Although Plutarch has served long and well, there has been a need for a book that brings the Romans into perspective in the light of present-day knowledge. Olivia Coolidge has written such a book. Here she brings to life twelve famous Romans: emperors such as Trajan and Augustus, skilled politicians such as Seneca and Cicero, literary figures such as Horace and Vergil.

With her usual skill and artistry Mrs. Coolidge paints strong and vivid portraits and her subjects fairly breathe the air of the hurly-burly world of power and intrigue in which they lived. Here we see the wily Julius Caesar, who recognized that military strength alone would determine the future—his and Rome's—and who set about getting what he needed with remarkable energy and efficiency. In his successors we see dramatically what power can mean in the hands of men of different character and talent. The intelligent organization of Caesar Augustus contrasts with the disastrous results of Nero's visciousness. The conversion of one man to Christianity transforms the civilized world when the man is Constantine.

As Olivia Coolidge's readers well know, she is uniquely qualified to write of the ancient world. All her books have been widely acclaimed as brilliant fiction, and now she demonstrates that she handles biography with an equally sure hand.

From the dust jacket