Brides of Rome Quotes

“Yet Cicero’s ultimate desire was for peace and order to be restored to Rome. He had calculated that the new Caesar was the man most likely to make that happen and so had begrudgingly thrown his support behind Octavian; however, that clearly hadn’t protected him from Antony’s wrath.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome

“The Vestal took another sip of the cucumber water, hoping it would help her face cool from the quiet confrontation. Livia had retreated, but she wouldn’t wait long to advance again. They both knew it.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome

“can see how you’d like to take credit for that, Claudia,” said Livia, “but she didn’t do it for a man. The woman is sexless. It was a quid pro quo between her and Caesar. She gave him Antony’s will, and he agreed that any future accusations of incestum against a Vestal would be dealt with under a fairer process by the Pontifex Maximus and the quaestio. She probably thinks it’s better than relying on miracles.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome

“Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis,” she had told them. Times change, and we change with them.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome

“She took Octavia’s hands in her own. “Congratulations on your marriage and the success of your family, Lady Octavia. You have married one of Rome’s great men, and your brother is Caesar. Fortuna smiles on you.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome

“she helped Fabiana into the lectica and stepped in after her, Pomponia thanked the goddess for making her a priestess and freeing her from the obligation to marry. As a Vestal, she would step down from the order, if she so wished, with wealth, property, and privilege. As a Vestal, even a retired one, she would never be forced to marry a man she didn’t want to, nor would she ever be subordinate to a husband’s will or whims. She would never be forced to bear children for him, again and again, until her body wore out in the quest to give him the perfect son he could parade around as his legacy.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome

“The haruspices think the more time it takes them to study the entrails, the more impressed we are at their divinations. They mistake our relief at the end of their study for awe.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome

“The choice of the wise,” said Cicero, knowing Antony neither forgave nor forgot. “Mea sententia, General.”
― Debra May Macleod, Brides of Rome