Chapter 426: The Speech

"οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτω ἀνόητος ἐστὶ ὅστις πόλεμον πρὸ εἰρήνης αἱρέεται· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ οἱ παῖδες τοὺς πατέρας θάπτουσι, ἐν δὲ τῷ οἱ πατέρες τοὺς παῖδας."

"No man is so foolish as to desire war more than peace: for in peace sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons."

- The Persian Wars, Herodotus, translated by A. D. Godley

"Turn around, head towards the Hippodrome."

"But madam, there are way too many people out there, as the guard appointed by the Caesar himself it is my duty to stop you from getting yourself in to danger, in case any thing…"

"Listen to me, I am your direct superior."

"…Yes madam."

The chariot turned its route and now headed towards the Hippodrome of Thessaloniki, many rushing passers by noticed this chariot with curiosity but did not give much of a second thought, as it is just a normal looking chariot with neither lavish design nor gold decorated platings being pulled by two cows. The chariot of Anna soon mixed in with some other chariots, and finally managed to squeeze in to the hippodrome, where it is already been filled with population, counting to the number of thousands making every one being packed together closely.

Anna lifted up the curtain of her chariot, covering her face with a piece of silk. She wishes that she could spot where her husband is, but the harsh fact is that she can hardly see any thing through the crowd. There are literally people every where trying to get a peek on the Caesar giving his speech, there are people climbing on to the pillars and flag poles, there are people sitting on the walls, there are people seating on the shoulders of another person. After a while Anna gave it up and closed the curtains, closed her eyes and started waiting for the speech to start.

It is almost impossible for one thousand plus bursting population crammed together to hear the voice of one man in the Hippodrome, it used to bother Antonius as well so he always had a bunch of specially chosen people who have an ear bellowing voice like those drill instructors to convey his message to the massive army. But after Antonius captured the city of Thessaloniki, he is surprised to find out that the ancient Greeks and Romans have already solved the problem ages ago for him, they have a bunch of mega phones around the stage that can act as loud speakers, vocalising the speech of the speaker to almost all area of the Hippodrome.

The crowd is getting a little impatient, starting to chatter and complain about the heat raising their voices. However, the moment when the Caesar's voice came through the mega phones, every one had their mouth shut listening carefully to every word of their liege. Anna too opened her eyes, fidgeting her hands in both anxiousness and anticipation, hoping that her husband shall not tell her here that they shall be separated for another war, but yet another voice inside her that is called reason kept on telling her that she should let her man off to do what he needs to do.

In this mixture of feelings, the speech of the uncrowned rex started.

"Friends, Romans, Citizens! Brothers and Sisters! Please! lend me your ears, I have news for you!"

"Many of you ought to know that the state we are residing in a peace loving one, we have never engaged in deliberate aggressions in any states, we all have a solemn belief that the world shall not become a better place through wars and conflicts, we believe in the ideologies of Koinē Eirēnē, we learn the teachings of Herodotus and Plato, we shall be firm believers of peace forever…"

The massive crowd beneath Antonius stood there quietly, looking at their Caesar with no emotions on their faces and their hands folded before their chest, only a few rounds of scattered applause came from a far, expressing the citizens' attitude towards the words of peace.

"However, at the same time my government, my people still carry out diplomatic actions according to the wisdom thought to us by Xenophon, if any one dares to offend us, we shall have the full right to launch an operation of deterrence. It might be a challenging path for us, but let me say this to all our enemies, no matter how long it takes for us to overcome this intentional aggression, we, the Romans, shall achieve a victory through our united will. I firmly believe that our people shall not only stand with me defending our state to the uttermost, but will ultimately ensure that this form of aggressiveness never threaten us again in the future. It is time for all of us to realise one thing, that is our people, our state, and our freedom are now in a deep danger."

The spectators sensed the harshness in the Caesar's words, and began discussing on why is the Caesar making such a public statement rallying for a supposedly defensive war; Is it because the Ottomans are crossing in to the borders again? Is it because of the famed Zaganos Pasha sending fleet to harass the islands? Is it because of that paralysed emperor lying in Constantinople? Just as they are still guessing, Antonius waved his hands on the stage, and a group of men, specifically speaking a bunch of prisoners, are brought on to the stage forced to kneel down.

Antonius pointed towards these eighteen men kneeling down before him and continued. "Two months ago, we have became under attack by a group of infiltrators from Epirus, who have deliberately came in to our borders under the orders by their lords, to deliberately sabotage the economical and military facilities of our state. In just two months' time, they have murdered countless merchants, ransacked tons of wealth back in to their borders, and most importantly, they brutally murdered four of our best Varangians, including one innocent boy who have just turned in to his adulthood. Their head were brutally cut away from their bodies, with their eyes still open."

The sound of discussion and debate returned to the crowd, with some already starting to collect rocks, twigs and eggs to be used later.

"I could not understand, I want to know, what kind of blasphemy and inhumanity is there inside the minds of these crooks, why did they ever commit such cruelty on our land thinking that they shall never be traced? I am in deep sorrows, for losing my people, and four of my best pals on battle fields. We got to take note, that we showed totally no intention of invading their land. We are at peace with the various war lords of Epirus, and we still have our borders opened to them allowing them to trade with us. But still, out of greed and war mongering nature, they decided to lay their paws on to our territory, and on to the lives of our people."

"Here I am, today, as the commander in chief of the force, giving you the speech today to assure you that I have taken all necessary measures to enhance our defences, and I have issued orders to gather our logistics supplies and our forces, in the preparation for a counter offensive on to the bastards who have threatened the way of our lives. But most importantly, we need to teach them a lesson in showing to every person on the world that although we, Romans are peace loving people, they should never take our kindness and peace loving nature to their advantage and test our waters, for if they poke their finger deep enough, we shall form a storm surging tidal wave, plunging them in to eternal chaos."

By this time the morales and fighting spirit of most Romans have already been lit up, as they shouted in support of the Caesar, and began throwing stones and twigs at the eighteen prisoners who are still kneeling there with their heads lowered, looking as if they are already dead.

"I hereby declare that we are now under war with the various war lords of Epirus! May God help us again our inevitable triumph! And I shall now announce that, for all the loots and plunders our army managed to get in this war, forty percent of them shall go to the state treasury, forty percent of them shall be distributed equally among the soldiers, and twenty percent of them shall be given to you, all of you! Every single Roman that is standing with me, today! No matter whether they are standing in this Hippodrome, inside Thessaloniki or not! I shall not take a single coin!"

Hearing this many Romans jumped in cheers and joys, the atmosphere reached a climax with the rewards being realised, and many started storming to the nearest recruiting booths to sign up for the conscription getting ready to join this war. Under this atmosphere Antonius raised his hands towards his people and ordered. "Let us avenge our brothers, as an ancient ritual, we shall taint our war flag red using their blood!"

The axes are lowered, and with a slash, eighteen more heads are now rolling on the wooden planks.