But by the time it was joined by Centurion Justinius Corvus, it had clearly fallen on hard times.Smarting from the sting of his recent demotion, and a transfer to Britain, a land he despises, Justinius nevertheless works hard to bring to his men some of the same pride he feels as a Roman soldier.As their bond grows strong, with each other and with the occupied land, their skill in combat is tested to its limits against the forces of Vortrix, High King of the Britons. As the battle lines muster, the fate of an Army, and of a nation, will be decided...The Legions of the Mist is an earth-shattering tale of loyalty, love and war, perfect for fans of Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden and Ben Kane.

    In the Roman Empire no one is safe from the sting of betrayal: man, woman or child.As a boy, Nero's royal heritage becomes a threat to his very life, first when the mad emperor Caligula tries to drown him, then when his great aunt attempts to secure her own son's inheritance. Faced with shocking acts of treachery, young Nero is dealt a harsh lesson: it is better to be cruel than dead.While Nero idealizes the artistic and athletic principles of Greece, his very survival rests on his ability to navigate the sea of vipers that is Rome. The most lethal of all is his own mother, a cold-blooded woman whose singular goal is to control the empire. With cunning and poison, the obstacles fall one by one. But as Agrippina's machinations earn her son a title he is both tempted and terrified to assume, Nero's determination to escape her thrall will shape him into the man he was fated to become, an Emperor who became legendary.With impeccable research and captivating prose, The Confessions of Young Nero is the story of a boy's ruthless ascension to the throne. Detailing his journey from innocent youth to infamous ruler, it is an epic tale of the lengths to which man will go in the ultimate quest for power and survival.

    A Roman centurion discovers that Fate will always hold him in her power. The German frontier, spring 6 BC. When Lucius Cominius Tullus, a recently promoted centurion, gambles on a foot race between rival legionaries, he has no idea that his wager will endanger his very life, and that the streets of an Empire border town can be as deadly as the bloodiest battlefield. A prequel to Ben Kane's dramatic new trilogy, Eagles at War, The Shrine also includes a sample chapter from the first book in the series.

    With the very real possibility that Rome might become a republic once more, the ambitions of a few are about to bring untold corruption, chaos and bloodshed. Aulus Caecina Severus, hero of the campaign against Boudica, is caught up in a conspiracy to overthrow Caesar's dynasty, where he will commit treason, raise a rebellion, and face torture and intrigue. But is it really all for the good of Rome? The boundary between service and self-preservation is far from clear, and keeping to the dangerous path he's chosen requires all Severus' skills: as a cunning soldier and, increasingly, a deft politician. As the Year of the Four Emperors unfolds, the mighty Roman empire will be plunged into anarchy and civil war… The Last Caesar , the first in the Aulus Severus Adventures, is perfect for fans of Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane

    Now, in The Fall of Rome, he takes on the bloody twilight of empire, as the legacy of Attila---once thought destroyed on the battlefield---emerges again to defy the power of the Western World.In this powerful saga of Roman warfare, the sons of Attila's great officers wage battle with one another as the dramatic confrontation between Rome's last emperor and Rome's barbarian conqueror leads to the thrilling dénouement that becomes the fall of a mighty empire.Pulsing with intrigue, saturated with historical detail, The Fall of Rome brings readers to new places--pressed into the trenches as catapult bolts fly overhead, lurking within the palace where betrayal is plotted, imprisoned in a tower stronghold where an emperor turns mad.Once again, Ford demonstrates his mastery as a chronicler of battle, honor, and ancient worlds in this masterfully plotted epic novel that will leave readers begging for more. Praise for the Novels of Michael Curtis Ford The Sword of Attila"Supremely well executed . . . again, Ford offers solidly researched and lustily violent military historical fiction."---Kirkus Reviews The Last King"Michael Curtis Ford's love for the ancient world emanates from every page: in his magical settings and spectacular  re-creation of monuments and landscapes, in his bold portraits of the protagonists, and in his intriguing and swiftly moving plot."---Valerio Massimo Manfredi, author of the Alexander Trilogy and Spartan "This is Ford's best so far, and only those who have read his first two know just how good that makes this book."---The Statesman Journal  Gods and Legions"Powerful and passionate. A truly compelling story---one not just of gods and legions but of men."---Library Journal (starred review)  "Thanks to the author's excellent research of both his subject and era, the reader experiences this great man's transformation step by determined step. Highly recommended."---The Historical Novels Review The Ten Thousand"A worthy successor to Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire."---Library Journal (starred review)  "Michael Curtis Ford's moving account of the fighting and dying of these heroic Greek mercenaries is not only historically sound, but very human, in making Xenophon's tale come alive in a way that no ancient historian or classicist has yet accomplished."---Professor Victor Davis Hanson, author of The Soul of Battle

    The hero of the story, the man called "a pillar of iron" is Marcus Tullius Cicero, the lawyer-statesman who tried vainly to save the republic he loved from the forces of tyranny. Unfolding here are the private dramas behind the great Roman hero's triumphs and defeats - and the intimate, deeply moving story of his desperate love affair with the beautiful Livia.

    Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, and Luke, travelers in a caravan bound for Rome, become investigators when no Roman magistrates are available. Suspects abound: gamblers, arcane priestesses and Christians. What is the secret of one of the victim's own slaves, a beautiful blonde, and the German giant shadowing her?

    The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii.But the carefree lifestyle and gorgeous weather belie an impending cataclysm, and only one man is worried. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay of Naples. His predecessor has disappeared. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta's sixty-mile main line—somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.Attilius—decent, practical, and incorruptible—promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. His plan is to travel to Pompeii and put together an expedition, then head out to the place where he believes the fault lies. But Pompeii proves to be a corrupt and violent town, and Attilius soon discovers that there are powerful forces at work—both natural and man-made—threatening to destroy him.With his trademark elegance and intelligence, Robert Harris, bestselling author of Archangel and Fatherland, re-creates a world on the brink of disaster.

    But here's another possibility: Nero did not die in that ditch, but somebody who looked very much like him did. This gives Nero the opportunity to start a new life in pursuit of his first love—music. But Nero is being pursued by two people who have reason to suspect he is still alive—one wants him dead, the other is a passionate fan of his dreadful music and wants his genius recognized.

    Recalling his youth on the eve of his assassination - as if sensing his impending death - Caesar looks back over his early life up to his forty-third year and the conquest of Gaul. He analyzes and evaluates the worth of the great men he has known - Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Cicero, Cato - and the great military deeds and political upheavals which marked his time. Caesar is a shrewd psychologist and he brilliantly penetrates the underlying causes of events as well as the factions and manoeuvres through which they were perpetrated by the leaders of Rome. Caesar is cynical yet kindly, patient, proud, watchful, a bitter defender of social justice. If the memory he displays in the narrative is keen and circumstantial, it is also particularly impressive in its sentient, purpose-ridden forcefulness and shapes these vital reflections of a major world figure at the height of his powers. The narrative (and one may hope that there will be a second volume describing Caesar's maturity) carries the validity and significance of an historical document; it is fictional biography of a high order. - from the Kirkus review of 1958

    Not always a heroic figure, Virgil was a scholar, visionary and author of the epic, "The Aeneid". This bawdy tragi-comedy is the tale of a brilliant man struggling to follow his muse in a turbulent period of history.

    The setting for each is the same--Provence--and each has at its heart a love story. The narratives intertwine seamlessly, but what joins them thematically is an ancient text--"The Dream of Scipio"--a work of neo-Platonism that poses timeless philosophical questions. What is the obligation of the individual in a society under siege? What is the role of learning when civilization itself is threatened, whether by acts of man or nature? Does virtue lie more in engagement or in neutrality? "Power without wisdom is tyranny; wisdom without power is pointless," warns one of Pears's characters.

    His story was buried with him and written by his enemies. Now his entire saga is revealed in a compelling trilogy by Brook Allen.After young Marcus Antonius's father dies in disgrace, he yearns to restore his family's honor during the final days of Rome's dying Republic. Marcus is rugged, handsome, and owns abundant military talent, but upon entering manhood, he falls prey to the excesses of a violent society. His whoring, gambling, and drinking eventually reap dire consequences. Through a series of personal tragedies, Marcus must come into his own through blood, blades, and death. Once he finally earns a military commission, he faces an uphill battle to earn the respect and admiration of soldiers, proconsuls, and kings. Desperate to redeem his name and carve a legacy for himself, he refuses to let warring rebels, scheming politicians, or even an alluring young Egyptian princess stand in his way.

    Puritanical fervor has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns in the hearts of women left to their own devices.Rebecca West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only occasionally by her infatuation with the handsome young clerk John Edes. But then a newcomer, Matthew Hopkins, arrives. A mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, he takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about what the women on the margins of this diminished community are up to. Dangerous rumors of covens, pacts, and bodily wants have begun to hang over women like Rebecca--and the future is as frightening as it is thrilling.Brimming with contemporary energy and resonance, The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust, and betrayal run amok as a nation's arrogant male institutions start to realize that the very people they've suppressed for so long may be about to rise up and claim their freedom.

    Four soldiers - Justinus, Paternus, Leocadius and Vitalis - are out hunting for food supplies at an outpost of Hadrian's Wall, when the Wall comes under attack. The four find their fort destroyed, their comrades killed, and Paternus is unable to find his wife and son. As they run south to Eboracum, they realize that this is no ordinary border raid. Ranged against the Romans at the edge of the world are four different peoples, and they have banded together under a mysterious leader who wears a silver mask and uses the name Valentinus - man of Valentia, the turbulent area north of the Wall. Faced with questions they are hard-pressed to answer, Leocadius blurts out a story that makes the men Heroes of the Wall. Their lives change not only when Valentinus begins his lethal sweep across Britannia but as soon as Leo's lie is out in the world, growing and changing as it goes. WILL THE WALL BE REBUILT AND THE POWER OF ROME RE-ESTABLISHED? AND WILL OUR FOUR HEROES REACH THE END OF THEIR JOURNEY? 367 AD is one of the critical dates in British history, but the year means little to most people now, and it is only rarely mentioned in historical books. Britannia: Part I - The Wall introduces the reader to this tumultuous age, as we share the adventure, confusion and bewilderment of our heroes - four common soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall. We find them caught up in the madness of a chain of events which will eventually lead to the fall of Roman Britain, and the descent into the Dark Ages.