Septimus was contemplating the imposing Decapitator City and its buildings. Thanks to the ability of thousands of clones, this immense city had been built in three years. Although buildings were still missing to fully complete the city that Septimus imagined, the current Decapitator City surprised everyone who observed it.
Most of the buildings within the Decapitator City were made of stone and concrete with three floors above ground and two floors underground.
Rome at that time was undoubtedly capable of building such structures. Later, Emperor Augustus specifically stipulated that Roman houses could not exceed 60 Roman feet (one Roman foot equals 296 millimeters), approximately the height of a five-story building.
The barracks met the basic Roman standards, which consisted of two rooms: an inner one for sleeping and an outer one for storing equipment. Originally, a squad consisted of eight men, but after the reforms of Marius it became ten.
Therefore, the inner room contained five bunk beds and a table so that the soldiers had their own space.
Marius had a distinguished military career that he gained by implementing reforms that favored the soldiers. He was extremely popular among the Roman plebeians and served as consul seven times, a miracle in Roman history: no one had been elected consul so many times, and many Roman soldiers idolized him.
On the other hand, after the death of Marius, the senator Gnaeus Papirius Carbo had taken the position of consul of Rome.
Cinna and Carbo were not ordinary consuls; they had a nickname: tyrants, with their hands stained with the blood of countless senators and elites. They dedicated much of their time to purging everyone who was related to the faction of Sulla.
After repeated purges, Cinna had gathered his legions with the intention of confronting Sulla in Greece. Septimus, as a historian, knew that in days, weeks, or months Cinna's soldiers would mutiny and kill him.
Septimus needed to prepare his legions to face the new civil war that would occur in Rome.
Septimus' clone legionaries did not need much military training, but they did need to maintain the optimal condition of their bodies. They were not robots; they were human beings who needed exercise to prevent the muscles of their bodies from atrophying.
In the coming years, Sulla would initiate a large number of purges that would devastate all of Rome.
Septimus planned to take advantage of the opportunity to legitimately occupy the entire region of Campania as his own fief and establish a millennial powerful family that would be feared throughout Rome.
As long as the cloning ability existed, the history of the Septimus family would be told for generations.
Although Septimus was despised by the Roman upper class because of his humble origins and lack of an ancient family legacy, Septimus also despised the idea of having to marry a noble woman in order to be accepted by the Roman upper class.
Septimus considered that true power lay in the number of legions he could mobilize and in the wars he could win.
On the other hand, the concept of noble blood was deeply rooted within Roman culture.
In history, bankrupt Roman nobles valued their family origins. Especially in small places like Capua, bankrupt noble families formed marriages with wealthy elites.
This was a favorite activity of impoverished nobles: the elites obtained the so-called "noble" blood, while the impoverished nobles obtained financial support, not only alleviating the difficult situation of their family but even giving them the opportunity to rise again.
The marriage of Marius with Caesar's aunt is a good example. The history of the family of Julius Caesar dates back to the founding of Rome.
Romulus, the king who founded Rome, was the son of a Latin king of the city-state Alba Longa, and at that time the Julian family was a prominent family in Alba Longa.
A century later, Rome conquered the city-state of Alba Longa, and all the Alban nobles were forced to migrate to Rome. The Romans did not enslave them but allowed them to continue as nobles, including the Julian family.
Later, the Caesar family gradually declined, and Caesar was born in a popular neighborhood; he could not even afford a Greek slave to be his teacher. Marius, although of plebeian origin, had already achieved great success, becoming not only a magistrate but also the governor of Spain.
However, being of plebeian origin, his political career was not easy. He was repeatedly ostracized by senators and nobles.
Not only did he fail in municipal elections, but his candidacy for praetor was also precarious. So, after much deliberation, he married Julia, the aunt of Julius Caesar, from the then impoverished noble Caesar family.
This turned out to be a decision beneficial for everyone. From then on, Marius' political career was a resounding success; he was elected consul seven times, the highest number in Roman history.
The Caesar family also rose again thanks to the prestige of Marius. One of Caesar's uncles was elected consul, and even his father became a praetor. Even after Marius killed two of his uncles, Caesar still used the name of Marius to promote his career years later.
The impoverished noble families in Capua depended on family legacy to form marriages with wealthy elites and attempt to rise again.
Although Septimus was married to Fausta of the Scipio family, over the years the woman proved to have a vain, petty, hysterical nature and had previously had a lover (a common practice within the noble circles of Capua). Septimus had locked Fausta inside one of the unused rooms of the residence and kept her under watch like a prisoner.
When Septimus began his plan of conquest against the entire region of Campania, he would organize the accident that would take Fausta's life. Offending the Scipio family was considered irrelevant.
While Septimus organized his thoughts for his future plans over the entire region of Campania, far away in Rome a messenger was reporting news that would impact the entire Roman upper class.
Rome, 84 BC.
In a large residence on the summit of one of the great hills of the city of Rome, the consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and Marius the Younger were receiving a messenger.
Carbo's face twisted with anger and sadness, while Marius the Younger, the son of Gaius Marius, sighed with deep sorrow.
The eyes of Marius the Younger turned red because of the news.
Only the two of them had knowledge of the information that the messenger had brought to Rome, but it would only be a matter of time before all of Rome knew it.
The messenger also trembled nervously upon seeing the reaction of two great figures in Rome.
Lucius Cornelius Cinna had died.
Cinna's death did not occur on the battlefield.
He was betrayed by his own trusted soldiers.
Cinna ordered the legions to embark to cross the Adriatic Sea. Many soldiers refused, fearing a long campaign in foreign lands. During a military assembly, Cinna tried to impose discipline and punished some soldiers.
This caused the army to mutiny. The soldiers surrounded him and killed him.
The messenger knew that Cinna's death was not as simple, quick, and painless as he had reported.
The soldiers most loyal to Cinna took him prisoner to stone him and finally drove multiple sword thrusts into his dying body.
The legionaries, motivated by the crowd, dismembered Cinna's body.
The messenger did not dare to report the manner of Cinna's death for fear of being implicated.
In any case, Cinna's unexpected death would cause a great upheaval throughout the city of Rome.
Carbo and Marius the Younger had to control their emotions to face the political consequences that Cinna's death would generate.
"We must suppress the news for as long as we can," Carbo said with a somber expression.
"I will take care of it," replied Marius the Younger, directing a murderous look toward the messenger.
The messenger did not know that he would be killed to suppress the news of Cinna's death. Otherwise, he would not have been so naïve as to inform Rome with the intention of earning a reward.
"We will gather all the available legions. In the coming years the fate of all Rome will be decided," Carbo said with a determined expression on his face.