Sulla’s Fist

by Vincent B. Davis II Book 5 in the The Sertorius Scrolls series.

First published 2023

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4.5(1,766)

Sulla’s Fist places Sertorius in 90 BC as Italy turns against Rome in the Social War. After years away, he returns to a Republic where Rome’s own allies are now enemies, military discipline is under strain, and family loyalties are complicated by his son’s service under Sulla.

The historical setting is the war over Italian citizenship and Rome’s relationship with its allies. The novel uses sabotage, divided loyalties and rival commanders to show why the Social War was more than a conventional rebellion: it was a crisis over who could belong to Rome and who would command the armies raised to save it.

Sertorius’s later reputation as an opponent of Sulla gives the Social War additional significance. He is learning military command inside the same crisis that elevates men who will soon turn Roman armies against Roman rivals. The novel therefore treats the war over citizenship as a precursor to civil conflict, where soldiers increasingly owe their careers to commanders whose political ambitions extend beyond the campaign.