"Via Roma"
by Robert Silverberg
Form: Novella
Year: 1994
ID: 1234
Publication history:
- 1994: Asimov's April 1994, Magazine
- 2003: Roma Eterna, Eos Hard cover book, ISBN 0380978598, 396 pp.
- 2003: Roma Eterna, Gollancz Hard cover book, ISBN 0575073535, 384 pp.
- 2003: Roma Eterna, Gollancz Trade paperback, ISBN 0575073543, 384 pp.
- 2004: Roma Eterna, Eos Mass market paperback, ISBN 0380814889, 464 pp.
Other resources:
[None on record]
Comments:
One of the Roma Eterna stories.
Cymbelin is the son of a wealthy merchant of Britannia on his first visit to the center of the Empire. Almost from the moment he arrives, he finds himself among the elite of Roman society, attending parties with Senators, ex-Consuls, war heroes, famous gladiators...and their beautiful daughters and nieces (since Roman society is heavily male-dominated). He works hard to not be the innocent provincial, but he is unprepared for the casual relationships and sophisticated pleasures of the upper class. And he is also unprepared to become an unwitting spectator to events that will change the course of the Empire forever.