Aurelian; Or, Rome in the Third Century

Rome is dying. Its emperors fall like leaves, its legions stretched thin across a fracturing empire. Into this crucible walks Lucius Manlius Piso, a Roman noble whose conversion to the forbidden faith of the Christians has placed him at the center of the most dangerous question of the third century: can the old gods save Rome, or must the empire find salvation in a new covenant? Told through letters to Fausta, daughter of the Senator Gracchus, William Ware's 1838 masterpiece follows Piso through the court of the Emperor Aurelian and into the jeweled shadow of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra. Here, Roman virtue collides with Christian faith, and every discussion of theology is an act of political rebellion. Ware captures a civilization at its twilight hour, watching the old world crack while something unprecedented rises from its ashes. This is historical fiction with the scope of prophecy.