For months now people in the know had wondered what happened to the firebrand known as Marcus Equitius. After political maneuvering in Rome, his tribunate was stripped from him, making his championing of Cornelius Pola's causes, and his obstructions, a serious danger to his health. Apparently he fled to the east, for reports have come in that a Roman ship headed for Athens was caught in a storm, and like so many others, the ship was crushed on rocks, its passengers drowned. So ends the man and the family line of Marcus Equitius.