Brundisium did have excellent oysters, wine, honey, fruit, and wool. And it seemed, wine as well could be traded for the grain of the North which Blandus had brought. He would have to follow up on an offer which would bring Falerian wine to the holds of his ships. With Dyrrhacium still his next port of interest, Decimus considered other trading opportunities. He pondered again the walls of the Roman fortress, which brought back to mind thoughts of the First Punic War. He wondered if the commander there was in need of supplies.

The Ravenna merchant carefully checked his ships with their repairs now nearing completion. The captains of his small fleet were in the process of asked a number of old harbor hands about any new dangers a crossing to Dyrrhacium might face. Decimus however was occupied with the question of whether that terminus of the Via Egnatia might offer other possibilities for trade.

Decimus tired of the rough accommodations at Neptune's Trident Inn. The bed bugs bit, for one. The wine was watered down to slop. The meat was...questionable. "What animal could that stew last night have possibly come from?" It was too bad that he had no relatives or friends who had villas in the vicinity. Only Jupiter knew when the political situation would ignite and trade would become infinitely harder. But Decimus was reluctant to return to Ravenna with his tail between his legs. He sipped northern wine brought from his ship and turned to his servant and said, "Let's go back to the Temple of Mercury one more time and provide another offering to the fleet-footed one." His faithful companion shrugged his shoulders and replied, "How could it hurt, Dominus. Mercurius is full of ideas!"