1 Julius: So Marcus, why did you travel all the way to Britannia anyway?
2 Marcus: To visit my brother, and discuss the merchant business we run there. He has this idea for a new type of selling. He thinks it will revolutionise trade.
3 Marcus: Instead of travelling to various markets we have a building and the buyers come to us. He wants to name it after us.
4 Marcus: Marcus and Spencus.
4 Julius: It'll never catch on...

Marcus & Spencus in fact went on to become the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom!

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2015-01-01 Rerun commentary: The Roman Empire was huge. I didn't realise quite just how huge it was until my recent trip to Morocco, where I saw the remains of Volubilis, near Meknes, and Chellah, near Rabat. These were Roman towns under the rule of Emperor Caracalla, around 200 A.D. The territory of present-day Morocco had been the land of the Carthaginians (or "teh carthage", as mentioned previously in this comic theme), until Rome conquered them and expanded into their former territory. The distance from Rome to these territories in Africa was greater than the distance from Rome to London.

Having visited Europe a few times, I've become accustomed to seeing Roman sites all over that continent, but I hadn't expected them way out on the western edge of Africa.