Son of Julius Caesar: Rebuilding Rome [Business/Republic building] Chapter 114 : Tullianum

"Is it really over?"

Eleazar muttered, staring out the window.

He and the other scholars let out sighs of relief.

Most of them hadn’t slept a wink for the past few days, sick with anxiety.

If Caesar hadn’t stepped in when the furious mob was right on their doorstep... what would have beco of them?

Just imagining it was enough to make their blood run cold.

They began clearing away the furniture piled up against the doors one by one.

It was ant to keep the mob out, but in truth, it wouldn’t have done much good.

Had the mob set the building ablaze, they would all have been trapped inside and burned alive.

Piling up the furniture was just a desperate attempt to give themselves a false sense of security.

"Even if the culprits were caught, it remains true that a few radicals from our own community targeted Pompey and his daughter, does it not?"

"They’ll surely try to hold all of us accountable. They’ll demand to know why we didn’t report it sooner."

"If they treat us as accomplices..."

"There’s no point worrying about it now. What’s done is done. We did everything we could."

Eleazar said as he hauled a heavy wooden chair aside.

Once the doorway was clear, he stepped outside and was greeted by bright sunlight.

At that mont, a group of n surrounded him.

"Are you Eleazar?"

"Yes, I am."

Eleazar flinched for a second, but let out a long sigh of relief when he recognized their faces.

They were Caesar’s n and Pompey’s n—the ones who had co to protect them.

"Caesar and Pompey have guaranteed your safety. The situation is resolved, so you’re free to co out now."

"But the Roman citizens will still..."

Eleazar trailed off. Even with the culprits caught, the hatred and hostility toward the Jewish community would linger.

Were Caesar and Pompey simply going to abandon them now?

"Ah, you would not have seen it, since you have been shut inside."

One of the n handed him a notice.

As Eleazar read the words written on it, his eyes went wide.

"This is...!"

***

Following the uproar in the Subura, the citizens of Ro were left wondering what had happened.

"I heard ard n blocked the streets."

"What, did civil war break out again?"

"I don’t think it’s that, but I don’t know the details."

"Does anyone know what’s going on?"

Many still rembered the civil wars of Marius and Sulla, and were terrified of bloodshed erupting in Ro.

Bloodshed in the streets of Ro was no longer unthinkable.

Just as everyone was trembling with anxiety, several notices were posted in the Forum.

At the bottom of the lengthy text was Caesar’s signature.

The notice was comprehensive and ticulous.

It covered everything: the death of the signaler, Eleazar’s visit to Caesar, his warning about the extremists’ assassination plot, and the investigation and arrests that followed.

[This conspiracy does not reflect the will of the Jewish people. Without the warning given by the scholar Eleazar, far more blood would have been spilled in the streets of Ro—not only Pompey’s and his daughter’s. Anyone who lays a hand on the innocent is no better than an accomplice to the criminals.]

It laid out exactly who, what, when, where, why, and how.

It also announced a payout of thirty sesterces to any citizen in the Subura who had suffered damages due to the unrest.

"I hear a Jewish scholar warned Caesar beforehand, and that’s how they caught the culprits."

"So that’s why Caesar was protecting the Jewish families. Well, free money for us, so that’s good."

"So whoever plastered those flyers in the Forum in the middle of the night was just trying to incite us into attacking the Jews?"

"The Jews are a filthy lot anyway. Why should we..."

"Watch your mouth. A lot of them are citizens. If we start killing people just because we don’t like them, who’s to say we won’t be next?"

"..."

"Anyway, this notice is detailed. I heard Gaius Caesar is a brilliant advocate, but it seems his son has quite the talent for it as well."

"I agree. With it laid out this clearly, there’s no room for confusion."

Those who read the notice passed the information along, and it spread through the entire city in a flash.

Thus, the uproar surrounding Pompey, Pompeia, and the accusations against the Jewish community slowly began to die down.

However, the embers hadn’t been fully extinguished just yet.

***

"They built themselves quite the armory."

"There were twenty-four gladii, along with over fifty other weapons, including daggers."

I looked around the room.

The drab space was packed with wooden crates full of weapons.

Every single weapon was brand new, without a speck of rust.

"Judging by the shape and quality, these are the sort issued to legionaries."

Pompey picked up a gladius and examined it from different angles.

He swung the blade through the air with a sharp hiss.

He then inspected the hilt.

"The maker’s mark is stamped right here. We can use this to track down the source."

"Felix is already looking into it. We should know where they were forged soon enough."

I nodded.

We weren’t the only ones in the room; Pompeia was there, along with the two tellus brothers who had co to assist with the investigation.

"These Jews we caught. Do you believe they are the ones who murdered your tower signaler?"

"It’s still uncertain."

I picked up a dagger from a crate, then set it back down.

The image of the two signalers’ corpses lying on the grass flashed before my eyes.

"The culprits we caught confessed to hoarding weapons and conspiring to assassinate you and Pompeia, but they claim they had nothing to do with the murders."

"Right. Targeting is one thing, but they’d have no reason to go after your signal towers,"

Pompey said, stroking his chin.

"Not to ntion the suspicious timing of those rumors claiming the Jews had killed your signaler and were targeting my daughter and ."

"If we find out who supplied these weapons, the mystery might unravel itself."

All the captured conspirators were currently locked away under the tellus brothers’ supervision. The interrogations would begin soon.

I needed to go down there and hear it for myself.

Turning my head, I spotted Pompeia intently examining the crates.

"Pompeia, after all this ti apart, you seem more interested in these swords than in ."

"Anyone listening would think it’s been more than a day."

Pompeia replied with a soft smile.

I suppressed the sudden urge to pull her into a hug.

For whatever reason, Roman elites considered public displays of affection unbecoming.

Did they think it made a man look weak?

"Thank you."

"For what?"

Pompeia tilted her head.

"I should be the one thanking you. You stopped a plot against my father’s life and mine before it even began."

"But your father helped , too."

My n alone wouldn’t have been enough to protect the Jewish community in the Subura.

Because Pompey changed his mind and sent reinforcents, we managed to contain the situation before chaos erupted.

"You must have persuaded him."

"Normally I would have, but not this ti."

"You didn’t?"

That was quite unexpected.

If not Pompeia, did soone else convince Pompey?

"Father was actually the one who suggested it first."

Pompeia said, casting a sidelong glance at her father.

"He said he trusted you, Lucius. He had his doubts at first, but he suggested sending reinforcents."

"Is that so."

Pompeia and I looked at Pompey.

Even now, he was carefully inspecting the gladii and other weapons.

The Pompey I knew from history was rather rigid and stubborn.

Maybe I’ve changed him a bit.

"So what’s the plan now?"

Pompeia asked.

"Thanks to the notice you posted in the Forum, the chaos is dying down. And all the extremists Eleazar warned you about have been captured."

"Now, we need to find out who’s pulling their strings from the shadows."

I replied.

There was still work to be done.

"I feel like I’m finally beginning to see the end of this."

***

Strictly speaking, Ro did not have prisons in the modern sense.

Rather than a penitentiary where inmates served multi-year sentences, it was more of a temporary holding cell to detain people before their trials or executions.

Felix and I headed past the northwest side of the Forum, making our way toward the base of the Capitoline Hill.

The dungeon known as the Tullianum lay near the Forum, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill.

Beneath the stone floors, prisoners waited for their fates in lightless despair.

Guided by the slaves waiting there, I stood right in front of the Tullianum.

"We will hoist the prisoner up."

As the slaves cranked a wooden winch, the heavy trapdoor slowly began to open.

I peered down into the well-like abyss.

Damp stone walls reeked in the darkness below.

I’d honestly rather die than be locked up down there.

A mont later, a man was hauled up.

He had curly hair and was taller than I expected, though he looked haggard.

I approached him and asked in Latin.

"Joseph. Prisoner of war from Jerusalem, once a slave, freed upon your master’s death. And now the man who plotted to assassinate Pompey and Pompeia."

"Piss off, Roman pig."

He spat in Greek, sending a glob of bloody saliva flying at .

"You little bastard..."

I held back Felix, who was about to lunge at him.

So he was spitting in my face now. I almost laughed. I had thought that sort of thing only happened in films.

I wiped the spit off with a cloth and looked back at him.

"If you prefer Greek, we’ll speak Greek. Why did you try to assassinate Pompey and my wife?"

"You Romans defiled our Holy Temple. You reduced the High Priest himself to a Roman puppet, stripped the Jewish people of their freedom and turned us into slaves. And as if that wasn’t enough..."

"Ro allowed your people to keep your religious customs," I said. "But I know that would not erase conquest or slavery you suffered."

From the perspective of the conquered, seething anger was only natural.

Even more so for soone dragged away as a prisoner of war and forced into slavery.

But that didn’t an I was going to just sit back and let him murder my family.

"Pompey and his bloodline defiled the Beit Hamikdash, the Holy Temple. They will face the wrath of our God!"

"And if they die, does that solve all your problems?"

My voice rose before I even realized it.

Every era had people like him.

The kind who called their vengeance ’justice,’ labeled compromise as ’betrayal,’ and always made others pay the bloody price for their actions.

"If Pompey, a hero of Ro, were killed, who do you think the wrath of the Roman people would fall upon?"

"..."

He simply glared at in silence.

Right, he clearly hadn’t thought about what would happen after he got his revenge.

If Pompey died, the fury of the Romans would undoubtedly have fallen upon the Jewish community.

It would have sparked a bloody massacre.

"Did you and your accomplices kill my signalers like the rumors said?"

Joseph shook his head.

"We killed no one. We rely gathered weapons for our sacred mission."

"Then who supplied you with those weapons?"

Silence fell between us once again.

Soone had obviously used them as pawns.

They supplied weapons to n hungry for revenge, while also spreading rumors to incite the Roman citizens.

And all of this began right after my signalers were murdered.

"Is there so reason you can’t na your accomplice?"

"Swear that you will not harm my people, and I’ll tell you."

"I swear it in Jupiter’s na. Though I doubt that ans much to you."

Honestly, it didn’t hold much value to , either.

Joseph hesitated for a mont before finally opening his mouth.

"The man who supplied with the weapons was..."

***

"A large scar running from his forehead down past his lip. That is quite distinctive. A darker complexion as well—possibly Egyptian, or from sowhere around Alexandria."

Gaius Julius Caesar said, examining the sketch drawn on the paper.

Despite the late ti, everyone in the domus was wide awake, except for young Julia.

"I’ve already stationed n at every gate leading out of Ro,"

Felix stated.

"If a man with this scar tries to slip out, we’ll catch him at once."

"We can’t rule out the possibility that he’s already left the city,"

Caesar turned his gaze to his wife, Cornelia.

"We can lend a hand with this as well," he said. "I’ll gather our people as soon as the sun rises."

Felix tilted his head. "Gather people? Who exactly do you an?"

Caesar gave him a faint smile. "You of all people should know, Felix. How long has our family lived in the Subura?"

Caesar replied, handing the paper back.

His sharply cut features were illuminated by the flickering torchlight.

"We have our own lines of information. Tracking down one man shouldn’t take long."

He muttered, staring out into the eerily silent streets of Ro.

The city felt different from usual tonight, yet there was sothing in the air that reminded Caesar of the bloodstained past he had never forgotten.