Heir of Aurelian

Seasons changed, and winter was soon arriving. Unlike prior years, which were filled with war and famine. For the first time in a long time, Rome seemed to have a massive food surplus. So much so that it was highly likely that most families would be well fed throughout the winter.

During the past few months, Marcellus had been hard at work incorporating the Eastern half of the Roman Empire into his dominion. Though there was initially some resistance on behalf of the eastern patricians. The aristocrats of Constantinople soon realized that it was better to live the life of luxury which Marcellus provided, then it was to bite the hand that fed them.

As a result, the military dictatorship that Marcellus had established was currently thriving. Not only was it capable of intercepting barbarian raids as they occurred across the vast territory of the Empire, but through the use of small vassal states, they had begun to incorporate many of these same barbarians as loyal protectors of Rome.

Meanwhile, in the East, the Sassanid Empire remained silent. It was currently undergoing a succession crisis because of the untimely death of their previous Shah. It would be some time before the Persians got their shit together to the point where they would pose a threat to Rome.

Thus, Marcellus was more focused on internal matters than foreign threats, at least for the time being. Standing on the balcony of the restored Imperial Palace within the city of Rome was none other than the imperator himself. On this cold autumn night, he stared off into the starry sky and pondered many questions he had on his mind.

In the dreams he saw at night, Marcellus saw a world that was far removed from the one he currently dwelled in. There were many things that confused him, but as time passed and he witnessed more of this bizarre realm, he came to understand certain things that differed vastly from the real world.

One thing he noticed was that in this world, there were public institutions for learning, which helped educate even the poorest of the civilization's citizens. While Rome had access to schools for centuries, they were mostly reserved for those wealthy enough to pay for them.

While this could be changed to include a larger portion of the populace, mainly through the use of government subsidies. The thing that immediately came to Marcellus' mind was that the curriculum in this alternate world differed vastly from what was taught in Rome. In Rome, school work was split in between basic arithmetic, grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy.

However, in this alternate world, the primary subjects were mathematics, science, history, language, geography, art, music, and physical education. Since Marcellus had restored the Roman Empire, he had been having an increase in dreams of being a child in this other world, particularly during school and what he learned there.  There was an overwhelming source of information that was provided to him. So much so that he felt like he could entirely revolutionize the curriculum in all of Rome's schools.

If there was one thing he regretted, it would be the massive push back he would receive if he tried to educate young girls along with the boys. After careful consideration, he decided to stick to the status quo. It was better to not incite civil unrest over something as trivial as educating women.

After thinking about it for some time, Marcellus left the balcony and returned inside the warm interior of his palace, where he proceeded to climb the steps to his office. After secluding himself within his study, the man began to write a decree.

In this decree, all institutions of learning would be nationalized effective immediately. Meaning that their expenses, curriculum, and operation were all handled by Marcellus. After nationalizing education, Marcellus wrote out the new subjects which were similar to those from his past life.

Not only did Marcellus dictate that all schools must teach math, science, history, language, geography, art, music, and physical education. But he also spent many hours writing out their curriculum based upon the dreams he had of this other, more modern world.

Though he could not prove much of the things in these books, he knew they were true in the depths of his soul. Though this meant there would be a disconnect between the older and younger generations, the youth of Rome were its future, and because of this, Marcellus focused heavily on expanding their knowledge, as well as overhauling the way that math was conducted.

No longer were roman numerals in place, instead the arabic system that was used by the western world during his past life was adopted. Everything from basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, to the more advanced forms of long multiplication and division, were all added to the curriculum. He even included the metric system as the new form of measurement.

Marcellus did his best to replicate the entire primary education system of the United States, but adapted to the Roman world.  Though math, science, art, and physical education remained mostly the same as his past life. Marcellus had to change the other subjects to fit the times he lived in. Because of this history, geography, music, and language were all modified to be Roman in nature.

By doing this, Marcellus ensured that the next generation or Romans would learn more in a mere six years than they would if they were to go through their entire childhoods learning what was currently taught, and he had expanded the schools to include a wider range of the population.

After finishing all of this work, the sun was already high in the air, and the smell of eggs and bacon wafted its way into the man's study. As a result, Marcellus placed down his pen and ink before exiting his office. Later in the day, he would dispatch his newest orders on educational reforms, and have them adopted across the entirety of the Empire.

Though there would not be an immediate benefit to this investment of time, money, and resources. Future generations of the Roman Empire would thank Marcellus for these changes, as what would be taught to the youth would revolutionize the way that Romans and, by extension, all of Europe looked at the world.

Ultimately, education was always worth the investment. Especially in a time where basic literacy had fallen to an all-time low. It was a sad state of affairs, but it was true that so long as one knew how to read and write these days, they could easily become a centurion. Well, that was about to change, for better or for worse. Marcellus would force the Roman Empire to accept a standard of education which was on par with elementary students from his past life.

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