In May, the Boyi people sent envoys to negotiate peace with the Nix tribe and requested the release of all Boyi captives.

Maximus was willing to negotiate and also to release the Boi King but refused to release other Boyi captives because the Nix tribe had acquired large tracts of land and urgently needed labor.

Seeing that Maximus was unwavering and didn't even demand the return of their king, the Boyi envoys stopped the negotiations, gave some harsh words, and returned to the north bank.

Since the Nix Fleet patrolled the Delaware River day and night, Maximus was not worried about the safety of the south bank territory. He led various officials in governing the new territory...

.....................

Faced with Catiline's powerful rebellion in the Etruria region north of Rome, most of the Elders were fearful, especially upon learning that many Sulla veterans had joined the rebels. They were increasingly worried about the resurgence of civil war in Rome, so some proposed in the Senate meeting to recall Pompey, who was fighting in the East, to quell Catiline's rebellion.

Cato was furious about this, declaring that he would rather die than see Pompey appointed as Commander of the Italians.

Cicero was also firmly opposed to the proposal. In his youth, he had regarded Pompey as a hero of Rome, but now, having reached a high position in politics, he was unwilling to see Pompey achieve one triumph after another on the battlefield and gain immense prestige among the people, thus threatening the security of the Roman Republican System.

In the end, he convinced the Senate not to recall Pompey, but to actively prepare and train the army.

It turned out that although Catiline caused a lot of trouble in the northwest of Rome, his hastily assembled army was complicated and lacked training; they were consistently defeated by the well-organized and numerous Roman Army. Finally, in the Battle of Pistoria, they were thoroughly crushed, and Catiline himself died in battle, causing almost no substantive danger to Rome, far from being comparable to Spartacus' rebellion army.

Nonetheless, many of the Elders in Rome were still panicked and staged tactical retreats from Rome during the war.

For example, Hibriida, who had just stepped down as Governor, should have been one of the commanders tasked with quelling the rebellion, yet he pretended to be ill and did not go on the campaign. Later, he hurried to Macedonia to assume office, focusing on amassing wealth and staying low-key otherwise.

Most Elders kept a low profile, except for Caesar, who was always the most high-profile member of the Senate.

In 62 BC, he officially became Legal Officer. As soon as he took office, he began to attack Catullus to retaliate against him for nearly framing Caesar during the Catiline incident.

The Jupiter Temple in Rome had been destroyed by fire ten years ago; during his tenure as Governor, Catullus was tasked with its restoration, but it was still incomplete. So, the Legal Officer, Caesar, summoned Catullus to a Citizens' Assembly at the Roman Square, accusing him of embezzling the funds allocated by the Senate for the construction and demanding an explanation.

He forced Catullus not to speak from the platform but to make his statement on the lower ground level, thus humiliating the Chief Elder.

He even suggested transferring the temple restoration task to someone else. Eventually, due to the arrival of many of Catullus' supporters at the assembly, he was unsuccessful.

However, winning wasn't Caesar's main goal; he was more interested in making a public appearance and demonstrating his concern for Rome's public affairs.

Caesar was also one of the Elders who actively demanded the recall of Pompey to suppress the rebellion, but he was still unsuccessful. However, his enthusiastic support for this great hero won public favor and Pompey's goodwill.

Caesar not only praised and supported Pompey openly, basking in reflected glory to enhance his own reputation, but also, during Pompey's overseas expedition, shared Pompey's wife Mutia.

But he did not expect the retaliation to come so quickly. At the end of this year, he was involved in an adultery scandal, where he was innocent.

Caesar's High Priest residence was chosen as the site for the Festival of the Good Goddess that year. Since the ceremony was conducted entirely by women, according to custom, no men were allowed to be present.

However, the next Financial Officer, the handsome Claudius, disguised himself as a woman, sneaked into the venue, and had a tryst with Caesar's wife Pompeia, which was discovered, causing a great scandal.

As Legal Officer, Caesar could have charged Claudius with sacrilege but didn't want to escalate the matter or offend the well-connected Claudius, so he refrained from testifying in court, allowing Claudius to pass smoothly.

In the end, he divorced Pompeia with the excuse that "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."

In reality, Caesar and Pompeia were never as close as he was with Cornelia, his first wife. Since their marriage, Caesar spent too much time with Sevilla and other mistresses, leaving Pompeia childless, and the household was dominated by the mother-in-law Aurelia, so Pompeia's resentment and infidelity were understandable.

Of course, Claudius's charm cannot be ignored; he was intelligent, handsome, very seductive, and like Caesar, enjoyed seducing other men's wives and was quite the philanderer.

In any case, this matter became a hot topic among the Roman populace.

Caught in the turmoil, Caesar had to hastily resign as Legal Officer and head to Spain.

According to Roman law, a Legal Officer after stepping down could assume the position of Provincial Governor, and the Senate assigned Caesar the province of Spain.

Caesar had worked in Spain for a year as Financial Officer, and his first tenure as Provincial Governor was in familiar Spain—isn't it a coincidence?

Of course not, the influential Caesar in the Senate now had the ability to choose his desired location.

However, he almost didn't make it because some creditors prevented him from leaving, demanding he repay his debt first.

Caesar sought help from Crassus.

Despite being a creditor himself, Crassus, who had a close relationship with Caesar, unhesitatingly provided 830 talents as a bond, allowing Caesar to proceed smoothly to his position in Spain.

In 61 BC, the twelfth year of the establishment of the Nix tribe, Caesar began fulfilling his duties as Provincial Governor.

For the Elders, the province of Spain was not an ideal place, as there were too many Barbarians. Plunder and robbery were their way of life, and the region was scarred from years of war suppressing Sedulius, and banditry was rampant.

Some Elders were glad to see Caesar take office as governor of Spain and gloatingly anticipated him making a fool of himself there. They believed Caesar was adept at stirring trouble in Rome, but with his penchant for affairs with women, he might show his true colors facing the fierce Barbarians.

But as soon as Caesar arrived in Spain, he immediately recruited ten new units, increasing the existing garrison by half, then began to campaign against the Celtic Tribes who refused to submit to Rome, achieving repeated victories. His military talent was initially showcased, and he was praised by the people of the province as a "Triumphal General."

However, his success in Spain did not create a great sensation in Rome because all the Romans' attention was drawn to another major event—Pompey had returned.

Lucullus was not wrong; he had already shattered the power of the Paphlagonia Kingdom. Pompey was just a carrion bird, coming to pick up the spoils.

Indeed, when Pompey took over Lucullus's command and, with a larger army, decisively crushed the forces of Mithridates, easily subjugating Tigranes, he could not be content with only these accomplishments.

In the ensuing years, he seized every opportunity to command his troops to march to places no Roman army had ventured before: conquering north to the Caucasus, south to Syria, besieging Jerusalem... except for the formidable Parthian Empire and desert territories, the entire Eastern Mediterranean forces were brought under Roman control by him.

He also spent considerable time establishing provincial administration in these newly occupied territories, formulating many regulations to ensure peace in this vast Eastern region.

Thus, when he returned to Rome in the summer of 61 BC, the entire city of Rome was astir.

During his third Triumph, though Pompey, who had grown several years older, no longer had the absurd idea of riding an elephant chariot, his vanity remained unchanged. He specifically arranged for large placards to be carried in his parade, clearly stating: he defeated and captured millions of enemies, seized and sank nearly a thousand warships, accepted the surrender of over a thousand towns or strongholds...

His parade included hundreds of noble prisoners from the East, countless gold and silver treasures, and over a hundred floats marked with each kingdom or race he had defeated... while he himself rode in a chariot adorned with jewels, wearing a cloak reputed to have been worn by Alexander the Great.

Indeed, Pompey's brilliant achievements overshadowed those of past great Roman generals, comparable to that young conqueror of the East, Alexander the Great.

Upon returning to Rome, Pompey's first action was to divorce his promiscuous wife Mutia, then to approach Cato, expressing his hope to marry his niece, Caesar's mistress Sevilla's daughter. He also intended, on behalf of his son, to propose marriage to another daughter of Sevilla.

This was Pompey's gesture of goodwill to the Conservative members of the Senate, aiming to ease his strained relations with them because he knew these people harbored resentment against him during the years he was away at war.

Why seek Cato's hand in marriage? Because the elderly Catullus had passed away, and the young, combative, uncompromising, and noble-born Cato had become the pillar for the Conservatives.

Cato firmly rejected Pompey's marriage proposal, which increased his prestige, showing the Conservative Elders that he valued morality over political benefits, making them rely on him even more.

Pompey's proposal failed, and he subsequently faced setbacks in the political arena.

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