Vespasian's mission will lead to violence, mayhem, and theft--and in the end, to a betrayal so great it will echo through the ages

Vespasian is serving as a military officer on the outskirts of the Roman Empire, suppressing local troubles and defending the Roman way. But political events in Rome--Tiberius's increasingly insane debauchery, the escalating grain crisis--draw him back to the city. When Caligula becomes Emperor, Vespasian believes that things will improve. Instead, he watches the young emperor deteriorate from Rome's shining star to a blood-crazed, incestuous,...

One man, born in rural obscurity, destined to become one of Rome's greatest Emperors

26 AD: 16-year-old Vespasian leaves his family farm for Rome, his sights set on finding a patron and following his brother into the army, but he discovers a city in turmoil and an Empire on the brink. The aging emperor Tiberius is in seclusion on Capri, leaving Rome in the iron grip of Sejanus, commander of the Praetorian Guard. Sejanus is ruler of the Empire in all but name, but many fear that isn't enough for him. Sejanus' spies are everywhere--careless words at a dinner party can be as...

A hero is forged in battle and a legend is born in this second installment in the Vespasian series

Thracia, AD30: Even after four years of military service at the edge of the Roman world, Vespasian can't escape the tumultuous politics of an Empire on the brink of disintegration. His patrons in Rome have charged him with the clandestine extraction of an old enemy from a fortress on the banks of the Danube before it falls to the Roman legion besieging it. Vespasian's mission is the key move in a deadly struggle for the right to rule the Roman Empire. The man he has been ordered...

Vespasian's fourth adventure--can he escape his own Emperor's wrath?

Caligula has been assassinated and the Praetorian Guard have proclaimed Claudius Emperor--but his position is precarious. His three freedmen, Narcissus, Pallas, and Callistus, must find a way to manufacture a quick victory for Claudius--but how? Pallas has the answer: retrieve the Eagle of the Seventeenth, lost in Germania nearly 40 years before. Who but Vespasian could lead a dangerous mission into the gloomy forests of Germania? Accompanied by a small band of cavalry, Vespasian and his brother try to pick...