A hundred and forty-three years after the murder of Julius Caesar, the mortar is barely dry between the great Travertine slabs that hold up the Flavian Amphitheater—the Colosseum of Rome. Lucius Viterbus, a young poet from the country, has a horrible job cleaning up after bestial and gladiatorial “games.” In the grisly remains of the Ludi Romani, he finds a giant mastiff, stunned but alive, The brutish head of his crew, Baractes, wants to kill the dog. But Lucius revives the beast and takes him home—to a stable in the worst slum of central Rome.
Soon, Lucius and Livilla—an independent, but lonely 14-year-old girl who studies Greek with the stable owner—establish a thriving business, leveraging Jace’s strength and fierce appearance. But they haven’t planned on the greed, lust, and violence that winds around the lives of the people of Rome as surely as the Tiber winds through the city itself. One by one, the main characters are separated and the future becomes darker and darker. But in Lucius, Livilla, and Jace, the old Roman virtues—bravery and loyalty—are strong. Whatever the outcome, there will be mighty struggles and proud deeds.