The Legate's Daughter

The scene is Rome in the troublesome year 24 B.C. Emperor Augustus is in ill health and the city is seething with intrigue. There is speculation about the succession uncertainty in the capital and unrest on the frontiers. The question of an heir is acute. Augustus has only one child a daughter Julia. She is married to Marcellus marking the young man with the Emperors favour but some disagree with the match. Powerful rivals engineer crisis and conspiracy. These events are seen through the eyes of Curtius Rufus ex-centurion gambler and a man dissatisfied with life. He comes to the attention of Augustuss lieutenant Marcus Agrippa who leads Curtius into the puzzling affair of the legates daughter kidnapped it appears by pirates and held in captivity in the African desert.