The conquest and massacre of Naples lasted an entire week.
Naples, as an important cultural city where nobles and elites coexisted, had a great amount of wealth.
Septimus's army began its systematic massacre of men and the elderly, causing great bloodshed.
Supporters of Sulla's faction were also outraged by Septimus's actions; many of their relatives were killed.
Sulla was somewhat annoyed because Septimus's massacres also involved relatives of his subordinates.
The upper class of Rome, aside from fearing Septimus, also saw him as a threat to the Roman social order.
Many conservative senators saw Septimus as a disruptor of Roman rules.
The reason?
Septimus's army did not include nobles or elites within its ranks.
This was very uncommon in the Roman army; positions above centurion were usually occupied by elites and nobles. Many elites and nobles joined the army starting as centurions; for example, Caesar entered the army as a military tribune in charge of 600 men. It was very difficult for common people to rise to the rank of centurion.
In addition, with each promotion, the monthly salary doubled; a centurion could earn 80 denarii per month.
Septimus was labeled as a cruel killer, who wielded his sword against all nobles without caring whether they belonged to Sulla's or Cinna's faction.
The clone army was Septimus's greatest source of confidence to maintain his power and control over his territory.
On the other hand, the final period of the Roman Republic was very turbulent, and without the clone replication ability, Septimus's fate would be very uncertain.
Without the clone ability, Septimus's main objective would be survival. The constant civil wars and the rise of great Roman generals weakened Rome and consolidated the foundation of an empire.
In addition to Sulla, Rome had produced truly exceptional generals in recent years.
Marius, Sertorius, Lucullus, Pompey, and Caesar, among others, achieved notable victories, conquering cities and territories and spreading Roman glory everywhere.
However, they also became arrogant and conceited, repeatedly invading Rome and ultimately burying it.
If Septimus did not want to be purged, he would have to forge a reputation for cruelty.
Septimus did not want to be emperor. Governing the Roman Empire was not easy. The Roman Empire was somewhat immature; it lacked proper theories for governing the people and commanding the army.
Because the Caesar family claimed to be descendants of Venus, Julius Caesar, after coming to power, intensified the propaganda that they were descendants of gods. This is notably similar to ancient Greece and Egypt, which emphasized that the king was descended from the gods, or even that the king himself became a god.
For example, the famous Cretan kings Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus were designated as the three judges of the underworld and are prominent figures in the anime Saint Seiya.
Egyptian pharaohs also claimed to be descendants of the gods and, to ensure the purity of their lineage, even practiced internal marriage. The Roman Empire adopted a similar measure: as long as the emperor did not commit serious mistakes during his reign, he could be deified after his death and worshiped as a god.
In other words, the emperor became a god, something completely different from medieval Europe.
The advantage of absolute loyalty in the clone army was notable in ancient Rome, where betrayals by soldiers against their generals were frequent.
In the original history, Sulla's renowned general, Lucullus, later attacked the king of Pontus, winning numerous battles.
However, upon entering Greek territory, fearing that they might disturb the population, General Lucullus prevented his soldiers from entering the cities, ordering them to rest outdoors. Combined with reduced pay, the Roman soldiers collectively rebelled and refused to fight.
In comparison, Septimus's clone army has no salary, and their willingness to fight is almost suicidal.
On the other hand, when Crassus suffered a defeat and faced serious difficulties, before being completely cornered, his own soldiers forced him to negotiate with the Parthians. Crassus addressed all the officers, shouting: "All Roman officers present can see that my journey was not due to deception nor ignorance of humiliation and persecution. If you escape alive, tell everyone that the death of Crassus was not due to the cunning of the enemy, but to the indiscipline and disobedience of his compatriots."
Finally, Crassus was killed by the Parthians during the negotiations.
Neither wealth nor family or military prestige could save Roman generals from a possible betrayal by their soldiers.
With his clone army, Septimus could proclaim himself a god and, like an epidemic, would have the power to destroy Rome in a matter of months. The only thing that would limit Septimus would be transportation time. Fortunately for the world and for Rome, Septimus does not have those ambitions.
Two weeks passed, and the clone army regrouped.
Septimus's army had increased its numbers to 5 well-equipped legions and 13 legions with basic equipment, totaling 18 legions.
Like a plague, the clone soldiers spread throughout the entire region of Campania.
Many of the colonies, autonomous cities, and states of Rome had structures similar to Rome, such as municipal officials, prefects, and local councilors, although the number of local councilors was much smaller, generally around 100.
Campania was special; previously, cities like Capua were governed directly by an administrator appointed by Rome.
His function was equivalent to that of a prefect, used to arbitrate local conflicts.
The prefects of the cities of Capua and Naples had been beheaded; most of the most important officials in the region of Campania were dead or had fled.
Septimus organized his thoughts when suddenly his expression tightened.
The treatment Septimus gave to noble women was very different from the cruel death he gave to male nobles.
Many upper-class women survived and were protected by the clone soldiers.
Septimus's purpose was to use the women as wives of clones who fulfilled the roles of generals, military tribunes, centurions, and so on.
To create a group of clone nobles in the region of Campania.
Septimus's plan was to replace the upper class of the entire region of Campania with his own clones. But Septimus was somewhat reluctant about the mass marriage of clones with upper-class women.
Septimus had many prejudices against the Roman values of the upper class in ancient Rome.
Frankly, upper-class women in Rome at that time were known for their promiscuity; infidelity was commonplace.
Take Brutus, who assassinated Caesar, as an example. His mother was not only the wife of a consul but also Caesar's lover.
Caesar treated Brutus well, even after he rebelled against him, without punishing him, supposedly because he believed that Brutus was his illegitimate son.
Caesar was also a true playboy, like the character Tony Stark from Marvel. He had no scruples in his pursuit of women, showering them with gifts and spending money extravagantly.
Like Brutus's mother, who spent lavishly, Caesar once gave her a black pearl valued at 1.5 million denarii. Remember, it was 1.5 million denarii, equivalent to the annual salary of a Roman legion, which is why Caesar won the hearts of many women.
Do you think Caesar was rich?
No! All his money was borrowed! Caesar was deeply in debt.
The Roman upper class had very few good women, like Caesar's mother, Aurelia, a very intelligent woman who raised Caesar with great difficulty after the death of his father.
But aside from her, Septimus did not know of another upper-class woman in Campania who could remain faithful in marriage.
The liberal culture in Rome was deeply rooted.
Even Cato the Younger, the embodiment of Roman morality, known for his integrity, righteousness, and incorruptibility, was a model of morality universally recognized in Rome. However, an incident involving him is quite interesting.
Cato the Younger had a good friend named Hortensius, supposedly a noble of high moral character. Hortensius's daughter married Bibulus, a promising Roman official who later became consul. The couple had two children and lived a very happy life.
Later, Hortensius fell in love with Cato the Younger's wife, Porcia, whom he found very beautiful. He then suggested that his daughter divorce her husband and marry him, thus strengthening the relationship between the two families.
However, Cato the Younger considered this inappropriate, as he already had a wife, and therefore refused.
So Hortensius said bluntly: "I have fallen in love with your wife. Marry her to me, and I will have my daughter divorce her husband and marry you."
In fact, Cato's wife was pregnant by him at that time, but Cato, after thinking about it a little, accepted. They went to see his father-in-law and told him everything.
After discovering that everyone agreed, Cato's father-in-law, in front of them, promised Cato's wife to his friend Hortensius, and Hortensius's daughter also married Cato.
This was a truly interesting view of marriage, a concept inherited by later Italians and even the French.
Infidelity was almost 100% common in marriage; almost everyone had an extramarital affair.
Like Ludius in the American series Spartacus, who slept with the gladiator Crixus while claiming to love her husband, fully perpetuated the ancient Roman tradition of cuckolding.
Septimus could only think of creating strict rules regarding marriage to prevent his newly formed clone nobles throughout the region of Campania from being deceived by their wives.