Gaius Vibius Pansa caught up with Caesar and Balbus Maior on the road.

They were now passing through Pomeian country. The vast estate of Magnus stretched for miles. Caesar explained his sentiments about the state of Italia to his two travelling companions. While Balbus simply drooled at the resources available to such landowners as Caesar and Pompey, Pansa found himself fascinated by the ideas presented by his mentor, Caesar.

So much so, in fact, that the from the seeds of his adoration would come the focus of Pansa's life. He determined right then and there to assist Caesar as much as he could in setting the Republic to rights. Pansa had a staunch Republican bent, and trusted Caesar. Pansa knew the Republic needed help, dire help. In Caesar he saw perhaps his beloved country's last hope.

"Caesar, I am a student of history, as you know, and have read of many of the men in our Republic who preserved what Posidonius considered our greatest attributes. One of my favorites has always been your relative..."

"And who was that?" asked Caesar.

"Publius Rutilius Rufus. I think, in your flamboyant, somewhat arrogant way, you are a Rutilian in your thinking," said the intelligent Pansa.

Caesar chuckled, he had fond memories of the man whom he had visited in Asia in his youth. "Perhaps."

"Well, at any rate, I intend to gather allies politically who shall adopt your political programme as their own. Perhaps, if we all work together, we won't have to work alone." The sentence sounded stupid, but Caesar knew what Gaius Vibius meant: the factionalism in the Republic often undercut the efforts of genuine benevolent legislators. Looking out for your own arse often cut into you good law-drafting time.

"I see, and why would any Roman want to do the work of another man? With nothing to show for their own name?" asked Caesar, an astute judge of his own people's character.

"That's just it, if we called it Caesarian, no one would. Its too charged right now with meaning. Publius Rutilius is dead, so we will take our name from him, but our policy will be ours. We will be a college of like-minded magistrates, working in our separate avenues to get our mission accomplished."

Caesar was rather breathtaken. "Rutilians, eh? I rather like that. We shall make our little party known when we return to Rome. Perhaps you should draft our policy, so we can subscribe some members?"

"I wouldnt presume to know your master plan, Caesar," said Pansa, deprecatingly.

"Well," said Caesar, happy to oblige, "Let me explain..."

Behind them, Balbus was already bored and continued marking off landmarks to pass the time...didn't he have a wineskin somewhere on his packmule?