Emperor Claudius - a fair ruler, though not always a coherent one

Empress Agrippina - his wife and niece, and mother of

Prince Nero - a pleasant boy with artistic ambitions

Prince Britannicus - the son of Claudius, clever but cold

Narcissus - imperial secretary and close adviser to Claudius

Pallas - another close adviser to the Emperor and Empress

Septimus - an agent of Narcissus

In Rome

Cestius - a vicious and ruthless leader of a crime gang

Vitellius - playboy son of a senator, and long-standing enemy of Macro and Cato

Julia Sempronia - the lovely daughter of Senator Sempronius

ROME IN THE AGE OF
EMPEROR CLAUDIUS

The Imperial Palace Complex

The Praetorian Camp

The Boarium

The Great Circus

The Warehouse District

The Subura Slum District

CHAPTER ONE

The small convoy of covered wagons had been on the road for ten days when it crossed the frontier into the province of Cisalpine Gaul. The first snows had already fallen in the mountains to the north that towered above the route, their peaks gleaming brilliantly against the blue sky. The early winter had been kind to the men marching with the convoy and though the air was cold and crisp, there had been no rain since they had left the imperial mint in Narbonesis. A bitter frost had left the ground hard and easy going for the wheels of the heavily laden wagons.

The Praetorian tribune in command of the convoy was riding a short distance ahead and as the route crested a hill he turned his horse aside and reined in. Ahead the road stretched out in a long straight line, rippling over the landscape. The tribune had a clear view of the town of Picenum a few miles away where he was due to meet the mounted escort sent from the Praetorian Guard in Rome - the elite body of soldiers tasked with protecting Emperor Claudius and his family. The century of auxiliary troops that had escorted the four wagons on the road from Narbonensis would then march back to their barracks at the mint, leaving the Praetorians, under the command of the tribune, to protect the small convoy for the rest of the journey to the capital.