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Rome is in crisis – violent gangs rule the streets, and a senator called Clodius appears to be running the show. When his beaten body is discovered on a road outside Rome, it is brought back into the city and presented to his wife Fulvia. She does not act with propriety – rather than bathe his body and mourn privately, she has supporters carry him to the Forum in the heart of Rome. Here she displays her grief, and stages an impromptu funeral. As the funeral pyre burns, it sets the Senate house on fire – the most potent symbol of the Roman Republic is left in smouldering ruins.