The forum had cracked, cutting a swath through the very heart of Rome. Auguries were taken, priests consulted, we learned that we must throw the most precious thing of all into the depths, as sacrifice to the gods. I knew that the strength of arms was the most valuable thing that we possessed, so I took up my armour and sword, kissed my family goodbye, and leapt into the darkness.

Jupiter himself came to me as I lay there, the chasm closing above, my flesh torn and bones broken from the leap into posterity. “I asked that you sacrifice Rome’s greatest treasure. I hoped that you would sacrifice your people’s time. It would have taken you all an age to fill the chasm stone by stone, but I would have given Rome life eternal.”

He smiled, sadly, “But I cannot deny that you have sacrificed. You gave all the time that Marcus Curtius ever had and I will honour that. Rome will stand a few hundred years yet, but when the time you gifted her expires, she too will die in honour of your sacrifice, at the end of a sword.”