A Friend of Caesar (A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic Time, 50-47 B.C.) - Softcover

Davis, William Stearns

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1421967065 ISBN 13: 9781421967066

Publisher: IndyPublish, 2006

Synopsis

Excerpt: ... in the face; she staggered, fell; but as she fell a hand snatched the sword out of her grasp. She released her hold gladly, for did she not know that hand? When she rose to her feet there were shrieks of fear and pain on every side. The slaves were cringing in dread before him. Drusus was standing under the Athena, with the keen steel in his hand-its blade dyed crimson; and at his feet lay Ahenobarbus's favourite valet-the wretch literally disembowelled by one deadly stroke. "Fly, fly!" she implored; "they will bring arms! They will never let you escape." "I'll pay you for letting him kill Croesus," howled Lucius, facing himself resolutely toward his enemy. "How can he fly when the house is full of servants, and his boat is away from the landing? You give yourself trouble for no purpose, my lady! Lentulus's people will be here with swords in a moment!" But as he spoke a blow of some unseen giant dashed him prostrate, and upon the terrace from below came Cappadox, foaming with anxious rage, his brow blacker than night, his brawny arms swinging a heavy paddle with which he clubbed the cowering slaves right and left. "Have they killed him! Have the gods spared him!" These two demands came bounding in a breath from the honest servant's lips. And when he saw Drusus, bleeding, but still standing, he rushed forward to fling his arms about his master's neck. "Fly! fly!" urged Cornelia, and out of the building, armed now with swords and staves, came flocking the freedmen of the house and as many slaves as they could muster. "Salve! carissima," and Drusus, who never at the instant gave thought to the blood all over him, pressed her in one last kiss. He gained the terrace steps by a single bound ahead of his armed attackers. Cappadox smote down the foremost freedman with a buffet of the oar. Ahenobarbus staggered to his feet as Drusus sprang over him, and the latter tore a packet of tablets from his hand, never stopping in his own flight. Then down on to...

About this title

About the Author

William Stearns Davis (April 30, 1877 – February 15, 1930) was an American educator, historian, and author. He has been cited as one who “contributed to history as a scholarly discipline, . . . [but] was intrigued by the human side of history, which, at the time, was neglected by the discipline.” After first experimenting with short stories, he turned while still a college undergraduate to longer forms to relate, from an involved (fictional) character’s view, a number of critical turns of history. This faculty for humanizing, even dramatizing, history characterized Davis’ later academic and professional writings as well, making them particularly suitable for secondary and higher education during the first half of the twentieth century in a field which, according to one editor, had “lost the freshness and robustness . . . the congeniality” that should mark the study of history. Both Davis’ fiction and non-fiction are found in public and academic libraries today.

Edition details

• Publisher: IndyPublish
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1421967065
• ISBN 13: 9781421967066
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 392