ROME'S TRIAL (DEFENDERS OF ROME Book 2) (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

Imperator Titus sends Marcus and friends to Britannia to report on the political and military reforms done by Governor Frontinus for the new governor, Agricola. Frontinus' work is excellent, but the wild Ordovices destroy a cavalry unit. Agricola annihilates the Ordovices with Marcus leading the assault with artillery, fire, and sword. He next reclaims the Isle of Mona for its people from druids and Hibernian pirates, restoring their freedom and copper mine. He restores fair taxation and trials in Roman Britain. Agricola annexes the northern tribes south of Caledonia, north of Brigantia, using Marcus' and Pollio's artillery skills. He next uses the navy and Marcus to restore young Tuathal Treachlmhar as High King of Hibernia for Britannia's security. Imperator Titus dead, Imperator Domitian calls on Marcus and Quintilius to train his new First Minerva Legion at Bonna in artillery and battle drill. New British auxiliary units join. Under Domitian's leadership, the legions defeat a huge Chatti raid into Belgia across the frozen Rhine. The Dacians invade Roman Moesia on the Danube. They defeat General Fuscus who has sent Marcus and the British back. Domitian and General Tettius Julianus use a full British auxiliary legion and reorganized forces with Marcus' artillery to defeat the Dacians, forcing their insidious King Decebalus to become a client king for eight million sesterces per year as Domitian rebuilds Rome from two great fires and improves justice. On leave, the friends enjoy married life, but are called to crush a mysterious rebellion of the Fourteenth and Twenty-first Rapax Legions at Mainz under Saturninus. Pollio and Marcus rig a huge leverage catapult, meeting the charming Trajan as they do. Its shot smash the south gate of Mainz. Documents have been burned; confessions from rebels point vaguely to the Senate. Domitian calls on Marcus and friends to improve artillery. They do as he suffers pneumonia. Recovering, he tracks the rebellion's funding into his own household, whose members murder him. New Imperator Marcus Nerva is popular but old, he calls on the friends to help him adopt Trajan as his successor. Marcus intimidates Praetorian Prefect Casperius enough that the adoption takes place. Trajan is Imperator. Marcus saves Casperius while aging Pollio improves artillery and Marcus' alchemy adds power. Trajan fights the Dacians defeating Decebalus who is still King. Decebalus sends an Asiatic horde across the frozen Danube where it is enveloped by Marcus' artillery, the British Legions, Lucius Quietus and his Berber Horsemen, and Quintilius and the XXX Ulpia Victrix Legion in the terrific battle of Adamclisi where Trajan's timely arrival gains a bloody victory. There are few Dacians on the field, but one reveals Decebalus' treachery. Trajan is infuriated and bridges the Danube while Marcus builds up the artillery. Trajan invades; Marcus and Pollio force the mile-high Vulcan Pass and the legions pour into Dacia. The Dacian army is defeated within sight of its high capital, Sarmizegetusa. Marcus and Pollio engage and defeat its strong lower fortifications while Hadrian leads the Fifth Macedonian Legion to divert its water supply and storm its heights. Decebalus flees but overtaken, takes his own life. Non-combatants are spared by Trajan's mercy. Any Roman soldier who will marry a Dacian woman or widow is given land in the building of a Roman Dacia. Huge treasures of Decebalus are used for public works, orphans, and education. Years later, from the top of Trajan's Column standing modestly between two libraries, the elderly friends recognize their role in making the grandeur of Rome.