IN THE PROVINCES

Sextus Pompeius has been a busy man. Not only has he completed the reduction of Issus, resulting in its total destruction and re-establising it as Alexandria Magna, he was forced to stop a fight between his ally Quintus Cicero and Cato's commanders, Favonius and Domitius. By doing this he alienated Cicero, who left for Africa with his IXth legion. Despite this Sextus managed to come to an accord with Cato and the two parted with each others respect.

The situation in the east, however, was not simple for log. Pompeius Magnus sailed to Rhodes to rescue the kidnapped Porcia Catonis but he was not the only one. Marcus Antonius arrived with an army under orders to back up the Rhodian government, which had been staunch in its denial of help in finding Porcia. At length, Antonius lost patience with the Rhodians and ordered his men to rigourously search the city. In the mayhem that follwed the pirates tried to slip Porcia away only for her to be resuced by the troops of Pompeius Magnus.

Things seemed to be picking up as Magnus sailed for Cilicia to return Porcia to her father but then Fate intervened as a massive storm wrecked the fleet carrying both rescuer and rescued. Rumours reached Cato that both Magnus and Porcia had perished. In his grief, Cato committed suicide. However, he did so too early as both had survived, although Magnus was in a coma.

Porcia and lifeless body of Magnus were taken to Xanthos in Lycia, where Brutus met them. After hearing of her father's demise, Porcia became suicidal and Brutus was forced to stop her on several occasions. However, at length, she was able to slip away and was about to jump from the window in Magnus's room only for the arriving Sextus Pompeius to drag her back from the brink.

Sextus then moved onto Ephesus and embroiled himself in the politics of the Exiled Republic. Through persuasion and the help of the youngest Cato, the youngest Pompeian was able to persuade most of the Exiles to return to Italia. The night before Sextus was due to return to Rome with the senators and his father, Cato the youngest held a banquet to commemorate his late father. During the course of the night, Sextus and Porcia got close and since that night there has been tension between them although Sextus did ask Porcia and her son to join him in Italia. The fleet carrying them will arrive in a couple of days.

In Rome, the people heard the news that Cleopatra is pregnant. Pamphlets circled about her and her relationship with Caesar and she tried to ingratiate herself to the upper classes by holding a banquet attended by Marcus Antonius, Brutus (newly returned from Asia), Pompeia Sulla (ex-wife of Caesar) and Cornelia Metella (wife of Pompeius Magnus). However, it ended in near catastrophe as a large fire broke out, burning Caesar's villa to the ground.

Caesar has had problems elsewhere. He managed to face down his rebellious nephew Lucius sending the disarmed men to Corinth to rebuild the city under the guidance of Cassius, asked to oversee the job because Caesar found out he was behind the pamphlets in Rome. Caesar has also been alerted to a potential military build up in the lands around the Danube but it was too late in the year to conduct a thorough reconaissance of the region.

It was a stroke of luck for Caesar that he did not send an army into the forests of Dacia. The coalition of Dacia, Thrace, Pontus and Armenia are ready to pounce on the Balkans, Asia and Mesopotamia with combined forces of nearly 400,000 men. However, the moment has not yet arisen for their invasion as the Pompeians have five legions plus regional troops in the east and Caesar has his entire army concentrated in Illyria.


THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

Caesarian Provinces

Gallia Caesaris (all of Gaul up to the English Channel)
Alpes Iuliae
Cisalpine Gaul
Aquitania
Provincia Romana
Italia
Illyria
Sardinia & Corsica
Sicilia
Macedonia & Thracia
Achaea
Africa Provincia
Hispania Ulterior
Hispania Citerior

Pompeian Provinces

Syria
Cyprus
Asia Provincia
Bithynia
Cilicia

THE EXILES OF DOMITIUS AHENOBARBUS

Cyrenaica

ROMAN CLIENT KINGDOMS

Numidia/Mauretania - Juba I
Egypt - Cleopatra VII
Judaea - Antipater the Idumaean
Nabataea - Malichus
Massilia - Leander
Rhodes
Colchis
Bosphorus
Cappadocia - Ariobarzanes III Eusebes Philoromaios
Commagene
Galatia - Deiotaurus

THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE AND HER CLIENT KINGDOMS

Palmyra
Edessa
Atropatene

INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS

Pontus (technically still a Republic province)
Armenia