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Vespius Hostilius Aemilianus walked onto the Rostra, he stood there for a moment, calling several times to the crowd which at first did not hear him, then, after three calls, he shouted loud enough for all to hear him: "FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN! LEND ME YOUR EARS!"

He paused, and waited as the crowd quieted down.

"I come to bury the past, not dwell on it! All to often I have gone down the streets of this fair city and have seen graffiti depicted Senator Flavus as either a hero of a tyrant- a champion of the people or a despicable traitor to his own people. All too often I have seen such... divisiveness and it sickens me. No, more than sickens, it PAINS me. Some honorable men openly call the Senator a traitor... but they are honorable men.

These men have told you that Senator Flavus was ambitious, immoral and the like, and if it was so than it was a grievous error. And who I am, to speak in defense of such a man? I will tell you! I am a friend, he is grateful and just to me, and I am not ashamed to admit it. When he was given the opportunity, he laid down arms and pledged loyalty to the new Emperor. In this, was he ambitious or seditious? When the poor have cried, Flavus has wept... in this does he seem ambitious?"

Hostilius balled his hand in a tight fist and shook it at the people, "Ambition should be made of sterner stuff than this! Yet these men call him a traitor, and these are honorable men! I am not here to disprove what these men say, but to speak what I DO know! He was loved the people of this city without cause! What cause is there to than depict him in such a manner? What cause is there to continue to tare this city apart... why now? That peace has prevailed?

I say here SHAME on those who are responsible. SHAME! On those who wish to continue the schism that only so recently was mended."

Hostilius paused this time for a few moments...

"And all the while" he began in a much lower voice, "and all the while the people are forgotten..." Shaking his head, he stepped down from the Rostra.

Lucius Carus calls out from the crowd "AYE! SHAME! SHAME ON YOU WHO CALL A TRAITOR WHO REBELLED AGAINST ROME WHAT HE IS! Shame! On all of you. For expecting a man to answer for his crimes. Shame on all of you who expect that justice be done for the men his rebellion cost the lives of. The ones who he led to their deaths. The ones who died to return that land to Rome. SHAME on you for demanding jusice! Shame." he laughed as he finished, mumbling to himself about pompous politicians, though even those closest to the soldier in the blue tunic could not make out his words.

"I lost sons in the battle of Antioch, fighting for Rome," a man shouted from within the crowds. "Three of them! Did not Ramirus Flavus fight against Rome then? Could it not have been HIS sword that cut them down? If not my sons, then his sword cut down other sons! Roman citizens, fighting for Rome- he could have abandoned his commission under the rebel Augustus Tiberius Varro- but he chose to fight Rome!"

The man spit at the rostra, infuriated. Others around him began to share his anger. "Taxing whores and fighting for 'the people' doesn't bring back the thousands of lives he willingly stole from Rome."

Senators Esik Vasconnes and Servius Titiedius,watch in silence for sometime murmuring amongst themselves over the disgust in Rome for the eastern rebels and decide to leave the Palatine Forum for the day rather then spark attention to their own western rebellion.

"Citizens of Rome..."

Fortunas Julianus stood before them waiting for silence...

"People of Rome any man that serves a singular purpose has not place in a great society, for our great empire to survive we must strive to work for the greater good. Let us turn our backs on these past events walk into a bright future united under 1 leader with a single unifying purpose. To re unite its empire and bring back stability of the by gone era's. I as much as any of you have reason to know how rebellion can hurt. My brother and father left and rebelled in hispania which I refused to join because I believed that it was not for the greater good of Rome and its empire. They left to pursue interests that mattered only to themselves. We as free citizens must work together to bring the empire back, we the free people of Rome and her provinces shall stem the tides of rebellion, we shall take back the provinces that were lost and we shall defend all that Rome stands for! So I say to you Romans let us not stand here hurl insults but stand united in one common purpose, which is ROME! and HER GLORY!

A great roar came from the crowd as Fortunas left the forum...

Castus stood in the crowd watching the displays unfold. Watching Fortunas as he made to leave the forum Castus called out loudly from the midst.

"And what became of your father and brother Fortunas!? What became of Hispania? Perhaps you defend this rebel so as to defend your own family from retribution that they perhaps deserve for the roman lives they took."

Without waiting for an answer he turned and dissapeared into the crowd.

Fortunas stopped...turned and headed back...

"Senator Castus, my father and brother did not deserve the Emperors magnaminity. They should be treated as all traitors as they betrayed the Empire and there family and that noble Castus is the hardest thing to say.

Lucius Carus speaks up. He was dressed in a blue tunic, a wolfs head. Being northern was obvious by that mark. "I fought in Antioch." he said. It was only a mutter, but immediately the ears nearest him turned to him. "I fought at Antioch." he said louder, and those further away turned to him now.

"I led Romes forces in Antioch. I know each and every Roman who died on that field. I know our own men who fought to defeat the rebels who dared risk the lives of all of Romes sons. I looked at the face of every man who battled on behalf of Rome before the battle. I looked at every face, loyal and rebel, as it laid on the field after. I know them all. You EXPECT these men of Rome to forget their sons deaths? Lives spent to defend Rome? LET THE REBELS FACE A REBELS END! Your sons battled for Rome. With honor. With dignity. These coward rebels battled for greed, wealth. And losing, came back to our Emperor on their bellies like the snakes they are. Peace with rebels? I say burn them. All of them." he finished, the last words muttered much like he had begun. He hadn't wanted to reveal who he was, not to the crowds. But he could not allow the deaths of those men to be ignored by these fat politicians anymore.