Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 769: Defending Rome

Potitus had also called his trusted servant during this short break and said, “Go home and bring me some food.” As he spoke loudly, he kept waving his staff around.

“Respectable master, what would you like to eat?” The clever servant immediately asked aloud.

“Fool! Have you forgotten all the food I eat? Do I need to tell it to you again?!” Potitus complained discontentedly while his servant nodded and bent over.

“I don't want any bread since I can’t bite it with my broken teeth. So Bring me a big bowl of hot porridge, and…” Potitus’ voice became lower because of fatigue.

The servant could only get closer when he heard his master whisper, “Immediately send someone overnight to inform Camillus about the Theonian army's invasion of Latium!”

Potitus watch the servant leave the Senate Hall in a daze, ‘Even if there is only a slight possibility of Rome being endangered, I can only wrong you, Camillus. But as long as I am here, I will not let anyone punish you in the Senate!’

Potitus glanced at the others and noticed that no one seemed to pay attention to him, so he leaned back in his ivory chair and closed his eyes to rest.

The senators then began discussing the reports from Sicily about Carthage engaging the Theonians in battle. Then they questioned why the Theonians had not focused on Carthage and instead dared to send a large army to Rome.

“Could the Theonians have already defeated Carthage, freeing their hands to send troops to attack us?”

“That's just a minor defeat. Carthage is a powerful city-state in the western Mediterranean, so how could their battle against Theonia already have a result?! It must be because the war had just begun, and the Carthaginians hadn't yet exerted all their strength, allowing the Theonians an easier time to cope against them, which led to the Theonians sending troops to attack us.”

“We should send envoys to inform the Carthaginians to increase their attack on Theonia to fulfil their obligations as our allies!”

“You talk as if it's easy! But how can you notify them? Latium's coast is now under complete control of the Theonians.”

“Apuleius, there's a way if there's a will. Although the Theonian fleet has blockaded Latium's coast, Etruria's remains open. So we can just send our messengers to our allied city-states in the southern part of Etruria, take their ships to head north along the coast, and eventually reach the coast of Iberia, the territory of the famous Magonid family of Carthage. Moreover, the head of their family has recently been appointed supreme commander of the Carthaginian army, in charge of the fight against Theonia…”

“That's a wonderful idea! Once the Carthaginians knew that Theonia had sent a large army to Rome, they would surely intensify their attacks on Sicily. And Theonia would find it hard to fight the war to the north and south, forcing them to retreat from Rome to avoid being defeated by the Carthaginians.”

“We can't rely too much on the Carthaginians. In fact, with our hundred thousand soldiers and Camillus' leadership, we can defeat the incoming Theonian army!…”

“Scipio* is right! We don't need to fear the Theonians while fighting on our land. Instead, we should take this opportunity to defeat them, establish Rome's reputation and fully control Latium!…” (Publius Cornelius Scipio. There are three Publius Cornelius: Publius Cornelius Maluginensis, Publius Cornelius Cossus, and Publius Cornelius Scipio.)

In a heated debate, the senators approved the proposal to send envoys to Etruria the next day to take a ship to sea to ask Carthage for help. At the same time, they also had the idea of looking for opportunities to fight the Theonian army once Camillus had led his army back.

But in the evening, news arrived that the large army led by Paulus, Maegius and Pantheus, totalling over twenty-five thousand men, had suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of almost as many Theonian troops.

And this terrible news sunk the Senate into a long silence.

After a long time, some elders began shouting with a guilty conscience, ‘We should have allowed Camillus to lead the army back to defend Rome with how powerful the Theonian army is!’

Some senators even proposed negotiating with Theonia and returning the occupied Volscian territory…

The vast majority of senators had naturally criticised them. Meanwhile, Apuleius and his supporter Maluginensis are hard at work trying to calm the panicked senators, saying that there's still no news from Ostia, which means it has yet to fall to the Theonians…

Potitus watched their endless bickering coldly and said nothing, feeling fortunate for his earlier decision…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

That night, not only did the candles burn brightly in the Senate Hall, but the Roman Square was abuzz with commotions.

After receiving the emergency notice from the Roman guards, countless people emerged from their homes and gathered in the square.

And they were divided into two categories: Teenagers between the ages of fifteen and seventeen and older men over fifty. Because apart from the three thousand young and able defenders in Rome, the other Roman citizens fit for military service had already followed Camillus to Hernici. Besides them, a few women wandered about the square, asking the Roman soldiers who were keeping order about the Theonian attack.

In contrast to the panicked women, most of the older men in the square looked calm as they had already experienced many wars and were undisturbed by the change. Meanwhile, the teenagers looked excited as they longed to grow up and serve in the army like their fathers and brothers, to fight on the battlefield and win honour for themselves. So although they crowded the square, there was order and no confusion.

As the crowd queued up to the conscription officer, they would give their name, clan, tribe and previous military record. The conscription officer would then place the applicants in a particular platoon and assign them a military position. In addition, since most of the veterans had armour and weapons, while only a few youngsters had them, they had to equip the rest.

Ambustus stood on the stage in the square and watched the crowd below, feeling some peace of mind and many of his worries disappearing.

“Father!” A crisp voice sounded, causing him to turn his head around. He then said with a kind smile on his face, “Konya, why are you here?”

Ambustus' youngest daughter looked worried as she said, “Stolos heard the guard's notice and wants to know if Rome is really in danger?”

“Don't worry; this is just for precaution. Have Stolos recuperate well at home,” Ambustus waved his hand and said relaxedly.

After seeing off his little daughter, Ambustus' expression became even more serious as the people in the square gradually dispersed. He couldn't help but ask the praetorian prefect, Cassius, “Have you really notified those people in Mons Aventinus?”

“I swear to Jupiter that I have sent someone to Mons Aventinus to notify the people!” Cassius hurriedly swore.

“So why haven't they come yet?!” Ambustus became a bit anxious. In his opinion, the plebeians and freemen in Mons Aventinus should be the main force in defending Rome instead of the elderly and children.

Cassius smiled bitterly and said, “My Lord, it seems you do not know. The people there either have been fighting against our nobles and opposing the Senate, or they are refugees who had only joined recently and weren't loyal enough to Rome.”

“Don't say anymore,” Ambustus interrupted. Then he softly reminded, “Now that the enemy is close by, all Romans should unite…”

Ambustus suddenly stopped speaking after hearing the loud noise from a distance. He then finally smiled and said, “Look, they're finally here!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Why hasn't the news of Ostia reached Rome that night? That was because Davos ordered them to blockade Ostia by land tightly and said so that not even a single man or ship from Ostia could leave after the breach. Furthermore, Davos had ordered Miltiades to send all his fast trireme to blockade the coastal waters of Ostia during the siege and not allow any ships to approach. On land, Davos had also sent out his mountain reconnaissance brigade to blockade the area around Ostia so that the Roman and their Latin allies' scouts couldn't find out about the battle of Ostia until the evening when he told Izam to withdraw the scouts. But it was already the next day when the Roman scouts noticed the change, prompting them to rush to Rome.

Davos was accompanying Miltiades to the port When Amintas' messenger arrived at Ostia.

“Your Majesty, you don't need to come to the port. After making several promises to the labourers in the port, most of them already expressed their willingness to assist us…” Miltiades told Davos as they walked.

“Miltiades, I trust your ability to handle things.” Davos then said seriously, “But since this would be the first time we have occupied territory in Latium, they are unfamiliar with us and even more frightened by our strength. Thus it would be more likely to convince them of our promises and be more helpful to us if I, the king, appeared in person. And with them as the model, it will be much easier to govern the Latium cities we have occupied.”

Miltiades just nodded without fully understanding it. Knowing Davos had already made up his mind, he didn't dare to persuade the king again.

Davos naturally doesn't expect a navarch to understand his approach from an overall perspective. Therefore, he changed the topic and asked, “Where do the labourers and sailors in the port come from?”