Retreating to Rome a transformed Marcus Junius Sillanus might have expected a chance to lick his wounds. Maybe begin to understand his place in this new and confusing world he'd been dragged into. His Emperor and the perhaps more formidable form of his mother, the ruthless matriarch Amelia Lepida, are all too ready to force him to accept the responsibilities of patriach and protector of the Empire. Reports of something strange in the border provinces of Germania would seem to offer a chance of respite.... David Lowe, nearly 20 decades later at least doesn't have his mother to deal with but there's plenty to keep him occupied as his fellow custodians leave him alone in Rome to look after the library and an increasingly hungry looking Junius...