Chapter 716: Change in the Situation

Potitus' words made Camillus ashamed.

At this moment, another respected senator, Ambustus, raised his right fist and shouted, "I support Camillus as the dictator!"

Pantheus immediately said, "I also support Camillus as the dictator!"

Paulus followed it up, "I choose Camillus!"

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As the voice calling for Camillus rang through the hall, Maluginensis, who had always disagreed with Potitus, remained silent.

Under the envious gaze of Quintus, Camillus clenched his fists...

In the twelfth month of the thirteenth year of the Kingdom of Theonia (i.e. 380 BC), the Senators agreed to elect a dictator to lead the war between Rome and the Kingdom of Theonia.

And at the next Centuriate Assembly, held in the Square of Mars, Camillus, the favourite of the Senators, was once again elected dictator by the assembly to deal with the war with Theonia.

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For a time, the northern battlefield fell silent.

After scouting the cities of Antium and Satricum, the Volscians found the places heavily guarded and, considering their lack of troops and the advice of Amintas, temporarily halted their plans to retake the cities captured by the Romans. Meanwhile, they allowed their soldiers to train with Theonia's First Legion so they could work more closely together in future battles and began contacting the forces dissatisfied with the Romans, such as the Hernicans, Marsians, Aquiians and even the Sabines...to fight against Rome.

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

Soon news about "With the help of the Theonians, the weak Volscians defeated the Roman army of over fifty thousand men!" spread to central Italia, making some forces sway their thoughts.

As a result, Tapirus began to get busy in the city of Circeii.

And the same news reached the neighbouring Samnite mountains so that the officials of Caudini, who were dissatisfied with the late return of the prisoners by the Theonia-Campania and were about to send envoys to Thurii to protest, immediately halted and quietly observed the situation.

And this news, accompanied by the Romans' warning to the Carthaginian envoy, "If Carthage still does not send troops to attack Theonia, Rome will have to sign an armistice with Theonia!", had also reached Carthage and Mago on the Iberian Peninsula, who immediately realised that he had to change his tactics and could no longer continue his stalemate with Hanno over whether or not to send troops. Otherwise, they would be in big trouble once the Romans made a truce with Theonia, and Carthage had to attack Theonia on its own, especially since he knew that the conservative Elders in the Senate would probably abandon the declaration of war against Theonia and re-sign the peace treaty with them.

So he immediately held a meeting with his clansmen. Once they had reached an agreement, he quickly sent a messenger to the Carthaginian Senate, asking Pretasdrubal to tell them that the Iberian colony would send twenty thousand troops to obey the commander appointed by the Senate.

Having regained his dominant position, Hanno was satisfied with Mago's submission. But he knew he couldn't delay any longer, so the Senate quickly decided to send a massive army to Sicily and attack the Theonian territories.

The Senate appointed Muntebaal as supreme commander of the Carthaginian army. Muntebaal was a member of Hanno's faction who had been carrying out Hanno's political philosophy of developing inland for many years and had led his troops to defeat the Numidian tribes on many occasions, contributing significantly to Carthage's conquest of the Numidian region. It is also why Hanno was more than comfortable appointing this highly decorated elder as supreme commander of the Sicilian expedition.

Afterwards, the entire city of Carthage, its allies and the Numidian area under its control began to act, recruiting soldiers, gathering warships and preparing supplies...

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Meanwhile, the unrest in Rhegium, the free city of the Kingdom of Theonia, which had lasted for several dozen days, has subsided as the citizens held an important ecclesia, with only one subject to be voted on, 'whether to integrate Rhegium into the Kingdom of Theonia fully'.

The result was obvious: the starving population, the merchants who wanted to see their families prosper, and the citizens with greater political ambitions voted in favour... Although some strongly opposed it, the majority voted in favour of this important proposal for the future development of Rhegium.

When the messenger from Rhegium brought this important news to Thurii, Davos, already prepared for this, had immediately written an impassioned letter praising the people of Rhegium for making the right decision. He then solemnly promised that once Rhegium was truly part of the kingdom, it would become more prosperous in trade, and its people would get more rights, better care... and so on.

At his suggestion, the Senate quickly appointed Protesilaus as the Praetor of Rhegium. He then boarded a convoy of ships carrying a considerable amount of grain from the granaries to the south, along with Rhegium's appointed judges, tax officials, census officers and other key officials...

As the fleet passed through the port of Locri, the already informed Seventh Legion sent a large group of soldiers and boarded the fleet.

Alkibiades and Pheidon led many people to meet the fleet when it finally arrived at the port of Rhegium.

Protesilaus read out his appointment from King Davos, and none of the people present objected. On the contrary, they were pleased to see the soldiers escorting ample supplies ashore.

He also announced another appointment, signed jointly by King Davos and the Senate, appointing Alkibiades and Pheidon as Statesmen of the Kingdom of Theonia.

Thus the people of Rhegium cheered.

But the two new statesmen couldn't go to Thurii immediately, as they had to stay behind temporarily to help Protesilaus take over the city.

With their full support, a thousand soldiers of the Seventh Legion to maintain order, and the political skills Protesilaus had honed in his ten years of administrative experience, the takeover process went relatively smoothly.

A dozen days later, Alkibiades and Pheidon received an invitation from the Senate to go to Thurii to participate in this year's Theonia National Assembly.

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Currently, the wounded and the remains of the deceased soldiers of the First Legion arrived in Thurii.

At the same time, the National Assembly and the Assembly of Tribunes of the Kingdom of Theonia will take place, as well as the annual Football Champions League of the Kingdom. On the first day of the fourteenth year of the kingdom (379 BC), as has been the tradition since the foundation of the kingdom, the king, the statesmen and the representatives of the members of the local councils of the cities of the kingdom, as well as the tribunal officers, gathered in front of the Temple of Hades on the Sacred Hill.

As the head priest, King Davos read aloud the inscription in memory of the heroes.

To the sound of solemn and sacred music, the palace guards marched as they carried the steles inscribed with the names of the soldiers who had died in Volsci and Campania into the Hall of Valour, where they would receive the blessing of Hades and the prayers of the people, and their spirits would guard the land they had defended with their lives.

Although the relatives of the deceased, who had also come to pay their respects, looked sad, with some breaking down in tears, their eyes sparkled with pride and hope.

The following day, the representatives of the local council and the tribunus plebis sat in the private seat in Theonia's main arena. They watched the opening ceremony of the Kingdom's Football Champions League and the first match that followed.

The local council members from Dauni, who were visiting Thurii for the first time, were shocked by the sight of more than fifty thousand spectators cheering in unison, and the fantastic match also caught their attention...

On the third day, the National Assembly started.

The venue was the Grand Senate Hall, a place capable of holding thousands of people, and it was finally able to be filled to capacity. To ensure that those present could hear clearly, more than a dozen people were placed around the podium in the centre of the hall to repeat the words loudly.

Of course, as was the custom in the past, shortly after the start of the National Assembly, everyone would applaud and welcome Rhegium, who had just joined the Kingdom.

Next, the participants focused on two issues - drought and war. So when Agriculture Minister Burkes talked about last year's disaster relief efforts in the Kingdom and some of the new measures they would take this year, the Council members responded enthusiastically.

Among them were the words of a statesman from Rudiae, representing the voice of many people. The Old Man also experienced the drought in southern Italia more than twenty years ago. Since the Messapians weren't like the Greeks, who were rich in sea trade and could buy food anywhere and go to colonise, he saw many Messapians starve to death before his eyes. But in this drought, which was no less terrible than twenty years before, he had not yet heard the news of starving Messapians, so he excitedly and loudly praised the kingdom's achievements in disaster relief, which resonated with many people.

Naturally, some expressed concern, "The drought may be over, but food supplies are getting tighter. And with war about to break out again, will our food supply last until this autumn's harvest?"

Note: The Centuriate was one of the three main Roman civic assemblies and, at this stage, was the highest level of civic assembly. The Centuriate was divided into groups of one hundred, based on the wealth and class of the citizens, with each group of Centuriates having one vote, regardless of how many electors each Centuriate had. They would then vote from highest to lowest according to the class of the centuriate group. But as soon as a proposal receives more than half of the votes, the voting will stop immediately. This often results in the next group of Centuriates not having a chance to vote, most of whom are Plebeians.

The other two assemblies were the Curiate and the Plebeian: The curiate assembly was only for the Roman aristocratic clans, completely excluding the plebeians from it. The Curiate had the greatest authority during the Roman Kingdom, but this was now much reduced, although they still dealt with matters relating to the aristocracy. On the other hand, the Plebeian Assembly was, at this stage, only an assembly of the Roman plebeians according to the tribunes to which they belonged, and the proposals they passed would only apply to the plebeians. It was not until a hundred years later that it became the main legislative body of Rome.