The two consuls stood up and bent down towards Pompey's seat, "Gnaeus. Pompey, first of all, let us, on behalf of the Roman Senate, wish good luck and good fortune for you and your family! We feel that by doing so, we are praying for the long-term prosperity of our country and the happiness of our city. ”

The crowd in the cloister cheered, and the senators rose from their seats and applauded the consul's words with applause, but Pompey sat there calmly and accepted all this.

"Now, we think we must all agree that the honor of the first speaker today should belong to the great Ganeus, the son of our gods, the first citizen of Rome, the sole consul, and the one who wielded the power of tribunes. Pompey! The archon said this with enthusiasm.

Seeing his adoptive father, Cuarius humbly waved his hand and motioned for the other senators to speak first, but the others did not agree. In the cloister, I don't know who took the lead in shouting: "Pompey! Pompey! ”

Soon, this voice converged into a strong cry, and for a moment the sound of "Pompey" echoed in the Senate like a mountain and a tsunami.

Seeing Pompey slowly standing up straight, Manias quietly touched Cuarius: "Go to Pompey, he will be looking for you soon." ”

Sure enough, before the handsome young man could ask Manias what he meant, Cuarius saw Pompey's gesture to him, and he put the doubt in his stomach and walked quickly to his adoptive father's side.

Pompey led Cuarius, who was in the most precious adolescence of his life, and slowly walked to the podium next to the consul's seat.

"Roman consuls, senators, knights, and citizens, friends from the Gentiles. I do have something to say to you today, many years ago, on that same day. I was recommended by a man to exterminate the pirates and Mithridates VI who refused to submit to us, and that man was my lifelong benefactor, Manilius...... Today, I have also brought with me a young man, who is the benefactor of my life, Cuarius, the son of Manilius. Allow me to take him. The best young man I've ever met is here! ”

This sudden compliment struck young Cuarius like an electric current, and even he, who had been trained as strong as steel since childhood, became a little dazed at this moment. The two archons followed the steps that had been prepared for the battle. Each took him by the hand and carried him to Pompey's side on the podium.

Pompey looked fondly at his adopted son and continued his affectionate speech: "You have given great honor to Manilius, the father of Cuarius, for his generosity. He also made immortal contributions to Rome. When the unfortunate news of his death in the line of duty came. My heart ached as if a piece of flesh had been stripped of me, not only because I had lost a friend, but also because Rome had lost a proud son who would lead her forward in the future! When the most illustrious Roman citizen buried his body in the Champ de Mars, my sorrow, and your love for him, made me feel so gratified that I forgot for a moment the feeling of being in pain. Because I know that he loves you deeply!

Now, however, I do not think Manilius's greatest merit was to elect me to conquer our enemies. Let him fall on his knees before you. It was not the expansion of the vast territory of our country, but the cultivation of Cuarius! This name is given by you to the child. He is unmatched by anyone I have ever met, handsome, brave, eloquent, well versed in Greco-Roman culture, extremely kind, and eager to be respected and loved by you. Now I recommend him to you, and if you think that Rome needs a young man to play, please test him! ”

Amid thunderous applause, Pompey took Cuarius' hand and stood silently on the podium, scanning the crowd around him.

"Hail to the son of Manilius!" Macenas stood up from his patriarchal seat and raised his arms and shouted.

Pompey's heartfelt speech touched the hearts of the people, and the Romans present responded to the words of Maximus with a warm shout, for a moment, "Hail to the son of Manilius!" "Hats off to Cuarius! The shouts resounded over the Senate, as if even the foundations of the building had been shaken. A large number of senators rose from their seats and walked to the podium to kiss Cuarius.

If there is some fear in the respect for Pompey, the respect for Cuarius is relatively pure, because Manilius's conduct made a deep impression on the Romans.

What's more, Manilius died early, and it was more convenient for people to put all kinds of fantasy halos on him, and to create a perfect idol in their hearts, and now they transferred this aura to his son.

Sevious, who was also at the scene, sighed secretly as he saw several senators who were close to him also go to salute Cuarius.

The names "Manilius", "Cuarius", "Cuarius" and "Manilius" are intertwined in his mind. At this moment, his heart is extremely conflicted, such cheers should belong to him!

Now, reality puts a situation in front of Sevius: if he does not support Cuarius, he will be seen as a perfidious villain in Rome, which values honor. Pompey's ingenious arrangement this time was obviously to make his rule in Rome more stable, if he did not fight out of emotion, because he did not understand the direction in which Cuarius's ideas were tilted, maybe after Pompey's death, Rome would have a dictator who firmly grasped the power in his hands, which was exactly what Pompey wanted.

Sevios slowly turned his gaze to his friends sitting around him, the senators sat as firmly seated as he was, but focused their eyes on him, and some of the crowd was already dissatisfied, shouting at their place. Sevios sneered, ignoring the provocative voices coming from the cloister above, and turned his gaze back to the podium: there Cuarius was receiving the blessings of the senators, and although he was polite, he pursed his lips, and his handsome face became a little serious. I didn't get carried away by luck.,On the contrary, it seems to be a little unhappy.。

Sevius carefully watched Cuarius' every move, especially his eyes. He noticed that the young man's demeanor was exactly the same as that of the young Drusu, and then a strange feeling passed through him.

"Bet on it!" Sevios made up his mind, stood up from the senator's seat steadily, and walked down to the bottom of the tower. Seeing his actions, a group of patriarchs around him breathed a sigh of relief and took the same action as their leader. As he walked towards Cuarius, the small group of senators had been disturbed by the louder and louder shouts and whistles of the populace against them, which had gradually become threatening.

"Son of noble Manilius. Accept the blessing of one of your father's most loyal to you, handsome Cuarius! Sevios exclaimed.

"Thank you." There was only a three-word answer, which made Sevios secretly more sure.

"I said something to your father while he was standing here. My friend. Do you want to know what it's about? ”

"Dear Elder Sevious, I would like to know the Tao very much, and if you can, please tell me." Cuarius respectfully bowed to his father's former men.

"I said to him at that time, now people call you Pompey's benefactor, and I hope that one day they will call you with more glorious titles! I am glad that he did—your father was later no longer called Pompey's benefactor, but 'the pride of the city of Rome'. ”

"That's today. As a respected patriarch and a dear friend of my father, you are willing to be a son of a good friend of yours who is younger than you. Do you want to say something about it? Cuarius raised his head and said with a serious expression.

"Well, then, I will say to you that your father will no longer be called the benefactor of Pompey, but 'the proud man of the city of Rome,' and I hope that in the future people will say of your father again, 'Ah, he is the 'father of Cuarius'!"

After Sevius had said this, he gracefully turned and walked back to his senator's seat, pretending not to see the eyes of Pompey, who had suddenly become sharp, and that the sole consul of Rome had stared at him fiercely, which had not appeared in Pompey's eyes for a long time. This is not a threatening gaze, Pompey has never threatened people in recent years, just exhortation, and if it does not work, punishment will follow.

"The seed has been planted, it's up to it to germinate." Although Sevios pretended not to notice the fierce light in Pompey's eyes, he actually had a cold shiver in his heart. He had to take the risk - there had been dictators in Rome before, like Sulla, but none of them had passed down the dictatorship, and as the leader of the few senators in the Senate who was not controlled by Pompey, he thought it was his duty not to let Pompey set this precedent, and now he could only count on the sense of honor of the youth.

On the podium was a dignified senator, handpicked by Maximnas, who was also known for his oratorical skills among the Roman senators whose everybody was adept at oratory.

Although he was not as good as Pompey's speech, he told a short story of Manilius's hardships with his soldiers in bad weather, his command on the battlefield, and his noble character from another perspective. The patriarch also praised Cuarius in vivid language for his talent and good character, and he gave anecdotes about the life of Manilius's son, and even told him that he had secretly written a Greek comedy, which aroused the admiration of the audience; And this surprised Cuarius, who could not believe his ears - the patriarch actually knew about it!

The speaker's ebullient words brought the mood of the people to another climax, and as soon as he finished speaking, Macenas gave a standing ovation and motioned to the two archons with his eyes that it was time for them to appear.

At this moment, there was a commotion in the crowd, and Macenas looked towards the entrance, where the former patriarch, the blind Mamakurides, trembled and walked in with the support of his son, the little pony.

"Honorable Consul, I beg to speak!" Upon entering the hall, Mamakurides raised his hand.

The archons looked at Marcenas in a bit of a bewilderment, they didn't know what Radaugalus would say, and if something unexpected happened, they would have to worry about their future "money". At the end of their term of office, the consuls were traditionally assigned to the two wealthy provinces of Africa and Asia to serve as governors, and once they became very rich. Historically, even Cicero, who was the most incorruptible governor of the poorest Silesian province after leaving office, also acquired a fortune of more than a million Sesteres during his tenure.

Macenas was overjoyed, and this unexpected gift had come at a better time! He hurriedly winked in agreement.

"The people of Rome, the colleagues of the Senate. You may not know the way, but just yesterday, because of the loss of light, I was a poor creature who despaired of life; And today, I have a hope for a better tomorrow - all because Pompey and his appearance Cuarius came to my house!

I have opposed Pompey's opinion on many occasions in the Senate, and have anonymously circulated pamphlets satirizing him. The poems in it would have been glaring to a good-natured Roman. And Pompey, though he tried his best to refute its contents, did not track down the author, but only smiled and said, 'It is recommended that the author of a pamphlet slandered by a pseudonym be published in the future.' Let everyone know who he is.'" I don't have to say a word of thanks to Pompey, though he saved me from my miserable situation. For, with his generosity and exalted position, there is no need for my gratitude at all. What I'm going to say is. Pompey's grandson, the son of Manilius, whom everyone praised. Kind Cuarius!

Can you imagine? A vigorous young man, from yesterday afternoon to evening, accompanied a blind skeleton in a gloomy room, and kept comforting him with words, telling jokes to relieve his boredom, and feeding him fruit; And as Pompey's grandson, there are countless family make-up banquets looking forward to his visit, and his lovers must have longed for him to accompany him, but he spends all his time with an old man he never knows. I would like to ask, the young people of Rome who are here. Can you do it?

Today, I've heard it said. Pompey had brought the young man to the Senate, and was introducing him to the people of Rome, and I insisted on coming here, despite the objections of the doctors, just to tell you that there was such a good young man in Rome!

My friends, if you remember my friendship, please transfer it to Cuarius! I also want to say to my family: If you turn your back on this favor in the future and do something sorry to Pompey and his family, especially the venerable young man of Cuarius, I will crawl out of the grave to condemn you, even if I have died! That is my statement, and I thank the Archons for giving me the opportunity to speak earlier. ”

Mamakurides stepped down from the podium and groped his way to Cuarius, whose face was flushed with shame. Old Gallus embraced him and said softly, "Bless you, young Cuarius. ”

Taking advantage of the effect of Galus's speech, the two archons looked at each other and stepped onto the podium side by side.

"Distinguished senators, according to the latest law, only Romans over the age of twenty-five can begin public office. Today we're - Gaiyo? Sorinas and Gaio? Assinias, the consul of the city of Rome, proposed that the Senate break this convention and appoint Cuarius, who was not yet of this age, as the treasurer of the city of Rome! If there is no objection, I shall now give the floor to the distinguished senators to vote. ”

This proposal was swiftly adopted by the Senate without any opposition, and the two consuls diligently draped a purple-trimmed toga over Cuarius.

The handsome young man had no idea that he would be the protagonist of the day, and he was so surprised by the series of events that he was afraid that even a few thunderbolts in a row would not have been more astonished than he was now feeling in his heart. But none of this was shown on his face, and like every Roman nobleman, he was in the habit of taking everything in stride from an early age.

"Since it is the decision of the Senate, as a Roman citizen, I will obey its orders and do my duty." Cuarius spoke briefly to the senators that this was the first time he had spoken as a Roman official.

Pompey looked at his performance with satisfaction, and then he stepped up to the podium again: "Dear friends, as you all know, as a treasurer, in addition to managing public funds, monitoring military finances, and stopping the waste of military spending, one of his duties is to supervise the competition. The festival of the god of the sea is approaching, and I hereby announce: in addition to the national feast, my cousin Cuarius will pay for an unprecedented grand show, and every Roman citizen will be able to feast for free for a week and enjoy all kinds of entertainment. ”

As soon as the news was announced, the mood of the Romans in the cloisters reached a boiling point, which was tantamount to a week-long free drinking feast, many theatrical performances, gladiator brawls, racing and boxing matches......

Some well-informed citizens had heard yesterday afternoon that Pompey would announce the good news to the public at the Senate today, and they had arrived early to wait for it to be announced—for for them any war, any rebellion, any threat, was something far away, and that the coming festive revelry was the most tempting thing for them.

When Macenas had arranged for his subordinates among the people to take the lead in supporting Pompey with shouts, many people enthusiastically echoed it with such a mood.

And Wang Weiyi, who had been watching what was happening here at this moment, finally knew why Pompey wanted to bring himself here.

Look at it, you have to pay for the Poseidon Festival out of your own pocket! (To be continued......)