Caius Livius being absent, a cousin of Caius Livius Drusus snr, Marcus Livius Salinator rises to speak in reply to Albinus.

"Senator Albinus, conscript fathers,

It befalls to me, on behalf of my cousin to speak on the issue that as come between his son and the new commander appointed to Marcus Claudius Asiaticus former charges in Mauretania.

Let me say that is it regrettable that pride and excessive sensibilities appear to have reached a point where the commander is due to lose his assignment after such a short time and in so regrettable a manner.

In speaking here I wish to moderate the tones that have been used thus far in this debate, I will not be resorting to emotion but merely, where I can, to facts.

It is claimed firstly by Salustius Falco that he is the man appointed by Rome in it's war with Mauretania and as such he should dictate the war to our allies, the Numidians.

This, I am afraid is most certainly not the case and were you to grasp this central crux of the situation Falco, all other matters would, I am sure be brought into proper perspective.

A bit of history, for if I am not mistaken commander Falco was off serving elsewhere during the events that led to Rome's presence in Mauretania.

In early DLXI King Masinissa of Numidia declared war on Mauretania and launched a thrust into the country quickly capturing the Mauretanian city of Sitifis.

Having put Sitifis to the sword and having stripped her of her inhabitants he arched on towards Icosium and laid siege to that city. Masinissa's stated aim, at the time, was to extract reparations for Mauretanian aggressions and incursions that had plagued his lands whilst he was busy in a territorial dispute with Carthage over his eastern border. Rome did not sanction or oppose this action, indeed many in the Senate saw the act as not worthy of Rome's comment.

Bluntly put, Numidia is our ally, Mauretania spurned our advances. Serves them right, besides a bigger Numidia means more tribute for Rome.

So it was that in the third month of the war news reached these shores of a serious setback for Masinissa. He was surprised and attacked whilst laying siege to Icosium by King Bocchus of eastern Mauretania and forced to flee having suffered heavy casualties.

More worrying still, for him presumably, for not for us as we did nothing about it, he received news of a second army of some 60,000 men under Bocchus brother, Bogud, King of western Mauretania, were head straight for the city of Cirta via a southern route.

It was at this time that Caius Livius the Younger, who was on a tour of the north African courts for his father and who found himself assisting with the training of Masinissa's new former mercenary force, found himself called upon to stop Bogud's advance and save the Numidian capital from certain destruction.

Caius Livius the younger, though reluctant to test his yet undisciplined and fully trained men rose to his responsibility and the appeals of the Numidian court and moved on Bogud, checking his advance and then catching him near Iambassa where his men, dealt a massive blow to Bogud by destroying two thirds of his army.

Any celebration was however premature as news reach the young Livius that King Masinissa had been mortally wounded by three arrows in the back on his way through Saldae, putting it to the torch as he went to slow the pursuit of King Bocchus.

Caius Livius was told by the King's men that the King was not expected to live and they implored him to command all Numidia's forces and repel the pincer-style Mauretanian counterattack.

Caius, mindful of his father's relationship and promises to the King as well as to Rome's treaty with Numidia, a treaty that was being steadfastly ignored due to manpower shortages in Rome, did as he had to do, he agreed.

Over the course of the next few months Masinissa's condition stabilised, but did not improve, Caius re-organised the Numidian forces to strengthen each key city and discourage a direct assault by either brother and he forced Bogud and Bocchus back into Mauretania land, both wary of meeting him in battle once more.

It is at this time that Mauretania sent a letter to Rome accusing Rome of complicity in Numidia's war. At the time the senate was nonplussed as the allegation was patently false, we did not know at this time, Senators, that the formations, weapons, armour and training of the men under Caius Livius, the former Cretan mercenaries were all but indistinguishable from those of Romes to the untrained eye.

Rome studiously ignored the letter from Mauretania but when the Mauretanians declared that Rome be an enemy of Mauretania for it's assistance and friendship with Numidia, in effect declaring death to all Romans in Mauretania the Senate finally responded by despatching the learned Censor, Marcus Fulvius Sesquiculum, to investigate the origins of the war.

Sesquiculum reported back after a couple of months that Numidia was in the right and Mauretania was the aggressor. This notice was however caught up in the time of the Senatus Consultum Ultimum that led to the appointment of Dictator Livius Drusus and so it fell, finally, to him to address the issue of the Numidian-Mauretanian war and Rome's stance on it.

He did this by enacting the 5th Dictatorial Edict in which he sent Marcus Claudius Asiaticus and legios XXI and XIII to, and I quote from the edict "..to assist our ally Numidia in it's war with Mauretania."

Those words Conscript fathers, words that have the weight of law, "to ASSIST our ally Numidia in IT'S war with Mauretania."

Now, neither before nor after this edict have the people of Rome been consulted on a declaration of war with Mauretania, not once has this Senate issued directions to our forces in Mauretania with other legal mandate beyond that of the fifth dictatorial edict of DLXI for Rome has not declared war on Mauretania, it has not sanctioned an expansion of Rome into this region, no mandate to take or keep cities exists beyond the simple order to "ASSIST NUMIDIA WITH HER WAR WITH MAURETANIA".

I say this loud so that even Falco in Mauretania may hear it and see the foolish nature of any assertion he has to supremacy, right to dictate to our allies or power to capture land 'for Rome'. On who's mandate Falco? not the Senate and not the people's, that's for sure.

Rome is there as the edict says, to assist her friend and ally in her war with Mauretania and when our friend and ally makes peace with or defeats Mauretania, Rome will go home, as she must, her legal mandate ended.

Falco, your youthful exuberance and reluctance to listen have caused you to make assumptions and leaps of logic that simply do not concur with the facts. This is why you find yourself at the wrong end of a proposal to move you to Greece after two months of service, this is why you persist in insisting that Numidia and Caius Livius submit themselves to your authority, your command and your agenda.

You are mistaken sir, it is you that must do this, not our allies. You have no right to take money from the city of Saldae and keep it for yourself, you have no right to make rude gestures to our allies and arrogantly state that they must submit to Rome's will.

It is not Rome's will you seek to impose Falco, for Rome's will is enshrined in that one Livian edict, no it is YOUR will you seek to impose and that dear commander is not part of your Imperium.

Of course this argument and the Senatus Consulta Domitia Hellas are not about 30 estates in Saldae, you are quite correct Livius needs them like most men need a third nipple, no sir, he would surely have accepted your desire to keep them all and purchased his own at full price for his men, as his is practice, had you had the simple decency and courage of your convictions to tell him that was what you intended to do.

Not telling a man until after he has risked his lives and those of his men on your orders that you plan to reject all his representations on behalf of our allies is dishonourable sir, to say nothing of cowardly.

Still, I promised to keep this civil, so I will try harder, my apologies. These are the reasons why there is a Senatus Consulta Domitia Hellas commander Falco, and this is why people who are not normally known to be allies of Caius Livius are voting for it!

Caius Livius is saddened by the necessity to do this, it has been his fervent hope that you would realise the nature of your responsibility, your imperium, your errors and make amends, apologise even before it was necessary to pass this proposal into law, he is truly saddened by your continuing unwillingness to accept the mandate that has been handed to you rather than insisting on establishing your own.

It is regrettable that this situation may cause enmity between our houses, it was always hoped this could be avoided because after all you are right about one thing, you did ask a simple question regarding who or what Caius Livius the Younger answered too, the trouble is you did not want to hear the answers which instead remind you who you answer to in this engagement.