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� invite the reader�s attention to the much more serious consideration of the kind of lives our ancestors lived� of who were the men and what the means� both in politics and war� by which �ome�s power was first acquired and subsequently expanded� � would then have him trace the process of our moral decline� to watch first the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to lapse� then the final collapse of the whole edifice� and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices nor face the remedies needed to cure them$

%hat chiefly makes the study of history wholesome and profitable is this� that in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see� and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings$

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*hapter one + �nd so� in the third year of the reign of imperator *aesar �ugustus� there came about a message delivered to one of the sons of the equitius house � quintius equitius draco$ �oping to further his knowledge of the healing arts he had come to study in the centre of civilized learning� the schools and academies of �thens in the �ellenes$

The message required quintius to gather a small circle of capable companions and to attend his uncle in rome at his earliest convenience$ -ensing that this could be of importance to the equitius house� quintius brought with him his gigantic german bodyguard� �rminius$ � capable agent of the .quitius house� who preferred to remain anonymous for the short+term� accompanied the party$ � decurion by the name of flavinius sabinus� a veteran of the )acedonian campaigns� was also employed to attend to the party$

/pon finding the quickest military trireme to bring them to rome� and once under sail� 0uintius also went about recruiting the capable marine 1ecurion on board + magnus mentula� who was happy to pledge his allegiance to house equitius$

�t was only a couple of days out of the port of �thens that another sail was spotted by a crewman$ The following morning it was obvious that the unknown ship was in pursuit of the trireme$ �s the other ship � another trireme + gained on them� they could discern on the sail an obvious heraldic device � a bull with flames coming from its nostrils� holding a babe in its jaws$ 3one of the party knew what this meant$

The unknown ship came to close quarters and were soon preparing to board� the ship under service to the equitius family was prepared for the attack� with archers and a scorpion ballistae employed to devastating use$ the party gathered at the front of the ship� quintius preparing his healing salves behind the front line$ 3evertheless� an arrow was aimed in quintius� direction� while a shout from the other ship in the language of the �ellenes made mention of the equitius title$

a number of armoured hoplites made the leap to the roman ship� but they were quickly repelled by the deadly defence of the party � flavius lopping off a hand� magnus breaking the nose of another$ �owever� while these hoplites retreated� a new set of opponents took their place$ The master of the enemy ship let out a roaring command in greek � get down here you stinking calamari4 The one we want is down here4 3ext to the master stood a 5hoenician� wearing a cap and sporting braids in his beard$

%ith that� the master of the ship made his own leap across to the roman ship and engaged flavius in combat$ 6lavius was equal to his opponent� however and was soon fighting him off$ �ll of the other hoplites were falling to the deadly blades of the party and were retreating to their

own ship$ The master slipped back to his ship$ The agent of the equitius house managed to grab a one of the hoplites with a vice+like grip� and the party had a prisoner$

%hile the enemy ship sailed away� its bull sigil still on the sail� the roman ship made its repairs$ 0uintius and his companions questioned their prisoner and found out that their enemy were mercenaries hired very quickly in �thens$ They were to hunt down the roman ship and kill just one target� the member of the equitius family$ The one who had hired them was the 5hoenician� who had been spotted next to the master of the ship$ The prisoner was given as a slave to the captain of the roman trireme$

The trireme was ordered to continue its journey$ There were questions which could only be answered in rome$