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A potential pre-emptive strike against the Seleucids?
 
Qq

re: Enewald. Carthage is paying tribute to Egypt, and Egypt has hundreds of triremes. It would be suicide!

re: Qorten. Pullus was a weird consul. Came out of nowhere, kinda sucky, but did really well. He gets into a bit of fun later on, but I can't remember where he finally ends up. As far as imperial stuff, well, Rome is getting big (Gaul made a difference), but the Republic is still working as far as government goes.

re: JDMS. Yes! Here comes Falto!

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Mamercus Aemilius Papus


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At 43 years old, Mamercus Aemilius Papus was an arrogant man who all too well knew his family's prestigious past. Having returned from Gaul, where he had steadfastly served in the conquest of that vast country, the utterly uncharismatic Papus was unsure what a consul was meant to do other than keep the still-strong populists at bay. Papus had served under previous consuls, such as Faustus Fabius Licinus, who had taken extraordinary steps against the populists to prevent a repeat of the civil wars of the past. Although he was essentially an honest man, and although the threat of civil war had receded greatly, Papus was convinced that the populists were the greatest threat facing Rome and that the Republic should use all means, legal or otherwise, to crush them. With that in mind, Papus ruthlessly pursued his enemies.

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Chief among them was Marcus Aemilius Paullus, whose career had been in tatters since he was dismissed as dux of Belgica. Paullus nevertheless remained prominent due to his membership in the prestigious Aemilii family, and had a dangerously-large group of senators backing him in the senate. The various and contentious moderate candidates for the office had only the slimmest of leads over the populist contender. After attending to a fire in the temple, which coincidentally burned on 7 November 598 AVC when the dumb Papus set foot in the building, Papus ordered guards in Rome to imprison Paullus's patron Publius Quinctius Claudius during a triumph being held for the legate Sextus Julius Libo. Leadership of the populists passed to Appius Claudius Caudex, a rather charmless 18-year-old. To secure his position while issuing these heavy-handed orders, Paullus continued to bestow favors upon leaders of other faction leaders, following up the triumph for Libo with an elevation of Spurius Pomponius Matho to dux of Dalmatia. The populists crumbled to twenty-nine senators.

On 20 April 599 AVC, Papus increased the pressure on Paullus, smearing his reputation by blaming him for the fires in Rome. Papus's public denunciation of Paullus created discontent among those who knew better, and a group of moderate politicians united to condemn Papus for his heavy-handedness. Only two weeks went by before Papus retaliated: the governor Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus was replaced by Gnaeus Claudius Canina, a son of the former consul who had died in the first temple fire; the governor who had replaced Paullus, Tertius Fabius Licinus, was replaced as well; and the legate the two governors had hoped to arouse against Papus, Quintus Pomponius Matho of the Legio II Illyria, was bribed to desert the conspiracy. These steps ended any chance Paullus had of protecting himself from Papus, and when the temple burned a third time on 2 June 599 AVC, Papus had Paullus arrested and imprisoned. Although the populists were still a major faction in the senate, Papus had ensured that no populist leader had any chance of becoming consul.

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For the rest of his tenure as consul, Papus primarily attended to military matters in Gaul. Mettius Valerius Falto was made praetor, allowing Papus to appoint propraetor Lucius Junius Pullus, a brother of the proconsul, as a legate. Papus chose to retire his friend Sextus Julius Libo, giving the legion over to the brilliant Pullus. As legate, Pullus immediately destroyed the Paesuri, a barbarian tribe that had been threatening the Republic, adding to the celebrations on 1 January 600 AVC, Rome's glorious six hundredth year. Although the Republic had suffered defeats in the east, it had expanded far beyond Italia over its six centuries, gaining colonies in the east, lordship over Gaul, and the fealty of Greek city-states such as Athens and Sparta. Although Rome was somewhat unstable due to the stresses of the expansion, the Republic had resisted the lure of dictatorship, and showed every sign of remaining political viable into the future despite the challenges of governing so much territory. The system of senators, governors and consul was working despite the rise of increasingly-powerful legates.

While he gave much attention to his favored Gaul, Papus generally ignored the east, where the Seleucid Empire was indicating that it intended to complete its conquest of Pontus. Papus's inattention gave opportunities to other political elements in Rome. The populists managed to regain several senators under their new leader, increasing to thirty-five in number. More important was the return of Quintus Valerius Falto to the political scene. The immensely popular censor, who had been as consul a benefactor to Marcus Aemilius Paullus and who had opposed the political destruction of his friend, angrily criticized Papus for letting the Seleucid Empire regain its strength. Now that Falto was eligible to run for consul once again, the disunity of the moderate factions vanished, and he reclaimed the consulship after overwhelming defeating the previously-favored Marcus Pytheus Stratius, son of the Greek hero, on 28 September 600 AVC.​
 
I have never had the misfortune of getting a populist civil war. It's always my stinkin' legates that do it. I had one kick off yesterday 1 day before the month that would have given me the cash for a triumph.
 
re: Enewald. Yeah, the expansion into Sarmatia and Dacia has given me a lot of strategic depth versus the Seleucids. We'll see how that goes.

re: naggy. When my legates get disobedient, I hope right on that. They're too dangerous to displease. Sometimes, instead of a triumph, they just get replaced if their term is up.

re: loki100. Two good consuls, if you count the authoritarian Papus as good. Pullus went surprisingly well.

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Quintus Valerius Falto


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On 28 September 600 AVC, Quintus Valerius Falto returned to the position of consul. The incredibly popular politician who had reformed the Republic along patrician lines twelve years prior, and who had served capably as censor, rallied his mercantile faction with rhetoric of war with the Seleucid Empire. Unlike the many other senators who gave speeches on the eastern threat to gain advantage over their adversaries, the aggressive and proud Falto, who was born in Maedi, a province long ago conquered by the Greeks, meant what he said. At 58 years old, he was still a man of broad ability, and he had earned experience fighting in the barbarian wars in Iberia with his ally Sextus Julius Libo, the leader of the mercantile faction. As consul, he was determined to transform the Republic once more - this time, by putting an end to the Greek threat to Rome.

Falto's first order of business was to find a replacement for the office of censor, and so he supported the election of the well-regarded Lucius Junius Pullus. Pullus commanded a legion in Sparta, and Falto knew he would have to rely on the former consul when war broke out in the east. Falto made certain as well to not repeat the mistakes of Papus, and worked to not ignore problems in the west. On 2 October 600 AVC, it was verified that Carthage was once again paying tribute to Rome. Later, on 6 November 600 AVC, Falto's son Mettius Valerius Falto, commander of the Legio IV Roma, destroyed the Lugii barbarians near Eburones and founded a colony at Treveri, shoring up the western border. It was hoped that the presence of the Legio IV Roma would keep the Eburones in line. These steps could not have been completed soon enough, for on 8 May 601 AVC, the vast armies of the Seleucid Empire marched across the border into Pontus.

Unwilling to act rashly, Falto's next steps in finalizing the war plans were careful ones. The governor of Roman Macedonia died, giving Falto the opportunity to give the critical office to an ally, Secundus Ogulnius Gallus. Falto also knew he would need generals in what could be a long war, and so he arranged for Xanthippus Pytheid, the shrewd Greek son of the hero by the same name, to be elected praetor. Propraetor Mettius Valerius Falto, Falto's corrupt but brilliant brother, was subsequently installed as a legate. To lay the groundwork for the planned invasion, Falto sent agents across the border as well. Tertius Fabius Licinus met with Seleucid generals such as Bayad Menid to turn them against the emperor. Once across the border, Licinus remained in Thracia and Bithynia, where he organized and led pro-Roman revolts. As a reward to the Fabii for this dangerous service, Falto made Manius Fabius Pictor a governor of the new Roman colony in Tarraconensis.

When former consul Faustus Fabius Licinus died at the age of 66 on 29 October 601 AVC, Falto took the funeral as a moment to review his plans. Everything was leading up to an assault in late spring upon Seleucid Greece. However, when the Seleucids seized several city-states in the Kingdom of Pontus during the winter, Falto moved up his plans. On 20 February 602 AVC, with only a few months left as consul, Falto dispatched an emissary to declare war. The Republic issued two demands to the enemy - first, that the Latin cities of Triballi be turned over to Rome, and second, that the empire withdraw from the Kingdom of Pontus. When the Seleucids inevitably refused, Falto ordered the attack to begin.

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After confirming that the Egyptians had indeed joined Rome in the war against the Seleucid Empire, Falto was confronted almost immediately with a political problem. The senate, alarmed at the pace of events, demanded that some leaderless legions be assigned legates, forcing Falto to appoint the populist Gaius Atilius Regulus to command Faustus Fabius Licinus's old legion. The disloyal Regulus was ordered to march the Legio VI Sicilia into Macedonia. To ensure that Regulus did not betray the Republic, Falto offered him titles and money, making him an Augur and a Pontifex and giving him a large sum of gold. Meanwhile, in Crobobizi, a Seleucid army crossed the river and was confronted by Titus Sempronius Sophus. Sophus, a man who had previously been dismissed in disgrace as governor of Dalmatia and who served without distinction as praetor after that, destroyed the enemy army, suffering only a few dozen casualties to the thousands lost by the Greeks.

Falto was unable to celebrate this victory for long. His work in the west had apparently been insufficient to keep the barbarians in line, and on 30 March 602 AVC, Arminius Dagaricid of the Eburones came to Rome to say that his people would no longer send tribute to the Republic. Enranged, the cruel Falto had the barbarian cast into the dungeons. On 27 April 602 AVC, the Seleucids advanced into the Peloponnese, meeting the Legio III Gallia at Argolis. Lucius Junius Pullus was badly defeated then by the strategos Aesillas Arid, and was forced to engage in a cowardly retreat merely to stay alive. After this defeat, the emboldened barbarians in Eburones declared war on Rome. Falto, his rage undimmed, had the barbarian messenger Godomar Geroldid executed, and then ordered his son Mettius Valerius Falto to subjugate the Gauls. The Legio IV Roma sacked Atrebates on 10 July 602 AVC, Nervii a month later, and forced Eburones to surrender both provinces and become a tribute state once more on 27 August 602 AVC.

The situation in the south was steady, but Falto needed more soldiers in Greece, so he ordered Quintus Pomponius Matho to take the Legio II Illyria off its post on the Danube and march it into Maedi. Meanwhile, the defeated Pullus once again confronted Aesillis Arid at Argolis. This time, despite losing three soldiers for every one lost by the Greeks, Pullus won the day, forcing the Seleucids to abandon their invasion of the Peloponnese.

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Despite Roman successes west of the Bosphorus, and despite an agreement with the Kingdom of Pontus that its soldiers could retreat into Roman soil if need be, things were looking grim in Asia. Unable to keep up the fight, Pontus surrendered on 18 August 602 AVC, ceding the city-state of Amisus to Seleucia and giving the empire access to the sea at Trapezus. Falto, undeterred, resolved to keep up the fight against the enemy. Rome's triremes, sporting new Archer Platforms, kept the Asian hordes bottled up in Bithynia. The legions, confronted once again with the powerful city walls of the cities of Greece but with control of the countryside ensured, settled in for long, slow sieges to wear the enemy down.

During this time, Falto was distracted by other concerns. Despite being a patrician, he had consistently outmaneuvered the populists in attracting the support of the plebes, and did so again during the summer of 602 AVC by allowing the creation of Plebeian Nobility. For much of Falto's tenure, the mercantile faction maintained its strong lead over the populists, even sporting fifty senators at one point. Although there was a minor scandal on 6 September 602 AVC in which one of Falto's rivals was prosecuted for engaging in electoral fraud and Falto vengefully spread rumors about his enemies, the mercantile faction remained dominant. Nevertheless, Falto's political successes in Rome came faster than his hoped-for military successes in Greece. He left office with the war unfinished, passing the consulship to his ally Sextus Julius Libo.​
 
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Well, this war seems to be going much better than the last.
 
Could this be the turning point? Might Rome finally defeat the dastardly Greek and Asian horde?
*crosses fingers*
 
Suppose the phrase 'Phyrric victory' should have really been 'Faltic victory'.

Presume with your nice Egyptian allies and your own Naval building you're able to keep most of the Seleucids in Asia. Only problem might be that you can't take enough off them purely in Greece to get them to agree to a decent peace?
 
Mmm, Falto's Gamble... Will it pay off?
 
Papus seems highly reminiscent of Crassus.

I'm liking that you finally are getting to show the Selukids who's boss
 
re: Merrick Chance'. What's with the apostrophe, man? I like the comparison to Crassus (although you're taxing my Rome knowledge there), since I am trying to make these guys come across as Roman.

re: Murmurandus. So far, one consul down. Let's see if Libo can bring this war to a conclusion, eh?

re: loki100. That's true. The strategic depth that I have counts for the Greeks, too. My basic plan is to have my fleet bottle them up in Asia and to take over the provinces there. We'll see how that goes.

re: Enewald. In Egypt, yeah. But also soon in Asia and maybe Greece. :)

re: Lord Strange. This is not the end. Nor is it even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

re: JDMS. Better so far, although Libo has a few things go awry on the way to better.

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Sextus Julius Libo


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Among the many oligarchs that ruled Rome since Quintus Valerius Falto dismantled the post-civil war consensus, Sextus Julius Libo was one of the most powerful. The 45-year-old leader of the mercantile faction and a member of the Julii, a family that rose to power during the aristocratic Republic of the Claudii, Libo wielded great power for years as a humble yet assertive behind-the-scenes politician. With his election as consul on 28 September 602 AVC, Libo would finally be required to lead. The bulk of his tenure as consul would be dedicated to bringing the war with the Seleucid Empire to a satisfactory conclusion. His earliest decisions were nevertheless closer to Rome. Gnaeus Valerius Falto, the governor of Sicilia and son of the proconsul who had hoped to succeed his father, was replaced when he criticized Libo's election. Libo also had to intervene in Athenian politics, right in the heart of the war, where his son Gnaeus Julius Libo was serving as dux. There, the imprisoned populist Publius Quinctius Claudius was writing letters condemning the oligarchic Republic, prompting Libo to order his son to do something about it. The rivalry between the populists and the mercantile faction intensified as a result.

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After Rome's legions concluded the lengthy siege of Macedonia on 26 November 602 AVC, a campaign commanded by the populist legate Gaius Atilius Regulus, the situation with the populists threatened to undo Rome's unity in the face of the Seleucid menace. Libo chose to respond by his increasingly disloyal career generals with prestige and bribes. Quintus Mamilius Vitulus was given a largely-undeserved triumph to purchase the loyalty of his fleet, while the religious senator commanding the rest of the navy, Secundus Ogulnius Gallus, was bribed to give up his command. This permitted Libo to merge the two fleets into a single navy under the command of Vitulus on 2 December 602 AVC, with orders to confront the Seleucids fleet wherever it appeared. Vitulus, his loyalty ensured, began his hunt.

The battles in Greece continued to go in Rome's direction. Epirus fell on 13 December 602 AVC, and Maedi was seized a month later. A minor setback occurred on 5 January 603 AVC when Roman ports at the mouth of the Danube fell into Greek hands, but Quintus Valerius Falto liberated the towns with the Legio II Gallia by March. At about this time, the increasingly-popular general Titus Sempronius Sophus marched through the Latin towns of Triballi, taking them one by one for Rome. The Seleucids had been pushed out of their possessions north of Thessaly and Thrace. Libo began to feel confident about the Republic's prospects, so when the Seleucid envoy Peneus Arid arrived on 12 February 603 AVC to offer a white peace, Libo refused.

With the legions away in Greece, Rome continued to suffer in the west due to barbarian uprisings. On 5 March 603 AVC, the Chatti destroyed and burned the Roman colony at Hermunduri. The one legion in the region, the Legio I Gallia under the command of a Lucius Junius Pullus related to the former consul, was able to crush the barbarians five days later, but the colony itself was lost.

Although Libo was confident that the Republic would not lose the war, by 23 March 603 AVC it was becoming apparent that the legions were having trouble pushing further into Seleucid territory. The diplomat Titus Fabius Licinus was dispatched with a special mission: he was to contact the Bosporan Kingdom, Pontus, and the other Greek states of the east and convince them to allow Quintus Valerius Falto to march the Legio II Gallia along a route north of the Black Sea. April saw this mission come to fruition, and Falto departed Tomis on April 8 603 AVC

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Sparta opened its gates to the Seleucids on 2 June 603 AVC, but Vitulus still controlled the Bosphorus, so Libo ordered Mamercus Aemilius Papus, Mettius Valerius Falto, and Titus Sempronius Sophus to seize the initiative by marching into Bithynia. Disaster ended this mission when, on 18 October 603 AVC, a massive Seleucid fleet under the command of Theodoros Aratid engaged Vitulus in battle. In the catastrophe, over forty Roman triremes were destroyed. On November 6 603 AVC, a hundred thousand Greek soldiers began crossing into Thrace. A week later, former consul Lucius Junius Pullus lost half his legion in Argolis. The Egyptian fleet arrived too late, defeating the Seleucid navy on 21 November 603 AVC, but the Seleucids were able to restore control of the straits by December. On 7 March 604 AVC, the Seleucid army destroyed the Legio II Illyria and began to try to take control of Thrace from Rome.

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When Titus Sempronius Sophus engaged the Seleucid army at Triballi on 22 May 604 AVC, it appeared the success the Republic had enjoyed so far would come to an end. The cities of the Peloponnese had been lost, and Sophus's forty-thousand legionnaires faced a Greek army numbering over ninety-thousand. Rome also lacked a fleet capable of stopping the Seleucids from crossing into Thrace, and the Egyptian army was being routed in Alexandria. The Republic thus scored a stunning victory when Sophus, rather than lose the day at Triballi, destroyed a third of the Greek army and drove them from the field. Libo, eager to advertise this success to the increasingly skeptical Roman citizenry, held a triumph for Sophus. Sophus was given overall command of the legions in Thrace, and marched them all to the straits to engage the Seleucids a second time. He engaged the armies of Theron Menid on 3 July 604 AVC to find his legions outnumbered nearly two to one, but won the day on 18 July AVC when Papus, Regulus, and Falto arrived with another fifty thousand men. This allowed Papus to corner the retreating Menid at Tribali, where the last of the hundred thousand Greeks were killed or captured. By the time Lucius Junius Pullus, fresh from liberating Athens, destroyed a ten-thousand-strong Greek army at Sparta, the Seleucid Empire had lost over one hundred cohorts. Rome was no longer fighting at a numeric disadvantage.

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In the final days of Libo's consulship, he had to contend with the complex diplomatic situation of the east. Falto was permitted to march his legion through Colchis, letting him march for Trapezus, many miles to the east of the main fighting. Despite this success, and despite the stunning upset of Sophus's victory and the destruction of a third of the entire Seleucid army, Libo was unabled to follow up this diplomatic victory with diplomatic success in Egypt. The battered Egyptians agreed to peace with the Seleucid Empire, paying a large tribute of silver and ceding the province of Judea. While Libo was determined to bring the war to an end before his consulship ended, he could not do so with Egypt beaten. Nevertheless, Libo had maintained the strength of the mercantile faction over the populists for the past two years by carefully agreeing to place friendly populists in positions of power. Thus, the oligarchy was able to smoothly arrange for Marcus Pytheus Statius, brought back into the fold after his earlier defeat by Falto, to succeed Libo as consul on 28 September 604 AVC. The senate had high hopes that Statius would do what his father had once done for Rome: save the Republic.​
 
Now that Egypt's out of the war, I imagine you're going to try to make peace as fast as possible?
 
Wow, stunning victory by Sophus! That saved the day and maybe the Empire.
 
The name is from an old RP where I was a Spanish falangist, and I picked a nice fake spanish name.

Crassus was (up until the exploits of Pompey and Caesar) the richest man in Rome, but he also bankrolled the populists towards his own gain. He was the 3rd member of the 1st Triumvirate.
 
That was sneakily and speedily done. You totally slipped under my radar with this AAR.

1. S.Julius Libo. I propose to pass Lex Libonica to disallow that name to be reused. I'm getting confused by the multiple occurences.

2. Finally a revenge on Seleucids, but also kind of a diappointment. One needs deadly danger to keep things fun.

3. VV is really a lot better than I thought. You're really inspiring me to give it another spin.