"The ancient rights of the patrician class are the bedrock of the Republic!" the old jurist Petronius thundered, his voice echoing through the marble-vaulted halls of the Palatine library. The musty air, rich with the scent of papyrus and old parchment, seemed to vibrate with the intensity of the assembly. Dozens of legal minds crowded the long tables, red wax tablets littered with notes, while imperial scribes stood by, pens poised.
Petronius's words were greeted by a murmur of agreement from his peers. But before the sound could gather force, a younger jurist from Antioch rose in a whirl of dark robes, his face sharp with the zeal of youth. "Tradition has given us a thousand years of contradictory statutes—a mountain of legal chaos!" he declared. "The Emperor has commanded us to forge a single, logical law for all, not to preserve the privileges of a few."
