Heraklia, if I'm perfectly honest, I can't remember why I left it out. It was probably to do with the pacing of the chapter: it was not my intention to follow every swirl and permutation of the pre-Rubion manoeuverings, but to give those who had no knowledge of Roman history a sense of how and why the catastrophe came about. You are probably right - I should have included it. As regards Curio, though, ex uno disce omnes...