In a collapsing empire built on wine, lies, corruption and absurd ambition, the old legionary Vespasianus claws his way from starving nobody to emperor of Rome. Together with the fiercely devoted Domitilla, a woman whose love survives every catastrophe imaginable, he creates a city, a dynasty, and eventually a disaster large enough to shake an empire. Around them grows a world of drunken senators, grotesque weddings, violent arena spectacles, scheming officials, starving citizens, wandering legionaries and impossible family loyalties. But beneath the absurdity lies something darker. A lonely man terrified of poverty. A woman who loves too deeply. A daughter raised between tenderness and madness. And a faithful dog who may have been the only true friend Vespasianus ever had. Darkly comic, brutal, ridiculous and strangely heartfelt, Vespasianus is a satirical historical novel about power, survival, love, corruption and the tragic stupidity of mankind.
