Guerra, guerraterribile! ）

- Virgil (one of the three great poets of ancient Rome)

The good news brought back by the cavalry made the atmosphere in the square begin to become more than mere sadness, at least the people of Rome saw a glimmer of light in the darkness; At least they knew that Hannibal was not invincible. Since General Oscar could annihilate Hannibal's elite army of more than 5,000 with a new army of recruits, he could naturally lead more Roman soldiers to greater victories.

So, Sevios took the opportunity to step forward to the podium; Speaking to the people who were shocked by this sudden victory, he said: "There is never a real hopelessness in life, and so is the fate of the country. No matter how many hardships they have suffered, no matter how many hardships they have experienced, as long as there is still a seed of faith in the hearts of every people of the republic, then one day, the republic will be able to get out of the predicament and let the victory finally belong to us.

What is victory? It is not a rhetorical plan, nor is it a perfunctory excuse; It is the ultimate gathering place of one's own beliefs and ideals, happiness, faith for oneself, faith for one's wife and children, faith for one's family, and faith for the republic; With faith, we can work hard, fight, struggle, and get the victory we want!

Every country's path to rise may be different; But I believe that the rise of every country requires the efforts and struggles of all the people of this nation who want to succeed. And every road to rise is full of ups and downs; Only those nations that firmly believe in their own goals and keep working hard and constantly struggle can achieve ultimate victory. But there is one thing I have always believed; That is, when every person in a nation can fight for the rise and fall of his own nation and country, the nation and country will eventually rise! ”

This time, there is Oscar's big victory ahead; Hundreds of thousands of Romans cheered Sevious' words of encouragement with the warmest cheers. The clouds of war and the fog of defeat seemed to be dispelled by the cheers of victory; The pride and self-confidence that belonged to the Romans are back! After saying these words, Sevios went down and invited his father, the High Priest Decius, to the podium.

Decius, who is 60 years old this year, is already full of gray hair, and after the ups and downs of this day, he is getting more and more tired; However, the people of Rome needed him. For he was the high priest of the Romans, the closest of all to the Roman gods; He stepped up to the podium, holding a scepter in his left hand, and pushed his eldest son away with his right hand. Then, straighten your waist; To the people in the square, he said:

"Sons of Rome, I am your high priest Decius; I'm 60 years old this year. Sixty years of life are rare, and there are not many people who can live to be sixty years old; So, I've been through many, many things in those sixty years. These things taught me a truth: life has to go on no matter what. Sometimes hurt and failure are not necessarily a bad thing, it makes us better, and it is also true for the country. Everything will turn out to be a good thing in the end, as long as we can persevere to the end.

The process of great victory is always full of difficulties and ups and downs. Sometimes we do nothing because we don't have a clear purpose or a clear purpose. But there is another situation in which the opportunity passes away because of our own withdrawal, our "intimate" compromise with ourselves, and the lack of the will to stay the course. In the face of difficulties, setbacks, and challenges, as long as we are willing to believe in ourselves and continue to work hard, even if our current life is starting from scratch, we can do it.

We must not get used to failure, because you must know that physical exhaustion is not real exhaustion; Mental exhaustion is real fatigue. On the road to victory, there will definitely be defeats; For failure, we must look at and treat it correctly, and if we are not afraid of failure, we will succeed; Those who are afraid of failure are useless and will fail even more. Fate is a very ethereal thing, some people believe in fate, go to the top of the tower, or fall to the bottom of the cliff. Some people want to change their lives against the sky, but the chances of success are the same as the gods descending; But as long as we have the perseverance and keep going, one day, the future will no longer be a gray fog.

Each pearl is originally a grain of sand, but not every grain of sand can become a pearl. If you want to stand out, you must have the capital to stand out from the crowd. If you can't bear the blows and setbacks, and if you can't bear the neglect and insipidity, it will be difficult to achieve glory. If everyone wants to be reused and successful, they must turn themselves from a grain of sand into a priceless pearl; The same is true for countries. If every nation and nation wants to win, everyone must do their best for their country.

No wealth, no weapons, no army, no allies and support, none of this is terrible. Without wealth, we can create it through hard work; Without weapons, we can forge through time and sweat; Without an army, we can each of us stand up and form a legion; Without the support of our allies, we can become the strongest ourselves. However, no dreams and no beliefs are the most terrible, and it is the fear that makes people want to escape!

Today, we have suffered a great defeat in Sicily; This is not something unacceptable. Our republic started out as a small city; From the city of Rome to the Latin provinces, to the Kingdom of Rome, and finally to the current Republic. In the history of 1,500 years, we Romans have experienced many failures, difficulties and setbacks; Why are so many countries and nations lost in the long river of history, while we in Rome are still standing?

Not because we have a strong army, nor because we have a mountain of wealth, and still less because we have the support of our allies; Rather, we have the faith of our own nation, which is our soul, the soul of Rome! What is the Soul of Rome? Surely you haven't heard of this word; However, these are things that are firmly engraved in our bones and in our blood.

The so-called soul of Rome is our simple and vigorous national character; The patriotic spirit of advocating virtue, loyally and courageously defending the country, and being willing to sacrifice, and the concept of the rule of law of strict discipline and order. Everything in us is our Roman soul! I myself have summarized the soul of Rome in three specific characteristics: pragmatism, discipline, order, the rule of law, and the unification of extraordinary management skills, loyalty.

The first is pragmatism, which is expressed in our social life customs, architecture and art, natural science, etc. In every Roman family in the Republic, the head of the family had absolute authority over his wife and children, and could execute his adulterous wife at will, or sell his children into slavery. Before the rise of school, children's education was mainly dependent on the family. Women are taught by their mothers to manage their families, while men are to develop the qualities of bravery, seriousness, piety, and simplicity. This kind of tutoring gave the Roman citizens of the Republic a rustic and pragmatic spirit.

We Romans are very practical and everything that develops in the process has a practical color. We are inferior to the Greeks in terms of creativity in theory, not as open to pleasure as the Egyptians, and less casual in life than in Gaul; However, Rome's science and technology still made great achievements in the applied sciences such as construction, agronomy, military, surveying, and medicine. This is because we are a pragmatic people.

secondly, discipline, order, legal system, and have a unified and extraordinary management ability; All officials in the Roman Republic were elected by the Senate Council. The function of the Senate was to elect high officials and to declare war on foreign countries. We have formulated relatively sound and complete laws, and our legal theories are also very developed, which is the great spirit we have brought to the world. We drafted and promulgated the Law of the Twelve Tables, which is a summary of previous customary law. In the form of a method, the aristocracy's monopoly on legal knowledge and judicial power was broken, and the interests of the common people were protected. This is unique in the history of the world.

Finally, it is our loyalty; Our Rome began as a small settlement on the banks of the Tiber River in the Apennine Peninsula, established a republic 1,500 years ago, and after centuries of foreign expansion, it has developed from a small city-state to a state that rules the entire Apennine Peninsula. We loved fighting, and every one of our Roman citizens was a warrior who was proficient in combat. The bravery of the fighters in the struggle is one of the reasons for the rapid rise of our country.

Therefore, we only need to have the soul of Rome that belongs to us; What is there that we cannot overcome? Even if the future Oscar still can't beat Hannibal, it's not a big deal; As long as we Romans exist, Carthage will eventually submit to our Rome. This is our time, and any nation and state will be the result of the Romans; All for Rome. Long live Rome! ”

Decius's words are truly revealed; Even the patriarchs behind him were proud and proud of his words. Yes, we are great Romans, we have the soul of Rome that has been passed down for thousands of years; We will eventually be the protagonists of this world. When it comes to deep affection, Decius can't help but feel impassioned in his heart; He vigorously raised the scepter in his left hand and shouted "Long live Rome"!

At this moment, the square outside the Senate became a sea of cheers; Everyone forgot about the decisive battle of the crushing defeat and the critical situation of the battle. All are immersed in the pride and pride that belong to the Romans, this is our time for the Romans! The "Viva Rome" soon converged into a neat sound; The heavens of the Romans did not fall!

Tonight's performance of Decius is not only amazing, but more people are skeptical and afraid; This old fox's stupidity must be all fake, there must be some earth-shattering conspiracy! No wonder he has always done things that have made people talk about it behind his back since he became a high priest; It turns out that it's all a purposeful disguise! So, why did Decius disguise himself like this?

This question is not only the doubt in the hearts of ordinary senators, but also the puzzle of the brothers Sevius and Marcus; You know, their father didn't tell them anything about it! Even, they themselves felt that their father had become deaf because of old age; Unexpectedly, these are simply disguises!

On the occasion of this eventful season, the apparent crisis was temporarily resolved; But there were even more doubts in the hearts of the people.