Coup d'état of Caesar and Sulla (Nova Roma)
This is a summary. You can read a much more detailed account of events under the table of contents.
In November 2015, two controversial citizens of Nova Roma, Cn. Iulius Caesar and L. Cornelius Sulla Felix, with the support of M. Pompeius Caninus, committed a coup d'état by forming an illegal dictatorship: they cancelled free elections, voided civic rights (corporate membership rights), and annihilated several citizens by expulsions in order to impose their private monarchy on Nova Roma. Caesar's and Sulla's goal was to convert our serious nonprofit educational and cultural corporation into an online "Roman emperor simulation game" in which they can play emperors for the rest of their lives. The main supporters of this coup d'état who accepted executive offices from the illegal dictator were M. Pompeius Caninus, T. Iulius Sabinus, C. Popillius Laenas and Sta. Cornelia Aeternia.
As a resistance to these horrendous actions, Cn. Cornelius Lentulus organized the Saving Nova Roma Movement, immediately joined by hundreds of citizens, including the most respected members of Nova Roma, many of the oldest founding citizens, and with the professional direction and invaluable support of P. Porcius Licinus, a total of 300 members of Nova Roma, Inc. turned to attorneys for help. Our corporation, legally registered in the State of Maine, USA, could be only saved by legal authorities at this point.
The citizens' attorneys warned the perpetrators of this illegal coup with legal action in court. As a result, the illegal dictator recognized that his position was indefensible, and resigned in March 2016. However, the crisis was not over. The "corporate" Nova Roma was continued to be intentionally paralyzed by Caesar and Sulla who still controlled the Board of Directors and kept the corporation in an "artificial coma" in hope that they can still keep their power over Nova Roma. The year 2017 was spent with negotiations between the attorneys of the membership of Nova Roma and the attorney of Sulla and Caesar who paralyzed the corporation and kept the Board of Directors under their control.
After months of investigation and solid work, in mid 2018, the attorneys of the citizens of Nova Roma launched a very well-prepared and legally very compelling argument against the usurpers of our corporation, as a result of which the former illegal dictator and quasi-monarch of Nova Roma, Caesar, who caused all these troubles and almost destroyed Nova Roma, acknowledged his incomplete and erroneous understanding of the corporate laws pertinent to Nova Roma, Inc., and that he was unable to defend his positions and continue any fight against the united citizenry and their attorneys. On 15th October, 2018, Caesar finally renounced his citizenship in Nova Roma and left the organization. The attorneys of the citizenry continued working on the final lawsuit document to be presented to the court. After they had presented this document, with the irrefutable evidences, on 18 July, 2019, finally Sulla also admitted that his position holding the corporation hostage was legally untenable, recognized his defeat, and renounced his citizenship. Unfortunately, one month after his departure from Nova Roma, Sulla passed away on 6th August, 2019. As a gesture to his family, to his memory, and to the better things he did in the past, the non-corporate government, in the name of Nova Roma, sent flowers and a wreath to the funeral of Sulla and a day of mourning was dedicated to his memory, as a symbol of the closure and forgiveness.
Since Caesar and Sulla, supported by their close friends in the corporate Board of Directors, didn't allow corporate elections in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and because the year of 2020 with the coronavirus plague, death and illness in the leadership of Nova Roma caused a further delay in progress, there were no corporate officers in Nova Roma in those years, only the non-corporate structure worked and ran all activities of Nova Roma. The corporate side of Nova Roma was in hibernation. The non-corporate community of Nova Roma was comprised of all Nova Roman citizens except those 6 individuals who still supported the perpetrators of the coup, all of whom were rogue Board members. None of the regular membership of Nova Roma supported or recognized these rogue Board members. The rest of the citizens of Nova Roma had decided to disconnect the Republic of Nova Roma from the corporation of Nova Roma, and, thanks to this, the Republic (the cultural and community aspect of NR) was living on in good strength and with lots of activities, such as reenactment festivals, citizen meetups or the 7th Grand International Convention of Nova Roma held in 2018 in Rome. The Republic of Nova Roma, our living community, was thriving even without its corporation, and it was referred to as the "Non-Corporate Nova Roma".
This period of civil war and aftermath crisis ended officially on 31 December, 2021, by the acceptance of the Victory Report of consul Q. Arrius Nauta by the senate, and by the official declaration of re-unification of the republic with the corporation.
SHORT HISTORY AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION TO THE EVENTS
Prior to the illegal dictatorship and coup d'état of Caesar and Sulla, Nova Roma had been suffering from their abusive leadership for a while. Between 2009-2010, they conducted a psychological purge campaign of insults, harassment, trolling over our various community fora, referred to as the second "civil war", which resulted in mass resignations and the rise to power for the Sulla-Caesar Faction from 2011 to 2015. They didn't use their power in Nova Roma to make the organization thriving and successful, they didn't create projects or a welcoming atmosphere. They used this power only to act like fiefs or emperors who boss around the community fora and lecture people about their power. Over the course of these years, many of our best and most active citizens were driven away by the harassment campaigns of Sulla and Caesar.
During the years of their unofficial "monarchy" between 2011-2015, Caesar and Sulla committed various violations against Nova Roman law, Roman tradition and against the interests and cause of Nova Roma, and they drove Nova Roma into a period of decline. While they paid great attention to the enactment of oppressive laws and decrees and to play political faction-war games against the active contributors of Nova Roma, Sulla and Caesar greatly neglected the real, valuable missions and duties of Nova Roma. Applications for citizenship were neglected, some pending for years. All cultural activities and programs were made by voluntary citizens, and never supported or never initiated by the Caesarian-Sullan leadership. Caesar or Sulla have never organized or helped the organization of any event, program, project or cultural activity of Nova Roma as our mission would have required. They focused only on their insult campaigns against members who dared to criticize them and on their hurtful "power games" for titles and domination.
The coup d'état and the "civil war"
In November 2015, Caesar and Sulla wanted to enact a senate decree that would have discriminated all Nova Roman citizens who hold membership in other Roman organizations. The Tribunes of the Plebs, in defense of these brotherly Roman organizations, had interposed a veto against these unconstitutional senatorial decrees. Caesar and Sulla then claimed that this is an "imminent emergency" which "threatens the existence" of Nova Roma. Upon this pretext of emergency, Caesar and Sulla imposed their illegal dictatorship, and started the cleansing and purge of the active citizens of Nova Roma in order to make way for their personal "playing a Roman emperor" version of Nova Roma. Almost all the active citizens were united with outrage against this coup d'état. 300 citizens joined together in threatening the perpetrators of this illegal coup with legal action, as a result of which the illegal dictator resigned in March 2016, but, unfortunately, they kept their positions in the Board of Directors and continued to control the corporation of Nova Roma.
Resolution of the crisis
In October 2018 Caesar was defeated by the legal arguments of our attorneys and left Nova Roma permanently. Sulla endured to lead the fight alone and continued to control the Board of Directors, but in August 2019 Sulla admitted his defeat and followed Caesar in renouncing his citizenship. Those 15-20 Sulla-Caesar Coup Faction members who were fixing their hopes on the tactics of Cn. Caesar were scattered after the surprise that even their leaders, both Caesar and Sulla acknowledged that they couldn't win a legal conflict against the membership of Nova Roma, Inc. in court, simply because their actions about the so called "coup" and afterwards were all illegal and indefensible. Only about 6 rogue Board members insisted in their support of the coup. '2020-2021 was spent by coping with the aftermath of the coup d'état: debate, hesitation, and lots of planning about the possible solutions regarding the restoration of the corporate entity. The pandemic and the (unrelated) passing away of the chief commander of the legions of the Saving Nova Roma Movement caused further stagnation to the process. The dispute between the Caesarian Coup Faction members and the membership of Nova Roma was resolved thanks to the solid work of our attorneys, and now the members of Nova Roma kept working on the restoration and reformation of the corporation and the original Nova Roma website as well. All corporate problems were solved by the enactment of the new Bylaws of Nova Roma, Inc. and election of the first legal Board of Directors in August, 2021. The Senate and the Board of Directors united the non-corporate Nova Roma and the corporation on 31 December, 2021, thus definitely closing the crisis period caused by the coup of Caesar and Sulla.
Uninterrupted functioning of Nova Roma during the crisis period
During the entire crisis period, the real soul of Nova Roma was carried on by the citizen community, without any significant stop, Nova Roma kept functioning thanks to the idea of the "non-corporate" establishment of the republic. Nova Roma had even acquired new provinces and increased our real life presence. In October, 2017, we celebrated the Completion of the Founding of Nova Roma, closing the period of our 20 founding years and instituting the Palladium and Pignora Imperii of Nova Roma which are the sacred tokens validating a community as the real Roman Nation. Nova Roma continued to have various events all over the world. We conducted cultural games and competitions with serious prizes. Our priests were offering the due rituals to the gods. Magistrates continued to be elected, laws were enacted. The citizen community of Nova Roma proved to be the real living and breathing New Roman Nation, and we have resolved the corporate crisis and regained our corporate assets with lawful, righteous, decent and due process. Nova Roma even held its 7th International Grand Convention in April, 2018, in Rome, Italy, with participating citizens from all over the world. On March 1, 2018, Nova Roma has celebrated its 20th Anniversary and the Sacred Year of Concordia with contests and games. Nova Roma participated in international Roman festivals and programs in every year during the crisis period, and we were able to hold some real life events even in the midst of the pandemic.
This was a summary. You can read a much more detailed account of events under the table of contents.
For the complete Annales of Nova Roma, see the Annales of Nova Roma page.
All illegal policies either formally voided by the Senate or otherwise never considered valid are now archived in the Documents of the illegal coup faction of Cn. Caesar and L. Sulla.
THE DETAILED HISTORY OF THE COUP D'ÉTAT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background history of the coup
Sulla and Caesar were the quasi-monarchic rulers of Nova Roma since they eliminated all other leading members during the Second "Civil War" of Nova Romabetween 2009-2010, rising to absolute power in 2011, and rendering Nova Roma dysfunctional for the next years to come. They didn't use their power in Nova Roma to make the organization thriving and successful, they didn't create projects or a welcoming atmosphere. Caesar and Sulla used their power only to play informal fiefs or emperors who boss around the community fora and lecture people about their power, as a result of which, they drove away most of the active contributing citizens and drove Nova Roma into a period of rapid decline.
During the years of their informal "monarchy" between 2011-2015, Caesar and Sulla committed various violations against Nova Roman law, Roman tradition and against the interests and cause of Nova Roma. They violated the principles of Roman religion by governing by senatus consulta ultima, by removing the legitimate pontifex maximus with a senate decree (such a removal could have been legally done only by the Collegium Pontificum) and appointing Sulla-Caesar Faction members as pontifices even though some of them weren't even practitioners of the religion. They oppressed the Latin Society, the Sodalitas Latinitatis of Nova Roma by intervention into the election of their officers. They added an illegal clause to all of their senate decrees and laws so that they can be reverted only by 4/5 majority of the voting of all citizens, which made their laws almost impossible to be repealed. They manipulated the results of elections by illegal manipulation of the voting blocks (tribes and centuries). Many irregularities were discovered in the assignment of citizens to the various centuries, for example, Caesar's wife and some other faction members were accorded greater voting power than warranted. On the other hand, while they paid great attention to the enactment of oppressive laws and decrees and to play political faction-war games against the active contributors of Nova Roma, Sulla and Caesar greatly neglected the real, valuable missions and duties of Nova Roma. Applications for citizenship were neglected, some pending for more than three years. All cultural activities and programs were made by voluntary citizens, and were never supported or never initiated by the Caesarian-Sullan leadership. Caesar or Sulla have never organized or helped the organization of any event, program or cultural activity of Nova Roma as our mission would have required. Two censuses, mandated by the laws of Nova Roma, were missed due to the negligence of Caesar's and Sulla's leadership. They focused only on their insult campaigns against members who dared to criticize them and on their hurtful "power games" for titles and domination. It was as clear as the Sun to all observers: their only goal is the conversion of the entirety of Nova Roma into their type of "role play game" as emperors, and to abandon our serious cultural and educational mission.
As the most respected leading citizens of Nova Roma were speaking up against the agenda of the Sulla-Caesar clique, it was increasingly widespread knowledge within the organization that Sulla and Caesar had been scheming for the absolute control of Nova Roma, and that for them power within Nova Roma was an end in itself, a game to bully all active citizens out of the organization and to play a "conquer all power and rule as an emperor" type of game. More and more supporters of Sulla and Caesar ceased to support them as it turned out that they didn't act in the best interest of Nova Roma, because it became apparent in numerous cases that they didn't hesitate to cause damage to Nova Roma if it could strengthen their own position. As a result of their bullying tactics which they employed to keep Nova Roma firmly under their domination in the last years, over a hundred of citizens left Nova Roma in protest or were expelled from Nova Roma because of Sulla and Caesar: Nova Roma lost its Academy, they drove away our Latinists, they dissolved the Magna Mater Project, the practice of yearly international Nova Roma conventus was terminated. We lost a large section of the Roman religion community and most of the priesthood, we also lost most of our allied reenactor groups and Nova Roma lost most of the provincial communities. As both their public statements and actions indicate, Sulla and Caesar deliberately turned off all these people in order to secure that there is no opposition to their paramount leadership, and that they can keep complete and permanent control over Nova Roma.
They were almost completely successful, but as of November 2015, there were still remnants of liberty and independent civic activism: they wanted to get rid of these, too, in order to establish Nova Roma as Sulla's and Caesar's household "empire", free from academic or educational aspects, changing the profile of Nova Roma from a real life Roman revivalist organization to an political Role Playing Game where they can be the co-emperors with all citizens as their subjects.
Prelude to the coup in the year of the consulship of M. Pompeius and Sex. Lucilius (September-November, 2015)
The year proceeded normally under the consulship of M. Pompeius and Sex. Lucilius, until Consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor published some popular reform proposals in the Senate in October. The reform ideas were based on a broad consensus of the citizens and represented the desires of the Nova Roma membership. This grassroots initiative was perceived as a questioning of the autocratic power held by Cn. Iulius Caesar and L. Cornelius Sulla Felix, and consequently they protested the proposals and sabotaged the session of the senate through Sulla's "acting princeps senatus" prerogatives. The initiative of Consul Lucilius represented a new hope that Nova Roma would end the practice of secretive and arrogant exclusionist management style of the clique of Sulla, Caesar and their closest senatorial friends, and would signal the return to normal way of activity in Nova Roma with educational and community projects and consensus-based decision making: it was, however, against the interests of Sulla and Caesar who were known as the proponents of converting Nova Roma into a virtual political rivalry game, and as the opponents of the original goals of Nova Roma as an educational and cultural organization and Roman revivalist real life community. Caesar and Sulla started losing their power and they needed to fabricate a pretext so that they can cement their rule and realize their project of converting Nova Roma into their private game.
Coup d'état of Caesar and Sulla (16-17 November, 2015)
After the Sullan-Caesarian sabotage against the reform proposals of Consul Sex. Lucilius in the senate in October, the discontent of the Nova Roma membership was rapidly growing. For the first time after many years, candidates who were openly critical of Sulla and Caesar applied for the highest offices in the approaching yearly elections. In an attempt to cement their own unlimited power and to kill off the growing number of critical voices within Nova Roma, Caesar and Sulla decided to shut down the upcoming free elections, to purge their remaining opponents and to remove the democratic elements from Nova Roma. Caesar, with the permission of Sulla, proclaimed himself the Dictator of Nova Roma with unlimited power over the republic (which is also the non-profit corporation of Nova Roma) and started to exterminate all form of opposition.
Nova Roma was shocked and traumatized. This was an illegal and ruthless takeover, a coup d'état: Caesar and Sulla established an unconstitutional form of dictatorship and expelled long term citizens from Nova Roma in order to make way for their new version of Nova Roma as their private fiefdom. Caesar's and Sulla's actions were not only against the law of Nova Roma, but also against the law of the State of Maine of USA where Nova Roma is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation. This is what caused their ultimate demise within Nova Roma, as the membership of Nova Roma turned to corporate lawyers for help. This led to the birth of the united coalition of the entire membership, and the reorganization of our republic.
As the surfaced evidences show, Sulla and Caesar decided about the coup and had been preparing for it since at least 2013, the year when Sulla was Consul without colleague. First they built an informal domination starting from 2011, then they worked out the institutional background for a coup d'état in 2013, and finally they went on to introduce the formal and official Dictatorship on November 16, 2015.
The actual establishment of the illegal dictatorship of Caesar and Sulla was prompted by the following series of events:
In November, Sulla and Caesar wanted to pass a number of senatus consulta that required new citizens to disclose if they had ever been members of any "competing organizations" (i.e. other brotherly Roman organizations that Sulla and Caesar considered their personal enemies because they were created by people who Sulla and Caesar exiled or drove away). These senatus consulta endangered the citizenship of those citizens who did not know earlier that there was a regulation in Nova Roma that you couldn't join another Roman organization and it was open to plenty of other abuses. In defense of all present and future citizens of Nova Roma who were members of other Roman organizations, the Tribunes of the Plebs, led by P. Porcius Licinus, vetoed these decrees because it was their duty, a right and an obligation granted to them by the Constitution. As a reaction to this, Caesar and Sulla, supported by the Sulla-Caesar Faction member Senators who constituted the Senate majority, decided to overturn the fundamental agreement on the Nova Roman "mos maiorum", the cornerstone of all the civic life in Nova Roma, and they denied the constitutional right of veto (ius intercessionis) of the Tribunes of the Plebs.
The Consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor argued that he considered the veto valid, but that he would obey the Senate's decision under all circumstances. The other Consul, M. Pompeius Caninus urged citizens to obey the Sulla-Caesar Senate majority. Many other citizens, among them the Praetor Hadrianus and the Censor Placidus posted public statements in defense of the validity of the constitution and of the Tribunes' constitutional obligation to defend the rights of citizens. While the forum debates were ongoing, suddenly Sulla and Caesar activated the Executive Committee of the Senate which was (as it turned out later by the attorneys' investigation) an illegal institution according to USA Maine State law. This "Executive Committee", which consisted only of Sulla and Caesar, declared Caesar the "Dictator of Nova Roma" on November 16, a shocking surprise to the entire Nova Roma membership.
After Caesar appointed himself "Dictator" and Sulla as his vicar, they immediately declared the lawful vetoes invalid, cancelled free elections, and annihilated the citizenship, by expulsion for life, not only of the vetoing Tribunes of the Plebs, but also the lawful Consul (the elected President of Nova Roma, Inc.), the Praetor (Vice-President NR, Inc.), the Censor (Secretary NR, Inc.), several Senators (Members of the Board of Directors NR, Inc.) and many simple citizens without any due procedure.
With this appalling recklessness, 18 years of Nova Roma constitutional tradition and practice was tramped on and destroyed. Caesar and Sulla threw out the Nova Roman social contract and the mos maiorum for their short-term political gain, and shut down the constitution, the laws and all members who expressed different views or voiced any disagreement. Even though the Consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor promised full compliance to the Senate, dominated by the Sulla-Caesar Faction, it wasn't "enough compliant" for Caesar the illegal "Dictator": they expelled him and everyone who spoke in favor of the veto, for no other reason than expressing an opinion. They also expelled some other citizens who did not even speak during the veto situation, but who were disliked by Caesar or Sulla for various reasons. These were all very serious offences under the laws of the USA, since it meant the violation of rights and expulsion of the corporate members of Nova Roma, Incorporated.
This was followed by a series of resignations of citizenship by many outraged citizens and a split in the the organization which resulted in the founding of a new spin-off organization (RR), causing a huge loss of members for Nova Roma. The fact that Caesar, Sulla and their faction's Senate majority destroyed the principles that bonded the community of Nova Roma together alienated almost all of their old supporters and this contributed to the fact that all the remaining active citizens of Nova Roma came together in a form of coalition against Caesar and Sulla.
The use of the Senate Executive Committee to establish a dictatorship was particularly shocking for the membership because this committee was nominally created to solve minor bureaucratic issues such as filing reports to IRS or substituting a magistrate if he is unavailable in time of urgency. At least this is how they sold the establishment of the Executive Committee to the Senate in 2013, although from the time of the creation of this committee there are public records of Sulla saying on the forum that "Caesar knows how it would be possible to create a legally valid dictatorship in NR". From similar public statements and from all the leaked information it is clear that they have been planning this coup d'état since 2013 at least, and they waited for the occasion when they could strike down. It was now. They used the Tribunes's veto as a justification to declare a "state of emergency". They claimed there was a crisis with the veto situation, even if in reality it was not a crisis, but an ordinary event in the res publica. In Nova Roma politics (just like in ancient Rome), it was common and usual for the Tribunes to issue vetoes: this was the normal course of action; it was their job! At this time Caesar, however, claimed that this was an "emergency crisis situation" which could be solved only by a Dictator. This illegal and unethical use of the dictatorship was also unprecedented in Nova Roma and subverted not only the constitutional common sense, but the social contract and the so called "mos maiorum of Nova Roma".
All these aspects contributed to the reason why so many citizens could so quickly form a united protesting front against the dictatorship. This hostile takeover and overthrow of not only the laws and legal government both also the social, moral and ethical foundations of Nova Roma was the last step in a series of destructive actions that Sulla and Caesar had committed for the complete control of Nova Roma.
The start of the liberation of Nova Roma (19 November)
On 19th November, at the initiative of the leader of the opposition, Quaestor Cn. Lentulus, the expelled citizens and their supporters formed a "Government In Exile", chaired by Consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor. The exiled members, with the immense contribution and invaluable assistance of P. Porcius Licinus, the exiled vetoing Tribune, employed the help of two American corporate attorneys in the defense of the lawful Nova Roma. The attorneys determined that Sulla and Caesar broke the law of the State of Maine USA with their offenses and abuses. About 300 Nova Roma citizens signed, or expressed their support for, an Official Complaint Letter to be filed at court in the State of Maine. Many of the earliest citizens of Nova Roma, consular senators, former magistrates and priests, reenactors and Nova Roma activists, among them Co-Founder of Nova Roma, Flavius Vedius Germanicus, Augur and former Consul, Censor and Senator, joined the Complaint Letter: Nova Roma became a single united voice of protest against the Sulla-Caesar Faction and their puppet Senate.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE COUP D'ÉTAT OF CAESAR AND SULLA
The start of the Third "Civil War" of Nova Roma (18 December)
On 18th December, after a dramatic deliberation and consideration of all aspects and angles of the current situation and the future of Nova Roma, the "Government in Exile Saving Nova Roma, led by consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor and his quaestor Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, decided to attack back at the perpetrators of the coup d'état, and authorized the attorney of Nova Roma to launch the Demand Letter, an actualized, lawyer's form and version of the prepared Official Complaint Letter, signed by 20 citizens by then, and to send it to the Coup Faction. With this, the open fight was started for saving Nova Roma, which lasted for years to come.
On the same day, consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor established a new online curia, official venue for the lawful senate of Nova Roma, where the the law-abiding senators of Nova Roma gathered together. With the gathering of the loyalist senators, the free elements of both the magistracy and the senate were reorganized and assembled, ready to continue to lead the lawful, honorable and loyal elements of Nova Roma, to fight against the Coup Faction.
On 20th December, the tyrant Cn. Caesar replied to the Demand Letter, refused any cooperation, sticking to the actions of the coup. This was an action of "opening fire" at the lawful senate and magistrates, and a confirmation that the "civil war" is on.
On 31st December, the lawful senate appointed, by a special senatus consultum ultimum, the exiled consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor, to lead the Government In Exile Saving Nova Roma as proconsul until the circumstances will allow the nomination of interreges and holding free elections again.
The Government In Exile Saving Nova Roma (1 January - 7 October, 2016)
Sine the corporation, and thus the state, the republic of Nova Roma was held hostage by the Coup Faction, the lawful Senate gave a mandate, by senatus consultum ultimum, to consul Sex. Lucilius Tutor to continue the lawful government of Nova Roma, after his consulship expires, now in his capacity as special proconsul with imperium over the entirety of Nova Roma, from the Kalends of January (1 January). This was the set up of the government in exile, the GIESNR, as it was called then:
Government in exile (1 January - 7 October)
- Special Proconsul: Sex. Lucilius Tutor (1 January- 7 October)
- Executive secretary of the Proconsul: Cn. Cornelius Lentulus
- Legatus charged to lead the lawsuit: P. Porcius Licinus
- Special advisors: Po. Minucia Strabo, C. Aurelius Suenseranus, A. Tullia Scholastica, C. Claudius Quadratus
- Committee of the Liberators (various leaders, advisers and executives)
Partial victory: the deposition of the illegal "dictator"
This GIESNR rallied all citizens of Nova Roma to re-establish their free Roman republican community and to return to the rule of law. P. Porcius Licinus, who as Tribune of the Plebs was expelled from Nova Roma alongside with the lawful government, led the negotiations with the corporate attorneys to put an end on the abuses of Caesar and Sulla, and managed to compel the illegal dictator Caesar to resign from his position.
On March 11, Caesar resigned from his illegal dictatorship. However, the Sulla-Caesar Coup Faction retained full control over the Senate (corporate board of directors), so the loyalist senators of Nova Roma had no other choice but to hold a separate session, free from the influence from the illegal dictator and his faction, and to find a way to create a lawful government for Nova Roma that would restore the res publica.
A permanent stalemate
The months from April to September were spent by preparing for the corporate elections and rallying citizens to pay their taxes (membership fee) in order to elect a leadership for the corporation that is truly representing the interests of the members of Nova Roma and the mission of Nova Roma. Even though a record number of citizens paid their membership fee, the Board, still controlled by Caesar, refused to hold corporate elections, and it continues to do so this until this day (October 2017). The members of Nova Roma paid to Sulla, the treasurer in vain, which is just another addition to the list of crimes of the Sulla-Caesar duo.
In September, Government In Exile, authorized by Censor Placidus according to the Senate Rules in force, convened the non-corporate senate for the second time, to figure out the future of Nova Roma under the current circumstances.
The solution: separating the Republic and the Corporation, resume of normal functioning of the Republic of Nova Roma
Interregnum (7 October - 22 October)
- Interrex: Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander (7 October - 22 October)
The Government In Exile was finally able to find a legal way ("legal" as defined by the internal republican legal system of Nova Roma) to hold a regular session of the Senate composed of the loyalist senators, and the free Senate of Nova Roma appointed Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander (Lentulus the Elder) as Interrex for 4 consecutive terms, with the restriction that he must appoint his filius familias, the experienced Nova Roma activist and legal expert, Lentulus the Younger as his Chief of Staff, and must employ his legal expertise to organize the transition from the informal "Government in Exile" to a formal and legal government of Nova Roma. Interrex Lentulus Alexander was given the mandate to restore the foundations of the democratic and lawful republican government and to elect the consuls for the year 2016. With the assistance of Lentulus filius, Interrex Lentulus Alexander completed all of his tasks and held democratic elections to elect the consuls according to the laws of Nova Roma.
Consular government (22 October - 31 December)
- Consul: Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander
- Consul: T. Domitius Draco
During the course of October, the assembled loyalist citizens demanded that Lentulus the Younger should be elected as one of the two Consuls (as he was referred to by consensus as "the most productive leader in Nova Roma"), but after he refused to occupy this position because it would have been contrary to the status of his cursus honorum and thus against the mos maiorum, the senators and the leading citizens accepted a compromise that Lentulus would run for the consulship as a team with his pater familias, the former Interrex Lentulus Alexander, and if elected, he would lead the government as Chief of Staff again as it was done previously under the interregnum. There were 5 candidates for the consulship and a historical record participation in the elections. Elected as the new consuls for the few remaining months of the year were the former Interrex Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander and former government officer T. Domitius Draco. They created a new "temporary constitution" for the duration of the "Sulla-Caesar coup d'état" crisis: the <a href="http://nova-roma.org/tabularium/">lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda</a>, which was enacted in December. This temporary legal framework enables Nova Roma to live and function in the current circumstaces when it is deprived from its Corporation (Nova Roma, Inc.) by Caesar, Sulla and their Coup Faction. With this historic breakthrough, the "non-corporate" civic body, the active community of Nova Roman citizens, became separate and independent from the Corporation of Nova Roma, just like at the time of the founding of Nova Roma in 1998.
By the end of December, as a result of the government of Consuls Cn. Lentulus Alexander and T. Domitius, the free community of Nova Roma became able to function and work as a res publica again, with a complete civic life. Under the consulship of Cn. Lentulus and T. Domitius, the non-corporate Nova Roma succeeded to recruit the legio II Adiutrix as an allied legion of Nova Roma, and by doing so, we further increased our presence in the world.
The lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda also provided that in the next critical year a government based on broad consensus guide the community of Nova Roma to increase citizen activism, cultural life and to lead the work of rebuilding Nova Roma. This collective government was based on ancient Roman republican traditions, the office of the Tribuni Militum Consulari Potestate, which often was chosen as a form of government in time of crisis. This institution has been re-introduced to Nova Roma in order to rebuild our community in 2017.
The plaintiffs of the Official Complaint Letter, the activists fighting for Nova Roma were organized into legions, and the consuls Cn. Lentulus Alexander and T. Domitius Draco were given mandate to lead them into "fight", i.e. into legal fight, consisting of civic activism, fundraising, recruiting new members for the cause, arguing publicly for the cause, fighting with words and service to the cause, against the Coup Faction of Caesar and Sulla.
The government of military tribunes with consular power (2017)
Sex. Lucilio C. Claudio P. Annaeo Q. Catulo tr. mil. cos. pot. ‡ MMDCCLXX a.u.c.
Tribunician government (1 January - 14 October, 2017)
- Tribunus Militum Consulari Potestate: Sex. Lucilius Tutor
- Tribunus Militum Consulari Potestate: C. Claudius Quadratus
- Tribunus Militum Consulari Potestate: P. Annaeus Constantinus Placidus
- Tribunus Militum Consulari Potestate: Q. Lutatius Catulus
The consular tribunician government of the free citizens and free parts of Nova Roma was established as a broad consensus leadership to work on the resolution of the crisis caused by the Sulla-Caesar Coup Faction, while the other priority of the tribunician government was to restore an energetic, active cultural and civic life to the Nova Roma community.
January saw an important session of the non-corporate senate of Nova Roma, where governors were appointed to all provinces, and the reenactor legions of Nova Roma were assigned to the previous year's consuls, to proconsul Cn. Lentulus Alexander, the Elder, and to proconsul T. Domitius Draco, as extraordinary commanders-in-chief (from the point of view of reenactment activity serving only ceremonial purposes; the self-governance of the reenactor legions is completely independent), who would lead as supreme commanders of the legions and their Saving Nova Roma Movement activists, the "reservist" soldiers (legal activism fighters) in the efforts of saving Nova Roma. Proconsul Lentulus Alexander was also given special consular power and imperium maius to assure constant supervision of the state and the focus to be concentrated on saving the original Nova Roma, implementing the strategy of the Executive Committee of the Liberators.
Under the consular power and imperium maius of Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander and T. Domitius Draco, the Executive Committee of the Liberators could direct and guide all resources and enthusiasm of the non-corporate Nova Roma to win this so called Third "Civil War" of Nova Roma which was evidently to be continued for a long time to come, due to the stubbornness of the Coup Faction.
THE CLIMAX OF THE CIVIL WAR (2018-2019) AND THE AFTERMATH, THE CRISIS PERIOD (2020-2021)
During the process of this "civil war" for saving Nova Roma, as a result of the hard work of the attorneys of the citizens of Nova Roma, Caesar, who caused all these troubles and almost destroyed Nova Roma, acknowledged his incomplete and erroneous understanding of the corporate laws pertinent to Nova Roma, Inc., and that he was unable to defend his positions and continue any fight against the united citizenry and their attorneys. On 15 October 2018, Caesar finally renounced his citizenship in Nova Roma and left the organization. One year after that, Sulla, too, received the service notice about the lawsuit, and contacted his attorney, the official clerk of Nova Roma, Inc, Mr Vallaincourt who said that he would not be legally able to defend him in this lawsuit. Sulla realized that it was over, our case was very strong and he had no support behind himself, and at this point he finally decided to comply with the demands of the Nova Romans. On 19 July 2019, Sulla also renounced his citizenship and entered in contact with our representatives, legatus pro praetore P. Licinus, proconsul T. Domitius, and the founding leader of the Liberators Saving Nova Roma movement, legatus pro praetore Cn. Lentulus.
At the time of Sulla's resignation from Nova Roma, the leader of our movement Lentulus and the Committee of the Liberators were in unanimous agreement that we appreciated Sulla's last action and we thanked him that he had chosen this peaceful and cooperative way of closing the conflict. As a gesture of our gratitude, we wanted him to leave with his head held high, with dignity. In retrospect, we will always try to remember his commitment to Nova Roma and the wise closure of the fight for the interests of Nova Roma. A general amnesty was also offered to all members of the Coup Faction who were willing to apologize for their mistakes and errors in judgement. We only wanted peace and reconciliation.
Sadly, Sulla died two weeks later, and all negotiations, all preparations for the transition, all the work done in order to quickly fix the corporation of Nova Roma vanished, and we had to manage everything from scratch.
For the details of the Third "Civil War" of Nova Roma and the extended Crisis Period, revolving around Caesar and Sulla after their coup d'état, and the consequences thereof, please read the main article on the subject:
