Tiverios bows to the Basileus.

Thank you, your Majesty.

It seems that the latest map in the Senate Library shows that Bari is now under the occupation of the rapacious Sicilians or whatever those upjumped Norman adventurers call themselves now. They seem to have wrested it from the Venetians in the last 15 years.

They also occupy our former lands, but. . .I would prefer to move against them once the Venetians are subdued. They have holdings in Italy and Africa, and by the time we have northern Italy, I'm sure we will have finished the Fatimids. This will allow us to concentrate on the Normans, squeezing them from many points of attack.

First things first, however.