Palatine

by L. J. Trafford

Book 1 in the The Four Emperors series.

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Rome, AD 68. Nero withdraws into music, spectacle and the pleasures of the imperial palace while rebellion spreads through the provinces. His secretary Epaphroditus keeps government functioning with the help of the young freedman Philo, but the palace household is divided by fear, ambition and abuse. Praetorian prefect Nymphidius Sabinus presents himself as the defender of traditional Roman virtue and begins a conspiracy intended to remove the emperor.

The plot draws slaves, freedmen, courtiers and Nero’s consort Sporus into a crisis whose consequences none of its architects can control. Philo’s private struggle for safety and affection runs beside the manoeuvring of men who imagine that replacing Nero will restore political order. Instead, the emperor’s collapse opens the contest later known as the Year of the Four Emperors. The novel begins the quartet from below stairs, showing dynastic change through the people required to administer, entertain and survive the palace.