Rome under its first emperor: and a former centurion awakes to a hangover. Curtius Rufus's physical headache soon becomes a metaphorical one as his life goes rapidly downhill. He gets kicked out of work at the Roman equivalent of the local water authority, tangled up in some dubious politics, then is forced into rescuing a legate's daughter who had got kidnapped by pirates off the North African coast.

Breem paints a vivid picture of the side of Imperial Rome the historians do not mention: ordinary life by people who are not senators, members of the imperial family or senior military officers. This is brawling, dirty, hard-up Rome. He contrasts it beautifully with the nervous life of the North African grandees with whom Rufus mixes. A good read.

Updated: 16:30 Friday, December 02, 2005