Gaul and Rome, 56 BCE. Harsh Roman demands provoke the maritime Veneti and other Armorican peoples into revolt, spreading resistance from the Atlantic coast to the Alpine approaches. Caesar’s commanders must fight unfamiliar naval and mountain campaigns while trying to prevent separate uprisings from joining into a single threat.
Fronto spends part of the winter in a Rome destabilised by street violence, criminal networks and plots against Caesar’s faction. Events in the capital make clear that the Republic is becoming another theatre of war. As the legions operate from the ocean to the Pyrenees, Fronto’s household and friendships are drawn into conflicts that cannot be solved by military discipline alone.