To Abandon Rome

Rome, AD 593. A wife snatched from him by his banishment and defiled by rape. Another woman who loves him. An entanglement into the vyings of the powerful. A rage he keeps caged until the moment comes to release it.

This is the story of Titus Tribonius, former Chief Jurist for Roman Matters in the Lombard Kingdom, reduced to baking clay and lime in furnaces, then elevated to Consul with Plenary Powers. The Pope assigns him a task: Defeat the Lombard King besieging Rome.

Rome, AD 593. A wife snatched from him by his banishment and defiled by rape. Another woman who loves him. An entanglement into the vyings of the powerful. A rage he keeps caged until the moment comes to release it.

This is the story of Titus Tribonius, former Chief Jurist for Roman Matters in the Lombard Kingdom, reduced to baking clay and lime in furnaces, then elevated to Consul with Plenary Powers. The Pope assigns him a task: Defeat the Lombard King besieging Rome.

Titus: "But Your Holiness, what about your flock? Resist them, yes. But defeat them? Our grain grinders, road repairers, grocers can't match a trained military on the field. We'll wait them out within our walls."

Pope: "The Emperor is watching me. I demand a spirited defense!"

"No. I'll defend the city but won't lead the people to slaughter."

"You dare defy me?!"

Pitted against Titus's public life is his private life and his personal needs. He needs to avenge his wife's defilement and he needs--somehow, someway--to survive the machinations that threaten to destroy him and to escape Rome with the woman he loves.

342 pages, 85,000 words.
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