The Oath Keeper
Page 40
They truly never gave it up after.
They made, they broke, the changed the emperors.
While the civil wars ever since Sulla and Marius had begun eroding Rome, this era truly ate away at Roman blood, and I wanted to bring both Tiberius and Gaius to this book, in a slightly lighter version of all the events, and people who took part. There were so many relatives that conspired, many not even mentioned in this book, that they could fill a dozen tales.
I wanted to concentrate on the survival of Gaius, the Sejanus affair, and Gaius and his madness after poor Drusilla died.
Many people who are in the book, were probably much different people than I have made them into. Sorry for that.
The death of Antonia with Tiberius Gemellus did not occur like this. The latter was murdered, the former died of old age, while horrified at what Gaius was obviously planning to do to the boy.
Longinus, Vinicius, Ahenobarbus are just three of hundreds of powerful men. They have previously fascinated me, and I needed these three to represent the larger, corrupt Senate. I could have written about many others.
For Cassius Chaerea I feel bad for.
This man was one of those, whom Gaius treated terribly, and despite his heroic past, Gaius enjoyed mocking the man for his beauty, and feminine traits. He happily cut down Gaius in that recently excavated passage in the Palatine, and tried to restore the Republic after Gaius fell.
Claudius, the downtrodden, cripple fool, was no fool at all. Rome was by now poisoned by greed and loss of authority, but he did well enough as a ruler. His women were his bane.
I wanted to make him the main culprit for the story, for in my mind, he fits the part of a mysterious rogue perfectly. Living in the family he was born into, he was sure to know a thing or two about survival and plotting. That he was made the Princeps totally by accident, never sat well with me.
Well, that concludes the project I began years ago. Hope you have enjoyed Hraban and Maroboodus series as much as I have, and please let me know, if I should write a stand-alone novel called Camulodunum, and if I should entertain any thoughts about writing of Thumelicus, Wulf, and Gervas in the future.
Make sure to check out Konrad and Jeanette and my few fantasy series, if you enjoy characters like Hraban. You can find my books in Amazon under my name.
Thank you again for reading.
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