Marching off against Parthia was a good sign that a Roman general or emperor was getting too big for his boots, but this time a very specific anxiety arose. The Romans had a book of prophecies called the Sibylline Books which had been sold by a Greek female prophet to the last king of the Romans, Tarquinius Superbus. They were highly sacred and considered to be the true and very clear words of the gods.† They were kept in a vault beneath the great Temple of Jupiter, heavily guarded and consulted only at times of extreme distress. In 44 BCE, a rumour arose that the books contained a prophecy
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