Aulus Hirtius' two legions, the First and Second Italia, were settling in nicely in Apollonia and Thessalonica respectively. Aulus himself was with the First in the eastern end of the province. He had taken a fine town house overlooking the bay with a fine view of Thessaly. Not just for ambience did he reside here, but also to watch for enemies. The leader of Roman forces, acting as a mere sentry.

Aulus paced his loggia, and decided to try his hand at writing a letter to Caesar:

To my Friend and General:

I have arrived safely these last weeks to find Macedonia as you assumed it was: empty. At least of Romans, for there are plenty of Greeks here. They all look at me and my men with a sort of weariness, but seem resigned enough. They are no doubt a conquered people.

In any event, the city of Apollonia has many hastily prepared but fine buildings which are now deserted for lack of necessity. Several farmers use them every market day to hock their produce. Other than that, nothing of the last governorship remains. (Aulus had decided to adopt Caesar's tack and pretend that the Exiles were simply 'governors'). The word is that they have moved to Asia completely; of course we already were aware.

It seems they meant to leave a garrison behind with a competent commander, the name bruited about was Cassius Longinus. But with the fall of Marcellus some time ago, no one seems to have taken the initiative to send anyone out to reinvest the place.

So, I end my report, old general, by saying we are safely encamped. I have also sent a detachment of one cohort from each legion to Athens itself. Just to make sure that the province Achaea too, is well defended. Without any naval force to speak of, I fear Crete will remain open to attack from pirates. It is lumped with the Cyrene province, as you know, and we can safely assume that the wayward governor of Africa does his best to control those two both.

Please report to me any news, commander, I await in earnest.

Your friend and ally,
Aulus Hirtius


(OOC: I, II Italicae are now in Macedonia and Achaea. These provinces may now be considered part of Caesar's Rome. Revenue from them will be determined by the point in the year at which they were occupied.)