The Last Day of Marcus Tullius Cicero

Book excerpt: Cicero-lawyer, politician, philosopher, former consul of the Roman Republic, and man on the run. Just a year after the assassination of the dictator Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son have allied, sealing their friendship with names given up to each other's hit men. At the top of Antony's list-Marcus Tullius Cicero. With Cicero flees Leonidas, a longtime slave of the great statesman's household. On the morning of Cicero's last day, Leonidas anticipates a reunion with Clementia, whom he hopes to marry, if only their master lives long enough to free them. But assassins are closing in, the last escape routes are closing, despairing allies have killed themselves, and not everyone Cicero trust may be loyal. The Last Day of Marcus Tullius Cicero is a riveting, vividly realized historical novella from Jordan M. Poss, author of the novel No Snakes in Iceland.