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"Rome, 63 BC. In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire, seven men are struggling for power. Cicero is consul; Caesar, his ruthless young rival; Pompey, the republic s greatest general; Crassus, its richest man; Cato, a political fanatic; Catilina, a psychopath; Clodius, an ambitious playboy. The stories of these real historical figures their alliances and betrayals, their cruelties and seductions, their brilliance and their crimes are all interleaved to form this epic novel. Its narrator is Tiro, a slave who serves as confidential secretary to the wily, humane, complex Cicero. He knows all his master s secrets a dangerous position to be in. From the discovery of a child s mutilated body, through judicial execution and a scandalous trial, to the brutal unleashing of the Roman mob, Lustrum is a study in the timeless enticements and horrors of power."