Canis Domesticus

Forum Phase, Sixth Initiative and Population Phase

Consul Nominations due 10/23, Tuesday

Forum Phase

Persuasion Attempts

None

Games Sponsorship

None

Knight Attraction

Population Phase

Valerius addresses the People of Rome:

"Citizens of Rome!

"As is our ancient custom, I, the acting Rome Consul, stand before you, the people of Rome, to describe the state of our glorious Republic. Since the Treasury has 192 t, the population is well fed and entertained, and peace has reigned here for decades I can tell you, the state of the Republic is good but for one thing. Carthage.

"I have just received word that Carthage has declared war on us. Our standing army of four legions is woefully outnumbered by the ten standing Punic legions so we must recruit and train more men. Worse yet, we must first build and man a fleet to carry the war to the enemy. This means we may not have the resources to both sweep the seas and crush the enemy forces this year before they will be reinforced next year. On the bright side, our allies who have suffered the cruelties and arrogance of Carthage have pledges us 50 t for the war effort, but, it unfortunately will not arrive until next year's campaign.

"Some of my political enemies, chiefly Lucius Cornelius Podex, have spread rumors impugning my dignitas by noting how convenient it is that Rome needs fleets and that I own the sole shipyard. I state now that I will donate half of my profits back to the State or hold games with them for the duration of the Punic crisis. I have persuaded my lifelong Junius to pledge to do likewise with the profits from his armament monopoly.

"As we are only being attacked by one war, I see no need of a Dictator at this time, but that decision is up to the new Consuls.

"In short, people of Rome, Carthage has declared war on us. It will strain the Republic's resources for the next few years to defeat her, but we have good generals anxious to command our fine troops and I'm confident they will succeed and bring treasure to the State coffers and new lands under Rome's sway. The Senate will debate the question shortly. The matter of who the next Consuls must be must await the resolution of the debate on war strategy.

"May the gods save the Republic or Rome!"

TDR = 9. The people are not pleased, unrest level increases by 2.

Press

Manlius addresses the Senate: Honored sirs. I propose we attack Carthage now with all available strength while they are weak. They only get stronger if we wait. A dictator would enable us to finish off both land and sea battles in one turn. If we delay, we face a 1st Punic war which would be double in size and a 2nd Punic war of immense size. If we delay, and only attack the naval battle, the best we could hope for would be to win that this year. Next year we finish the 1st Punic land battle and the year after that we win the 2nd Punic war. Three years to take out two wars. That is all very optimistic in that no disaster or standoff results. Also, what happens should a manpower shortage occur? Or evil omens? Or a leader? Or Jupiter forbid another war pop up. We have been handed a singular opportunity to rid Rome of its most pernicious war and the only cost is a dictator. A dictator we would have to appoint next year if we let the Punic War go for this year.

I know I speak out of turn, but when the consuls are named, if Cunctator wins election then he cannot be named dictator. We need to make the decision now whether we go the route of Dictator and seize the opportunity that fate has lent us to cripple the CArthage problem. Act now for the good of Rome. It appears the decision lies with Valerius.

Factions

Senators

Senators

Senators

Senators

Senators

Note: Senators in bold are Faction Leaders. Senators in italics are not in Rome.

Rome

Active Forces

Land Bills

Forum

General Items:

Allied Enthusiasm

Stlorms at Sea

Claudius (Military 2, Oratory 3, Loyalty 7, Influence 4)

Inactive Wars

Active Wars

Unprosecuted Wars

Curia