At the opening, Caesar, at the head of his still advancing army, is sending Vorenus and Pullo, along with the Ubian cavalry for reinforcement, ahead to Rome on a scouting mission for Pompey's defenses with the strict mandate to advance only until resistance is met and, if civilians are met along the way, they are to give Caesar's proclamation to them and to instruct them to return to Rome and have it read in the forum. Mark Antony tells Vorenus that if no resistance is met and they encounter no civilians, he is to take the proclamation and nail it to the door of the Senate house. Caesar is curious as to why Vorenus is so morose and asks Antony. Antony reveals that Vorenus is a strict Catonian and believes what Caesar is doing is a "terrible sacrilege" to which Caesar responds that he is only seeking his legitimate right.

Meanwhile, in Rome, a man enters Vorenus' home as Niobe is preparing food and walks straight to the baby's crib, telling Niobe that he just wants to see his son. Niobe tells him to leave but as he makes to do so, he turns back to face Niobe to try to persuade her to love him again. She resists for a moment but slowly starts to give in, but just as the two are about to exchange a kiss, Vorena the Elder enters the door and interrupts them. Niobe quickly makes the man leave. Vorena believes that if Niobe were to tell Vorenus the truth about the baby and that she thought he was dead, Vorenus would forgive her and everything would be fine, but Niobe knows full well better. She knows that if Vorenus were to learn the truth, he would then have the legal and moral right and obligation to kill her and all his children.

As the scouting mission camps for the night, Vorenus asks Pullo for advice on how to get Niobe to love him again since he's been away at war in Gaul for eight years and knows virtually nothing about women. Pullo, being the self declared consummate authority on women, jumps at the chance to tell Vorenus everything he knows.

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Wikipedia