Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece
chapter-806

His words voiced the concerns of Potitus, Maluginensis and others while making the senators who are under an illusion feel uneasy. Suddenly, a commotion erupted in the temple.

Just then, a soldier came in and reported about how the southwest direction of the city was lit brightly, and they could hear the sounds of fighting.

“Could it be the arrival of our reinforcements?!” One senator guessed, which boosted everyone's spirit.

Everyone hurriedly left the temple and, under the protection of the soldiers, arrived at the edge of the cliff. Sure enough, they saw flames illuminating the southwest direction and faint lights in the other places around the city of Rome, which should be the enemy igniting the torches on the entire city wall.

“It should be the arrival of our reinforcements!” The senators stood at the cliff's edge and stared into the distance.

Then, under the high priest's leadership, the people on top of the hill began to pray excitedly and devoutly to Jupiter.

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Quintus and Furius led the six thousand Roman soldiers to attack but didn't prepare any other siege equipment and had only picked dozens of thick logs from Praeneste and rushed straight towards Rome.

The Roman generals had thought that the Theonians were busy plundering spoils and women after just capturing the city, leaving the gates wide open and defenceless, just like when the Aequians and Hernicans did when they broke through the city of Praeneste last year or when the Celts broke through the city of Rome and other Latin city-states a decade earlier. As a result, they thought they could catch the enemy off guard by rushing here.

But upon arriving outside the city of Rome, they unexpectedly couldn't hear any noise and the gates were tightly closed, with torches lit on the top of the city wall and the enemy soldiers fully armed and prepared.

With the situation different from their imagination, Quintus and Furius became agitated. However, they still ordered the soldiers to attack.

And so the Roman soldiers struggled to pass through the trench while carrying the logs and arrived at the city gate. After suffering a lot of casualties from the long-range attack of the defenders, they soon realised that hitting the city gate with their wooden logs had little effect because the Romans sealed all the gates with wood and stones because of the lack of manpower. After the Theonian army breached the city, Davos only ordered his soldiers to clear Porta Caelius on the southern wall closest to the Roman Forum and Porta Aventinus(mainly to make transporting supplies into the city more convenient) while leaving the other gates sealed, which led to the failure of the Roman reinforcements to attack the gates and strike a blow to the enemy's morale.

When Quintus and Furius began considering retreat, the scout reported their discovery that a section of the wall to the west had collapsed.

Upon hearing that, it reignited the hope of the two Roman generals and immediately led the soldiers, who were determined to rescue their loved ones, to attack the west of the city.

But Theonia's Fourth and Fifth Legions were standing near the collapsed wall. The light infantry immediately unleashed their bows, javelins, and stones, inflicting heavy damage on the Romans who were storming the collapsed wall and preventing them from progressing. As their morale boosted from their desire to save their loved ones rapidly waned, and the fatigue from the long journey took its toll, the Roman reinforcements quickly crumbled.

Then Davos immediately dispatched his cavalry legion to charge out of Porta Caelius, pursue the routed troops, and take them down in one fell swoop.

But Maegius intercepted the enemy cavalry with the reinforcements from Praeneste. Unable to figure out how many reinforcements had come to Rome since it was night, Davos ordered a halt on the pursuit to prevent accidents, which allowed the Roman army to escape.

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With the distant fire only lasting less than half an hour and was extinguished without any further movement, it indicated the defeat of their reinforcements.

So the people on Mons Capitolinus could only sigh with frustration.

“O, people of Rome! They should be our reinforcements from our allies since our army is still far away from Hernici and shouldn't arrive so soon!” The clear voice of the older Scipio rang out in the darkness of the night, relieving the disappointed populace.

Meanwhile, Potitus whispered to Maluginensis, “Once…Camillus' army failed to recapture Rome in a short time, the large number of people on the hill would only deplete the food supplies and undermine the morale of the army….cough…”

Despite being in the fourth month of the year, the top of the hill remains cool due to the strong breeze since it is still not summer. Therefore, elderly individuals like Potitus, who were worried about the war and stood by the cliff for half an hour, could no longer endure the cold, despite being wrapped in leather robes and began to experience a runny nose.

“…let's wait for the arrival of Camillus' army and see how the battle goes…” Maluginensis stared at the dark night. Then as if his quarrel with Potitus in the Senate hadn't existed, he comforted him by saying, “Whoever attacked Rome tonight, they had created opportunities for our men to leave the city by taking advantage of the chaos to find Camillus and tell him what is going on inside so that they can be better prepared…”

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Early the following morning, the First and Second Legion soldiers tidied their tents and cleaned up the Roman Forum.

Then the Theonian soldiers gathered the Romans in the Roman Forum, where the sight of fully armed guards surrounding the place made them panicked and uneasy.

It was especially terrible for the people from the slums, who were still traumatised by what they had witnessed yesterday evening: the disastrous defeat of the Roman reinforcements in the battle near the collapsed city wall not far from them. Now that the Theonians forced them to stand at the forefront of the Roman Forum, it was no wonder they were frightened.

Towards noon, when the Romans already crowded the Roman Forum, a salpinx suddenly rang out, and a group of Theonian soldiers dressed in magnificent armour escorted a man wearing shining armour and a flowing plume on top of his helmet. Then the man stepped on the staircase and climbed the high platform before the Senate's entrance.

“That's the king of Theonia?!” The crowd became restless.

Then the Theonian soldiers, surrounding the Forum, simultaneously smacked their sword against their long shield and roared, dousing the gathered Romans with a bucket of cold water, silencing them down. But even with that, the Romans looked at Davos with a gaze that held both fear and hatred.

Davos spoke loudly, ignoring the anger in their eyes, “People of Rome! I am Davos, the King of Theonia and the new owner of this city! I want to bring you to the foot of Mons Capitolinus, where a Roman hero whom I admired died. He is Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, a name I am sure you all know!”

When the interpreters translated Davos' words into Latin and rang out throughout the audience, another commotion suddenly arose within the crowd, with their faces filled with doubt as they had never thought that their enemy, the king of Theonia, would talk about the renowned Marcus Manlius Capitolinus at the start of his speech. As a result, they became more attentive in listening to Davos, with their eyes filled with curiosity.

Davos raised his four fingers and exclaimed emotionally, “Debt! Land! Slavery! Power! These are the four great issues you have faced since the establishment of Rome. You and your ancestors fought persistently for these things against the nobility, threatening to flee Rome multiple times and even paying with your lives numerous times. However, even though Rome has already developed into a city-state with such vast territory from a small village, your situation has barely improved, and you still live in hardship and suffer from the humiliation of the nobles!

Different from the other Roman nobles, Marcus not only defended Rome through his bravery, but he was also able to abandon his arrogance and greed to help you, the plebeians, by paying the debts of more than four hundred of you out of his own pocket, and by appealing loudly in the Senate for the first time to pardon your debts and distribute lands to you…

Did he do that to achieve a particular purpose?! No! He did that for you to enjoy a better life in the city-state! So for that reason, he was willing to betray his origin and become one of you, bravely leading you to fight against the evil Roman nobles! Do you remember what he said to you? ‘I will stand with you unwaveringly as long as you remain steadfast by my side. I, as your defender, shall not falter in the face of fear. You have witnessed how I once faced shackles and abandonment, only to be aided by many of you. Should the enemy dare to act with arrogance, the gods shall intervene. However, we must not rely solely on divine intervention and instead require your unwavering support to prevail…’”

Then, Davos glared at the people and roared, “But, have you done it?! No! You cowered under the nobles' fierce retaliation and believed the Senate's lies, allowing Marcus to be falsely accused and arrested! You had watched the vicious Roman nobles push him down to his death from Mons Capitolinus! Don't you feel ashamed in your hearts?!”

Davos' words made the Romans recall the past event, and a sense of shame surged in their hearts. Soon, a strange sight appeared when the Romans lowered their heads under the questioning of the King of Theonia, who had occupied their homeland.

Despite Davos ordering the army to maintain order among the gathered Roman plebeians, it was inevitable for a few minor nobles and their followers to shout angrily, “Don't listen to the enemy's lies! Don't forget that he had led his army to invade our homes and slaughter our loved ones! The Senate had done nothing wrong as Marcus Manlius Capitolinus was worthy of death as he attempted dictatorship and divided Rome! Now it appeared that he had also conspired with the Theonians, so it is even more deserving for us to dig up his bones and smash them into pieces!”