Blood of a Gladiator by Ashley Gardner

Blood of a Gladiator by Ashley Gardner

Author:Ashley Gardner [Gardner, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JA / AG Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


It was the fourth hour, breakfast finished. Shops were doing flourishing business, Rome as vigorous as ever, despite the rain.

Saturnalia was over, and the new year had begun. Janus, the two-faced god, looking both forward and backward, ushered in a new month. I remembered Marcianus telling me that the senate had once proposed naming December as the first month of the year, since it held Nero’s birthday, but Nero had refused the honor.

I thought of the haughty young man who’d delighted in Cassia’s applause. Many believed Nero didn’t care about the running of Rome, only his own preoccupation with music and drama. Rumor went that he’d instructed for his mother, Agrippina, to be killed because she’d interfered with his pursuit of music. Others speculated that his new wife, Poppaea, had simply encouraged him to get rid of Agrippina so the two could marry.

The quirks of the princeps didn’t concern me at the moment, beyond his admonishment to protect Priscus. I wasn’t foolish enough to involve myself in the affairs of those on the Palatine. Everyday life was challenging enough.

I made my way past the Circus Maximus, where the thump of hoofbeats told me teams of horses were being trained. Nero favored chariot racing, which made him liked by most Romans. He defied the stuffy senators and gave the rest of Rome games and races.

The house where the vigiles of the Subura slept during the day and brought in miscreants at night was near the Clivus Pullius as it went up the Oppian Hill.

I did not know the name of the man I sought, but I had no fear of plunging into the house and searching through beds until I found him. The vigile had plunged into mine.

I didn’t need to look for him, as it turned out. The young vigile walked out of the house as I approached it, saw me, and tore off in the opposite direction.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.