SPQR III.: Oskvrnuće

The year is 61 BC. Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger returns to Rome after a stay in Gaul. Rome is in turmoil because Pompey has camped outside the city, waiting for the Senate to approve his triumph. Decius has recently become a member of the Senate, but he himself is threatened by an old enemy, the ambitious Publius Clodius Pulcher. While awaiting the Senate's decision, an ancient, sacred ritual is being held in the house of Pontifex Maximus Gaius Julius Caesar, which only women are allowed to attend. Clodius has desecrated the ritual by his arrival. At the same time, murders of prominent citizens, men and women, soothsayers, and slaves occur, all bearing the same ritual signature. Decius is joined in the investigation of the murders by an unexpected ally, Julia Minor, the niece of Julius Caesar. Behind the ritual and the murders, it is learned, lies a secret agreement by which Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus will forever change the fate of Rome.