*Upon seeing him in the crowd, Knapheus Callias addresses in a low voice his dear Roman friend and longtime confidant Aulus Sergius*

Knapheus -- Impossible to get away from isti Galli. *waves backhandedly toward the slave market*

Aulus -- Oh, you mean those trousered subrustici? You should be well used to their florid, vapid prose, their callow imaginations, their puerile pseudomasculine puffery! After all, you are the Athenian ambassador to the barbaroi, amice praeclarissime.

Knapheus -- *wistfully* Aahh, so true, wise comrade. *lowers head, and nods* But when a man comes to the City, he expects something other than... than... *frowns and hisses* isti. Makes a diplomat wish for the days when men girded themselves for battle and hoi keltoi were routinely "civilized" in the most devastating fashions.

Besides, who wants an impudent slave? Perhaps we should buy the lot and feed them ALL to Gnaeus Cassius Saturninus... *laughs deeply and joyously from the diaphragm*