A slave passes Scaurus a scrap of vellum.

“I see the Spartans wish us to suggest terms. I believe the nature of the difficulty may be deemed as follows. The Spartans seek a mere short-term alliance against a current threat, while we Romans believe that since treaties are oaths before the Gods they are inviolate and thus do not expire.

A possible solution presents itself. The Spartans do not wish to pay cash; we in any case do not really need cash. I would suggest that the Spartans and their allies be requested to supply 500 heavy hoplites – and perhaps some skirmishers also – to serve under Roman command in the region of the Aegean to Thrace and Asia Minor. By the time things become sorted out either they will have accustomed themselves to supplying auxiliaries to Rome, or Rome will be in a position to insist they continue, or we will come to conflict in a situation which will involve several Roman legions being in Greece and otherwise at peace. Rome would gain much. It is well within our sacred traditions to request auxiliaries; this is what Rome has done within Italia since the birth of our Republic.

To reiterate my suggestion, I would recommend that each Greek city supply to Rome 500 heavy hoplites as auxiliaries to serve under Roman command within the Aegean to Thrace and Asia Minor. Each city-state would be responsible for maintaining their contribution, and each January (should the war continue) would be obligated to supply such reinforcements as may be needed to restore the number of auxiliaries to 500 per city.”