To Forestall the Darkness - A Novel of Ancient Rome, AD 589 - Vann Turner

AD 589. In the Sixth Century Italy had been depopulated by plague and laid waste by decades of war. Industry, agriculture, commerce and city life had all stopped. Into this desolation the Germanic Lombards had come marching in, meeting no resistance. Decades later, with things unimproved, a new King appoints Titus Tribonius as his Chief Jurist for Roman Matters.Titus, an upright man but more pagan than Christian, seeks to protect the native Romans from the brutality of their overlords. He has little..