Rome, 80 BC. The young advocate Cicero asks Gordianus to investigate the prosecution of Sextus Roscius, an Umbrian landowner accused of murdering his father. The charge of parricide carries a horrific punishment, but the official case rests on testimony shaped by fear and political influence.
Gordianus follows the victim’s property, family disputes and connections to men enriched by Sulla’s proscriptions. The inquiry reveals how confiscation and dictatorship allow private greed to use the courts, forcing Cicero and Gordianus to challenge people protected by the most powerful figures in Rome.
Lindsey Davis
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Robert Harris
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Richard Foreman
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Colleen McCullough
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