Series: Cicero Book 1
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 305 pages
Audiobook Length: 12 hours and 40 minutes
First Published: 2006
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Publisher’s Description
Master of historical fiction Robert Harris lures readers back in time to the compelling life of Roman Senator Marcus Cicero. The re-creation of a vanished biography written by his household slave and righthand man, Tiro, Imperium follows Cicero’s extraordinary struggle to attain supreme power in Rome.
On a cold November morning, Tiro opens the door to find a terrified, bedraggled stranger begging for help. Once a Sicilian aristocrat, the man was robbed by the corrupt Roman governor, Verres, who is now trying to convict him under false pretenses and sentence him to a violent death. The man claims that only the great senator Marcus Cicero, one of Rome’s most ambitious lawyers and spellbinding orators, can bring him justice in a crooked society manipulated by the villainous governor. But for Cicero, it is a chance to prove himself worthy of absolute power. What follows is one of the most gripping courtroom dramas in history, and the beginning of a quest for political glory by a man who fought his way to the top using only his voice—defeating the most daunting figures in Roman history.
Quotes from Imperium
You can always spot a fool, for he is a man who will tell you he knows who is going to win an election.
Power brings a man many luxuries, but a clean pair of hands is seldom among them.
Let us drink to pointless heroism.
Since when has idiocy been a bar to advancement in politics?
Politics is a country idiot capable of concentrating on only one thing at a time.
About Robert Harris
Robert Harris is the author whose works include Pompeii, Enigma, Fatherland, and the Cicero trilogy. He is a former television correspondent and newspaper columnist. He currently lives in Berkshire, England.