On the eve of Marcus Cicero's inauguration as consul of Rome, the grisly death of a boy sends ripples of fear thourgh a city already wracked by civil unrest, crime, and debauchery of every kind. For Cicero, the ill forebodings of this hideous murder only increase his frustrations and the dangers he already faces as Rome's leader: elected by the people but despised by the heads of the two rival camps, the patricians and populists. There is, also a plot to assassinate him, and it will take all his embattled wit, strength, and force of will to stop it and keep Rome from becoming a dictatorship.