Chapter 194 : For the New Republic

Ever since Lucius Caesar had pushed through his trademark law, Rome’s painters had been enjoying an endless flood of golden opportunities.

Following the enactment of the law, various merchants competed fiercely to commission advertising illustrations.

Now, posters promoting goods and services could be spotted on practically every street corner in Rome. Of course, not everyone was happy about it.

"The streets look utterly filthy with all this paper plastered everywhere."

"They even stuck one onto the outer wall of my private domus! I’m going to have to post guards at this rate."

As streets across the city were overrun by advertisements, the Tribunes of the Plebs stepped in to pass new regulations.

Posters were now strictly permitted only on designated public boards, and merchants were charged significantly higher fees for advertising at temples during festival seasons.

Yet that hardly dampened the printing craze.

With the explosive rise of woodblock printing, artists found yet another way to rake in money.

"Don’t politicians tear each other to shreds using pamphlets these days? All we have to do is draw the illustrations that go inside them. There’s no easier way to make coin."

Word spread that vast fortunes could be made in Rome, drawing countless artists from across Italy and the Mediterranean to the city.

As competition grew increasingly fierce, a few enterprising souls carved out an entirely new market.

"Whether it’s advertisements or politics, prints only sell well if you draw the prettiest women possible. Why don’t we just sell pamphlets consisting entirely of pictures of beautiful women?"

"The Senate won’t look upon that kindly. They might ban it outright, screaming about moral decay."

"Who said we have to sell them exclusively in Rome? Wherever there’s gold, there’s a brand new market, isn’t there?"

And thus, the world’s very first mass-produced pornography was born.

***

"If we play this right, we might actually be able to use this to our advantage."

"Use it to our advantage?"

After receiving a detailed report from the merchants, I sat down with Pompeia to formulate a new strategy.

"They may be highly sensual depictions of women, but their popularity proves that the Gauls genuinely enjoy Roman art."

It certainly was unexpected. I had always assumed the Gauls of this era were primarily drawn to oral poetry and music.

To think Roman erotic art would become a runaway hit among them.

Yet when I thought about it, it wasn’t so strange after all.

Cheap, reproducible imagery had suddenly become available, and the kind of subject matter that most easily captures men’s attention hasn’t changed much throughout history.

And more importantly, Christianity wasn’t around yet to condemn this sort of thing.

"Are you planning to sexually corrupt the Gallic warriors so they can’t fight Rome?" Pompeia asked with an amused smirk. "Considering the other bizarre schemes you’ve proposed so far, this actually sounds relatively tame."

"Sexual corruption is certainly one angle," I said, giving a light shrug. "However, there is another way. Until now, the Gauls haven’t exactly had a favorable image of Rome."

"Image?"

"The mental picture that forms in their minds whenever they think of Rome. What if we could fundamentally alter that perception through illustrations?"

You could call it a large-scale branding campaign.

In truth, there was clear historical precedent.

During the reign of Louis XIV, France mass-produced engravings depicting the royal court, palaces, and high art, projecting an image of royal magnificence to the world.

That helped French culture spread throughout European high society and eventually dominate aristocratic tastes.

"We’ll produce woodblock prints depicting the splendor of Rome and distribute them not just in Gaul, but in other regions as well."

Rome’s colossal aqueducts, towering temples, and marble bathhouses were more than enough to inspire breathless awe on their own.

You could call them Rome’s answer to pin-up girls.

"You want to make the Gauls dream of Rome."

"A positive image, yes. And it’s not a dream; it’s reality. Though, of course, we’ll season it with a little extra spice."

According to the merchants’ reports, Roman goods and customs—including Italian wine, fine pottery, and terracotta roof tiles—were already spreading rapidly across Gaul. Roman-style masonry, tiled roofs, mosaics, forums, and public baths were appearing as well.

"So you want to take those illustrations of ’magnificent’ Roman architecture and add naked women to them?"

"If that’s what the Gauls prefer, who are we to judge?"

I shrugged. Infiltrating Gallic culture through dirty pictures.

I never imagined the day would come when I’d propose such an absurd scheme. Still, even if it failed, we had virtually nothing to lose.

"Then I’ll take charge of this project," Pompeia said. "You already have your hands full managing a mountain of tasks before departing for Gaul, don’t you?"

"I’d be deeply grateful if you did, but..."

I scratched the back of my head.

Pompeia was, after all, the one managing the publishing and artistic sides of my enterprise.

In many ways, she was far more meticulous and detail-oriented than I was.

"Just try not to work the artists to death, alright?"

"I assure you, I’m far gentler than you are, Lucius. I hear Felix is currently drowning in despair because he isn’t allowed to follow you to Gaul."

"He’s probably the only man in Rome miserable about missing out on a military campaign."

I chuckled, giving a light shrug. It was reassuring to know I had reliable people to leave Rome to while I was away.

Pompeia’s reputation among the staff wasn’t exactly spotless either.

Rumor had it she worked them even harder than I did.

Perhaps working our staff to the bone was destined to become a proud tradition of the Julii.

***

"Alright, let us begin."

Following her strategy meeting with Lucius, Pompeia started on the project immediately.

To create works capable of capturing the hearts of the Gauls—and, beyond them, the people of the provinces and allied states—Pompeia first summoned the painters she trusted most.

And standing at the center of that group was Iaia of Cyzicus.

Having gained Pompeia’s trust as her painting tutor, she was already producing numerous commissioned works for Caesar’s enterprise.

"You wish to produce woodblock prints featuring alluring women?"

"Yes, but set against Roman landscapes, monumental architecture, and scenes of everyday civic life."

"A fascinating commission. This should be quite the entertaining project."

Yet what began as a relatively straightforward artistic commission soon evolved into something far grander.

"Why limit ourselves to standalone illustrations? Why not broaden our scope?"

Having caught wind of the project through Pompeia, Julia eagerly pitched a brand-new concept.

"I have a new idea to propose."

What Julia proposed was a storytelling medium combining sequential illustrations and text.

In other words, a comic book.

***

"You remember the satirical pamphlet illustrations you made when you were fighting Clodius, Brother? The ones where you wrote dialogue beside the figures so the citizens could easily understand what was happening."

"Ah, those."

I certainly hadn’t expected Julia to come to me out of nowhere with a proposal like this.

Those were satirical woodcuts depicting Clodius’s gang trying to incite the crowds inside the bathhouses.

Since then, similar formats had been widely adopted in political pamphlets.

"What if we connected multiple illustrations in sequence to tell an entire story? Just like the narrative scenes painted on Greek pottery," Julia said. Even after failing to win the Nova Troia literary contest, her burning passion for storytelling had not waned in the slightest.

And now, her curiosity had turned toward an entirely new medium.

"There are still countless citizens across Rome and Italy who cannot read. If we use pictures, they can easily understand the tale."

"Narrative murals and vase paintings do tell stories through a succession of scenes."

This kind of sequential storytelling was common throughout the Greco-Roman world. In a sense, you could call such works the distant ancestors of modern comic strips.

Yet what Julia was proposing right now was a true, modern comic.

A sequential narrative conveyed through visual panels and speech bubbles.

"Then people in Gaul and throughout the provinces could follow the stories easily as well. It’s certainly a brilliant idea, but... the real question is what story we should tell."

"There is no finer storyteller in Rome than you, Brother. I have actually kept a detailed written record of all the stories you’ve told us over the years..."

"You wrote down all the stories I told you?"

"You’ve been telling us stories ever since we were little, haven’t you?"

"Well, yes, but..."

I let out a short laugh.

There wasn’t much to do for entertainment in this ancient era.

All work and no play could drive anyone insane.

With no television or internet, whenever I got bored, I’d tell stories or act out simple plays for my family.

Many were loose adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, famous novels, movies, and anime from the 20th and 21st centuries.

I never imagined Julia had secretly written them all down.

Julia slid a sheet of paper across the table toward me.

"Among them all, this one has the potential to become a truly magnificent masterpiece. The moment I witnessed the recent pamphlet war, the idea immediately came to me."

Julia said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"This is..."

Looking down the words written on the sheet, my jaw dropped in sheer disbelief.

She wanted to turn this into a comic?

In truth, the synopsis of this story wasn’t particularly complicated.

In the distant future.

The once-glorious Republic had vanished.

A ruthless villain who rose to the position of sole consul through dark political machinations dismantled the Republic and crowned himself king.

Orchestrating a series of devastating wars from the shadows, he claimed the entire Republic as his personal dominion.

"To deliver us from these dark times, we require a new order!"

Declaring himself ruler, he governed the known world through terror and violence.

Yet remnants of the fallen Republic, desperately yearning for freedom, carried on a grueling covert resistance.

Amidst this turmoil, in a quiet farming village in Italy, a young man waited impatiently for the day he could escape his mundane life.

And one fateful day, a grand adventure came calling.

It was the plot of a legendary film saga that almost everyone from the late 20th and early 21st centuries would recognize.

"It fits our Roman Republic so perfectly! It brings back memories of Sulla’s dictatorship and the chaos we suffered through just a few weeks ago. It’s as if our Republic’s recent crisis had been lifted straight onto the page!" Julia said, nodding enthusiastically. "If you give me your blessing, Brother, I’ll adapt it with Pompeia and oversee its production. She already loves the idea!"

She was dead serious about this.

Looking down at Julia’s eager, expectant face, I had no choice but to nod.

"Of course you may."

To think my little sister would become Rome’s very first comic book creator.

Who on earth could have ever predicted this?

I couldn’t guess where this would lead in the future.

***

While printing workshops across the city churned out woodblock prints, a large group of men gathered on the Campus Martius nearly every day.

"Alright, let us begin today’s drills!"

Gripping heavy wooden practice swords and shields, they began training in earnest.

Anyone watching could see that these were clearly military drills, yet the men had not been formally levied.

On paper, they were merely ’citizens voluntarily participating in physical exercises.’

Yet looking at the man overseeing their drills, no one could possibly believe it was mere exercise.

"Ever since the Veterans’ Fund was established, we no longer need to worry about manpower shortages. In the old days, I had to scour every remote corner of the countryside just to muster sufficient legions." Pompey said, standing atop a knoll overlooking the Campus Martius.

Lacking formal imperium, Pompey held no legal authority to levy troops right now.

Yet the men gathered here were all citizens who had volunteered of their own accord.

What Pompey sought was no longer a secret to anyone.

An extraordinary command granting him imperium in Gaul, with the stated purpose of establishing lasting peace and stability.

It was already common knowledge that Lucius, Gaius Caesar, and Crassus firmly backed him.

"Why is Pompey preparing an army with such urgency?"

"Word is the Helvetii are preparing for something major."

"Shouldn’t we deal with those Gauls before they cause chaos again?"

"Yet the current consuls terms are coming to an end..."

"Rather than a sitting Consul, wouldn’t it be better toentrust command over all of Gaul to a single proven general? Just like when Pompey swept the Mediterranean clear of pirates."

"The only man fit for the task is Pompey, without a doubt."

Public calls for Pompey to be granted supreme command grew louder with each passing day.

Then, one afternoon, Pompey summoned his son-in-law, Lucius, to the Campus Martius.

"Lucius, there is a particular post I wish you to take on this expedition."

Lucius’s eyebrows shot up at Pompey’s next words.

"You want me to command your cavalry—as your praefectus equitum?"