“I wonder,” Drusus began, but fell silent. Cornelia didn’t ask him what he was wondering, and neither did her cousins—more her sisters now than the sister she had been born with. They were all wondering the same thing. They had all four of them stood together before the Temple of Vesta while a city tore itself apart, and it had left its mark. Ten peaceful years under Vespasian, two more peaceful years under Titus, but none of them could help thinking it when a new emperor came to power.

Will it last?

Diana shrugged her angular shoulders. “Come to the races today,” she suggested. “The Reds are forever.”

Unlike emperors.

Historical Note

Historical Note

Historically, Emperor Vespasian did not enter Rome until late in the year following his coup—but I couldn’t resist the temptation of letting the readers see the face of the man who finally ended the madness of the Year of the Four Emperors. Vespasian was shrewd, humorous, sensible, and intelligent, and his reign ushered in an era of much-needed peace for Rome. He was followed by his brilliant son Titus and eventually his second son, Domitian, who proved less popular—but that is a story for another book, one titled Mistress of Rome.

Most of this book’s main events—Galba’s death, Piso’s murder at the Temple of Vesta, Otho’s speech and suicide after the battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius’s love of food and of the Blues, the riots in Rome, Domitian’s elopement with a married woman—are true to history, and so are many of the characters in Daughters of Rome. Domitia, daughter of the famous historical general Gnaeus Corbulo and renamed here as Marcella, will go on after her scandalous elopement to a grim two decades as Domitian’s wife; he eventually came to hate her, but never relinquished his hold on Marcella/Domitia. Her sister Cornelia, Corbulo’s elder daughter (also called Domitia, and renamed by me for clarity), is only a shadowy figure in history and disappears into domestic anonymity. Her marriage to Piso Licinianus is my own invention, though the historical Piso did exist and was murdered by Praetorians, who took his head to show the new Emperor and later sold it back to Piso’s family. Centurion Densus of the Praetorian Guard also existed, though history records that he died the night of Galba’s assassination in a fruitless attempt to save Piso’s life. It seemed an unfair end for a brave and loyal soldier, so I let him survive in Daughters of Rome to attain a happier ending.