Quintus Mucius Scaevola couldn't believe his eyes. A gladius, a blade of steel, within the sacred pomerium of Rome! Not only that, but within the Curia Hostilia, a sanctified temple of Rome!

"Marcus Marius!" Scaevola cried. "Put that thing away! You are as incompetent as a schoolboy! Blades are not permitted within the sacred pomerium of Rome, much less the Senate itself!" Scaevola then turned to the Consuls.

"Please forgive Marcus Marius, Honored Consuls. As I have spoken of before, education among certain elements within the nobility seems quite dismal. It is the thought that counts behind this particular transgression, and for that, I plead that you forgive Marcus Marius." He now turned back to Marcus Marius.

"Once this session is adjourned, if you would please accompany me back to my home, I would then gladly receive your gift, and offer one to Praetor Caius Julius in return. My own maps, which I was tutored with when a small boy, of the Roman world. Perhaps then he can see how far a Parthian army would have to travel to reach Aegyptus, or Pontus, or indeed even Macedonia!

"Now, Conscript Fathers, I turn to the bills currently being voted upon. To the Senatus Consultum Aemilia Caecilia Grandeur Project, I vote yes. To the others...we shall see."