Rumors from the provinces

Reports have reached Rome of an address delivered by the young Gaius Julius Caesar to the legions assembled for the Parthian campaign. It is said that Julius Caesar spoke such words as these:

"My loyal soldiers!

"All of you are here to serve Rome. Many of you were expecting to do so against our hated enemy, the Parthians. I hoped to have the honor of leading you against the those enemies of the Republic.

"It appears, however, that the Senate is otherwise inclined. A matter of days ago, I received a messenger from the Senate informing me that I am to surrender my command and forfeit my armies!"

[The soldiers interrupted the speaker with catcalls of derision against the Senate.]

"If I do not do so, Gaius Julius Caesar is an enemy of Rome! If I fail to prostrate myself before the Senate, they have declared that I am to be a criminal!

"They have declared, for all intents and purposes, that all of you who pledged your loyalty to my command are also criminals! "

[More catcalls from the soldiers.]

"For my time in the Senate, I was insulted and berated by the conspirators who murdered my father, your father, Gaius Julius Caesar. When I left to do my duty to Rome, I was ordered to surrender my command. Why? So you men could be sent to your deaths in the Senate's vendetta against Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the former Magister Equitum! To fight to the death against your former comrades, under a General whose greatest crime was giving the man we all loved simple dignity after his assassination!

"The Republic is being led by madmen who see themselves fit to be Generals! What a dark time it is! Since the murder in the Senate, I have warned of Civil War, and now it has finally come, I stand at a fork in the road. On the one hand, I can abide the rule of the Senate and surrender my arms, and you men, to the Senate so that they can be thrown away in the Republicans' personal vendetta against the followers of my father. I can watch you be annihilated in Civil War and the Republic fall with you.

"Or, I can do the 'unthinkable' as the Republicans describe it: I can join with those who stand in opposition to the Senate, and in doing so save your lives, your families, and the Republic, from Civil War! Are these men the criminals some of Rome's fathers make them out to be? Have they killed their opponents in the Senate chamber?

"I swore my loyalty to you, as you did to me, and so I will ask: should I take the easy road and let the Republic consume itself in Civil War, or should I unite you with your comrades so that you can save your families and your nation? I know what I will do, so what about you, soldiers? Are you ready to save your homes?"

[The soldiers replied with cries of "Hail Caesar!"]