirators and murderers, who had previously received the rank of viceroy of Near Gaul from the dictator, was not going to surrender the territory, as the Senate informed. Mark realized that it was a gift of fate. The rebel was found! Without such a plausible excuse, leaving the capital with the troops would be shameful, and not leaving - it’s scary, that’s why all the legionnaires will go over to Octavian, who, judging by the promises, dug up the state of Croesus and the Scrooge McDuck vault together.
Anthony joyfully ran to the city of Mutin, to smoke Decimus Brutus, and Octavian approached the vacant place in Rome, prudently discharging Cicero from the dacha as heavy artillery regarding rhetoric. It helped. The Senate, somewhat stunned by the activities of Anthony, nevertheless pulled himself up and issued a solution to the problem with exuberant patrician - they sent him an offer to withdraw the troops back, but not more than 200 miles closer to Rome. Again, it was not possible to declare Mark the enemy of the fatherland, despite even Cicero, who burned people with the power of a heavy flamethrower system with a verb. But thanks to him, bypassing all laws and traditions, Octavian was awarded the rank of prophet, the right to command troops and included in the Senate.
Mark, meanwhile, answered, offering to exchange Gaul - they say he agrees to a more distant one, and let the neighbor, so be it, take it away, but all the laws he adopted must be approved exactly as he wrote them.
The newly-elected consuls Gaius Vibi Pansa and Aul Girtius, understanding what was going on, gathered an army, simultaneously persuading Octavian to share his troops in exchange for a future patronage in all matters. The irritated Senate sent another embassy to Mark with different terms of the peace agreement, but Anthony, who was also not in the best of moods, answered and was completely ugly, detailing in detail where he had seen all the parliamentarians and what he had done with them and their relatives. Meanwhile, while the ambassadors roamed back and forth along the good Roman roads, minor clashes had already begun in the north of the capital between the units of the heir to Caesar and Anthony.
Having familiarized themselves with the far from flattering opinion of themselves, the Roman authorities became angry, canceled all the orders given before by Anthony, called his actions a rebellion against the legitimate authorities, and still gave the consul the go-ahead - go ahead, they say, teach the wise man politeness.
So the legions went to the legions. The next civil war in Rome, later called Mutinsky, officially began.
And how it will end, we will learn in the next issue.
History Fun specifically for Italy for me.
