Rome 63 BC In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire seven men are struggling for power Cicero is consul Caesar his ruthless young rival Pompey the republic's greatest general Crassus its richest man Cato a political fanatic Catilina a psychopath Clodius an ambitious playboy The stories of these real historical figures
- their alliances & betrayals their cruelties & seductions their brilliance & their crimes
- are all interleaved to form this epic novel Its narrator is Tiro a slave who serves as confidential secretary to the wily humane complex Cicero He knows all his master's secrets
- a dangerous position to be in From the discovery of a child's mutilated body through judicial execution & a scandalous trial to the brutal unleashing of the Roman mob Lustrum is a study in the timeless enticements & horrors of power