ROME - EMPIRES IN CONFLICT

By: Brian Boyington

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Following a three-year hiatus, due to the civil war in the west, the traditional annual meeting of the Emperors of The Eastern and Western Roman Empires and the select combined Senates resumed. The conference met to pass laws governing trade, commerce, between both empires and appoint Imperial provincial governors to staggered three-year terms. As host of the conference, Nero Britannicus, the heir to the Eastern Roman Empire, his wife Marcella, and their son Octavian arrived first. At fourteen years of age, Octavian was as tall as his father and eager to learn statecraft, and be able to apply for military service. The Praetorian Guards met their ship at dockside with a carriage for Marcella, while Nero and Octavian rode horses. The column clattered through Alexandria towards the Imperial Palace. Before she died, Drusus’s wife, Empress Antonia, deeded the property to the Science Academy in her will. It served as the perfect meeting place for the Emperors to meet with the combined Senator delegations. Following a lunch buffet, Nero went into his office to work on the preparations for the next weeks' conference. It was essential that the meeting went smoothly, as the civil wars disrupted the cohesion between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. It took all his diplomatic skills to even schedule the conference. Failure to secure amicable relationships between the Emperors would likely usher in a very tumultuous future, and had the potential to split the Roman hegemony asunder.