"We have sails, and none of the enemy can escape." - Anthony before the Battle of Actium

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After speaking, Li Bida flipped through the fragments left by the deceased, about three books, two of which should be close to completion, and opened the title, naturally "The Conspiracy of Catiline" and "The War of Juguda", "These two books have reached the stage where they can be paid, aren't they?" Li Bida asked the booksellers who were standing aside.

At that time, the reading industry in the Mediterranean world was very prosperous, and figures like Celeste, publishers, books on nature or history would be in high demand before they were published—the great booksellers everywhere would ask for their permission to write at very popular prices, and then they would take a large sum of money to run the paper after publication.

But now that Celeste is dead, the bookseller's investment will inevitably be in deficit, so in the face of Li Bida's inquiry, they wept and nodded together.

Li Bida smiled and said that it doesn't matter, I will give you another 500,000 Cestricks, hire more transcribing slaves, finish these two books, and let them be published, "Gold should not be buried in the gravel, Celeste's language is exquisite and elegant, the narrative is smooth, and it is a rare classic written in Latin." In addition, if it is released, you can make up for your shortfall, right? ”

These words made the booksellers, who were in a desperate situation, ecstatic, "but there are still a few broken articles left." ”

"If you don't mind, I have slaves who specialize in writing, and are very good at imitating the rhetoric and style of famous artists." Li Bida hinted very clearly. "If only the rest could be completed. I will feel a great honour. I'll give you another 300,000 Cesdes. ”

"Yes, yes, not only did I give such generous conditions, but I was also willing to send someone to assist in the work of the manuscript, I am really grateful, how could a contemptible person refuse it so unknowingly?" The fat bookseller who took the lead rubbed his hands excitedly and said.

"However, when the first qiē is finished, you must pay the full amount of your remuneration to Celest's widow, Lenchat." Li Bida asked majestically. Then he summoned Matthias, "and the couple have also inquired about their properties in Rome and Italy, and have kept them safe—and from my private possessions, give them another 300,000 to poor Lenchard, and ensure that her husband will be given a state funeral and enter the cemetery of the Temple of the God of War." ”

After the bookseller had withdrawn satisfied, Li Bida summoned Matthias over and spread out the rest of the manuscript to him. ，。 Wait for the master, there is still one? ”

"That's right, it seems that Celeste has really preserved a lot of good things in the past thirty years." After Li Bida glanced at it slightly, he raised them one by one, "This is the article that Yulia's grandfather published at the people's meeting when he was an archon, attacking the aristocratic party; Rather, it was a rebuttal speech made by Turinus's stepfather to Yulia's grandfather in the Senate; Pompey's letter is a good thing, he was beaten by the one-eyed general in Spain that year, this letter is all the content of his begging for assistance from the Temple of Concord, Mattia, can you imagine the helpless wording of the great Pompey in the letter? Finally, there is the letter of my dead father-in-law, who was miserably banished by my lord in Minor, three years before I came into this world—well, aside, this is the letter of Mithridates asking for help from Parthia. Speaking of this, Li Bida's feelings were a little excited, "There is also the correspondence between Celester and Caesar, which talks about many issues of state affairs. Yes, Celeste was a real talent, and although his appearance in politics and the military was mediocre, he was a true historian. He had the whole history of the Republic of the first thirty years, and there was a fragment at the end, which was the book that Celeste had written only three volumes, and it looked as if Caesar had instructed him to write it, and it was written from the year of Sulla's death—so Matthias now have an idea. ”

Upon hearing this, Matthias immediately took out the word board and crochet pen, and respectfully prepared to record his master's thoughts, "Marcus. Varro is so old, so old that I don't know how many years he will live, and when Caesar was still alive, he was entrusted with sorting out the books of all Rome, and now you are going to recruit professional men to tie up all the manuscripts and letters of Celeste, and send them to his manor in Phomia. In addition, I intend to use what I have obtained to build a building that is even grander than Pompeii, Crassus, and Caesar, in order to show my existence with the family of Aemilius in the city of Rome. ”

"And the grandeur of the building -- yes, please go on." Matthias's hook pen never stopped.

"It was a library greater than the one burned down by Alexandria, Pompey bequeathed to the people a great theater of Greek style, and Caesar left a new temple of love and beautiful gardens, and I gave it to the state, and it was to be filled with Greek and Latin scrolls, history, philosophy, architecture, mathematics and astronomy, and poetry, from the elegant schools to the graffiti of the street poets, and so on, and of course for the sake of unity, the codification committee was to be established from my hands, The Romans were to be given the representation to Varro, and the Greeks to Tyranion—and besides, I want the men who know how high and low in the city of Athens, Horace and Virgil, to live well, and let them serve as my slaves for the rest of their lives, and carry on this cause to the end. I'm going to show it in a panoramic way, Rex. How the descendants of Leus trekked from the Empire of Seris to the Apennines, and how they rose to prominence step by step, I must be with the history of these thirty years. ”

Matthias, who quickly copied it, stamped it with the seal of the High Priest and King Numa's ring, bowed and left the tent of the command post, while Matthias carefully took it back, wrapped it in silk, and gently lifted a "model of the temple" on the small table, and when the "roof" was opened, it was a storage box, and put the tablet in it properly.

After nightfall, when the rest of the commanders had ordered Zuodu to leave, Li Bida was a little tired but in a good mood and sat on the circle chair, looking at the "little temple" where the storage was kept, and a smile could not help but appear on the corner of his mouth, and he began to understand Caesar more and more, when a man said, "I want the swamp to be drained, I want the isthmus to be opened, I want the hills to be flattened to contain my temple, my theater and my ship", "I can do these things with a finger of my hand", this person is the ancient "god", the omnipotent "god".

And ascending to the altar is the thing that every man hopes for the most.

Thinking about it, Li Bida couldn't help but slowly stretch out his fingers, pointed to the green smoke swirling on the altar, and took a deep breath. (To be continued......)