Citizens of Nova Roma! 

A few days ago the Senate of our Republic officially gave me the 
opportunity of going in a new direction, which is the way of a most 
Honorable office of Quaestor. 

In reality, it is not a completely a new direction. Many of you 
remember when several months ago, I presented my candidacy to replace 
a Quaestor who resigned his citizenship. You nearly choose me but I 
discovered I was breaking a law by running for that office at the age 
of 20 (the minimum age is 21) and immediately withdrew the candidacy. 

That Quaestor position would have been assigned to Plebeian Aedile, 
Tiberius Apollonius Cicatrix. That is why before withdrawing my 
candidacy I presented a list of engagements related to his office but 
I withdrew my candidacy. However, given that you had nearly chosen me 
as your Quaestor, I felt the obligation to Nova Romans of pursuing 
those targets just the same.

Do you remember past Ludi Apollinares? Had not I promised to offer 
you the Venationes, the combats between gladiators and wild animals? 
I am sure you still remember them as they were very successful and 
you will see them again during next Ludi for sure!
You also visited the website which was created by me for the Ludi 
Apollinares which will still be used for next Ludi. You can find it 
at: 

http://www.geocities.com/mcserapio/aediliscicatrix.html

I am collaborating with Tiberius Apollonius Cicatrix for the 
organization of the Ludi Plebei, with other Venationes and new games! 

Well, that concerned the first part of my purposes as Quaestor before 
withdrawing my candidacy. I also had a second purpose, which was more 
related to the real historical role of Quaestors in ancient Rome. 
They had to deal with financial matters. Our Constitution says that 
the Quaestors "shall have the power and obligation to administer 
those funds that shall be allocated to them ( to the magistrates they 
are assigned ) by the Senate in its annual budget. As you know our 
magistrates have no funds yet so our Quaestors (except those assigned 
to the Consuls who deal with the budget) have no way of administering 
them.
They would, however, definitely have the opportunity of dealing with 
financial matters. Perhaps in the future Nova Roma will regularly 
allocate funds to her magistrates and then our Quaestors will 
administer them. Until that day they must work to create the right 
conditions.

During this period I worked with several citizens within Provincia 
Italia on an innovative project, that is an Aerarium and type of 
Macellum on a provincial basis.We discussed much on this issue and 
found solutions to a series of problems. We finally managed to create 
the following new elements: In a nutshell, Provincia Italia will 
start a series of commercial and financial activities. The bulk of 
the incomes will be used to finance provincial projects such as 
meetings, advertisements, etc. while a percentage will be sent to the 
central Aerarium of Nova Roma. This could be considered as a trial 
for our Republic. Should this model bare fruit, I am sure it will be 
adopted by other provinces.

Now I believe our Quaestors should deal with these kinds of matters. 
They should study and elaborate, thus enabling new ways of managing 
the financial policies for Nova Roma.
We could and should have Quaestors dealing with a specific area of 
finance. Here I mean taxes. Our consular Quaestors already have done 
an amazing job on this issue and we all should thank them more than 
we do. You probably remember that they discussed this matter with me 
in this Forum. We all knew (and still know) that there is nothing 
that cannot be improved and their aim, my aim and our aims are to 
make tax payments easier, faster, and less expensive for everyone. I 
am not speaking of paying fewer taxes since that is not a Quaestor's 
task but rather of paying lower commission fees. 

Citizens of Nova Roma, in ancient Rome Quaestors wore a toga with the 
famous purple strip. It meant that their office is not easy to hold 
at all. Our Republic needs people who are competent (like Sextus 
Apollonius Scipio, whose candidacy for Quaestorship is fully 
supported by me) and are determined to honor Her with their time, 
efforts and loyalty.
I offer you my varied experience within and outside Nova Roma, 
swearing to dedicate myself to the office of Quaestor with the same 
fervor I have given to my Gens in Provincia Italia, Sodalitas 
Egressus, the North Africa Project, the Nova Roma Land Project, the 
Academia Thules, the Plebeian Aedile's staff as well as many other 
areas of our Republic. 

OPTIME OMNES VALETOTE IN PACE DEORVM

MANIVS-CONSTANTINVS-SERAPIO
*****Candidate for Quaestor*****
Legatvs Externis Rebvs Provinciae Italiae
Dominvs Praefectvs Sodalitatis Egressvs
(Italiae Evropaeqve Orientalis atqve Africae Septentrionalis)
Scriba Aedilis Plebis Ti.Apo.Cicatricis
Scriba Translationvm Primvs Academiae Thvles
Rector Academiae Italicae

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