Chapter 18: Summons (Part 2)
When Calabis swept up his pure black hair with his hands, the hole in his left ear was clearly visible. Cicero was extremely proud, pointed at everyone present, and said: "You must really want to understand, fighting heroes How did Calabis become a citizen? If you look carefully, you can tell from his left ear that he was not born free, but was a slave of the Legion. "
"I was born free, Your Majesty the Consul! I was captured by the Roman legions during the war three years ago and unfortunately became a slave." Calabis put down his hair and protested.
"Apart from the citizens of the Roman city-state, and the descendants of citizens, who else dares to say that he was born free?" Cicero suddenly raised his voice, "You are just a slave from a foreign country, born with a lack of quality and personality, so you do this It is normal for violations of law and discipline to occur.”
"But Rome was only a small city-state built on seven hills at first. Now it has expanded to the entire Apennine Peninsula. The city-state is also constantly expanding, and the citizen groups are also growing. My consul, I hope you will Don't forget that your family was descended from the Volscian barbarian kings and was not a pure Roman. It was not until a hundred years ago that you obtained Roman citizenship. Your father also blocked the implementation of the secret voting system in your hometown. "You are not qualified when it comes to being born free," Calabis said loudly, "When you entered the city of Rome, you were just a knight. Through hard work and hard work, didn't you become a senator and a consul now?" This is the dream of Rome, which is to be inclusive, inspiring and capable. You are the representative of this dream. Now I don't want you to deny the charm and dream of Rome with your own hands in front of so many people here. , you and Catiline actually hold the same view? "
Calabis could only understand that Cicero shifted the focus and emphasized his former slave status in order to give the legal officer and jury the impression of his low status and bad character, thereby promoting the establishment of his crime, and then using He used this as a breakthrough to uncover Crassus and Caesar. Because in Roman law and the consciousness of the people, there was an inherent difference in credibility between the testimony of a noble and the testimony of a slave.
"The city of Alpino where I am located is the first free city in Rome to grant citizenship. I..."
"I think your Excellency, Consul, you should be sitting in the gallery now. I am being interrogated by the judicial officer, not you!" Calabis cut off Cicero's recollection of his family's origins without politeness.
At this time, the entire courtroom was buzzing with discussion, and Cicero was at a loss for words again. He did not expect three things. First, he did not expect that Calabis, a broker, would be so arrogant; second, he did not expect that he would be leading the debate process. , but was frustrated by this guy. You must know that many slaves and foreign free people in the past, under his sharp words, would only yell "I can't hear you clearly" to escape; San did not expect that , this cunning oriental man actually knows his family lineage well and can even attack him with a backhand.
At this time, more and more citizens gathered in front of the court to watch. Many people were talking and arguing, and each side expressed their views on the debate in the court. Until a group of slaves carried a gorgeous sedan chair and wore a Coming through the crowd, Crassus was walking at the front with an unpredictable expression on his face. Immediately, everyone on the field fell silent. Many of them were instinctively afraid of Crassus. In front of the colonnade, Crassus slowly sat down on the parked sedan chair and asked a slave to go to a stall outside the street to buy him a glass of water to drink. Then he said to another slave: "Take that thing right away. Send it in to the defendant in court."
"What if the defendant cannot stand in front of Cicero?" the personal slave asked cautiously.
"You don't need to ask me about this matter. Then cut off the line between the defendant and me and Gaius. Do you need me to teach you how to do it specifically?" The slave nodded, winked at several armed slaves, and left. After leaving, Crassus took the purchased water, took a sip, exhaled, complained about the dry weather, then closed his eyes and rested his mind.
"This is a copy of the contract provided by the legion committee. You can take a look. Before the supervisor appointed by the Roman governor came to Etrunia, this little scale officer named Calabis, alone, By purchasing nine farms rich in barley and wheat, four stone quarries, and five apartment buildings in Fesule at low prices, you are violating Roman law by giving and receiving privately, and according to Neruda and Crow Di's letters, this huge and dirty transaction was led by you, and you also claimed that the behind-the-scenes instructions were the censor Crassus and the high priest Caesar. "At this time in the court, Cicero suffered from occupational disease again. , quickly left the auditorium, rushed to show the evidence, and asked Karabis.
It seems that Neruda and Claudius wanted to shirk responsibility, or that they had secretly colluded with Cicero to deceive themselves.
"I think...by the way, who should I talk to? Your Excellency the Advocate, or to Your Excellency the Archon who is the public prosecutor?" Karabis shouted in confusion, causing everyone present to burst into laughter. , the chief legal officer also coughed twice in embarrassment and motioned for Karabis to continue.
Calabis cleared his throat and continued: "I think everyone present has misunderstood one thing, and that is the relationship between public and private. I am indeed the scale officer of the legion, but this position is before the expedition. The appointment by the Legion Council was fair and reasonable. Privately, I spent millions of sesterces on my property to recruit soldiers, purchase weapons, and help the consul and the Republic put down Catiline's rebellion. Naturally, I wanted to be part of the military supply chain. In business, it is the most common rule in the Roman world to get corresponding returns, just like I once spent 500,000 sesterces to help Julius Caesar run for high priest, and then I got one. This is a decent contracting project. This is a matter of course. Didn’t the two consuls, Cicero and Neruda, have their own sequestres when they were running for office? "At this time, a court attendant gave a wooden board to him? Callabis in the court, then he raised the wooden board and walked to the evidence - the copy of the contract of the Legion Council. He put them up side by side and said, "Look, there are names of the Legion on the copy of the contract." Seal, do you guys in the legion just put the seal easily in order to get the business group to pay for the business, and now in order to slander me, you deny the responsibility and validity of the seal? Also, please respect the legal officer? Look at this." Calabis carried the wooden board that the retinue had just handed in to the legal officers. "This is a document stamped by the censor Crassuga. He has promised in advance to remove the owner of Etrunia. The industry is contracted to me. According to the laws of the Republic, the power of the censor, in addition to compiling the personnel list of citizens, knights and senate, also has the power to review and approve projects contracted to private individuals. I have always abided by the law. Dear legal affairs officers. Officer, this time is no exception.”
"You finally admit the close relationship between you, Crassus and Caesar!" Suddenly, Cato suddenly spoke in the spectators' gallery. (To be continued.)