A Pillar of Iron: A Novel of Ancient Rome

by Taylor Caldwell

“Let us consider this Rome of ours, Cicero, this Rome of today and not of your grandfather’s yesterday. Let us consider the Senators, the red-sandaled Senators in their stately togas, the Senators with their soft litters, soft beds, and soft courtesans, the Senators of privilege and power and money, of rich estates within the walls of Rome, farms in the countryside, villas at Caprae and in Sicily, vast foreign and domestic investments—these Senators who lie in warm, perfumed baths or sleep under the oiled fingers of those who massage their corrupt bodies, and who bejewel themselves and their mistresses before repairing to orgies and banquets, to the theatre, to private exhibitions of shameless dancers, songsters, gladiators, wrestlers, actors—let us consider them! “Once their forebears, from whom most inherited their seats, repaired to a rude wooden Senate Chamber on their bare feet, to indicate their humility before the power of their people and above all, before the power of the gods and eternal law. They sat, not in embroidered togas, on cushioned marble seats, but on benches of wood, homely fashioned, and their tunics were still stained by the innocent earth and simple labor. The Consul of the people was more than they. When they spoke, those old Senators, they spoke in the accents of the country; they spoke with manliness, learning, truth, justice, and pride. They were prudent; they distrusted all law that did not rise from the natural law, from the heart of the natio...