The Sword of Revenge, page 1
THE
SWORD
OF
REVENGE
By David Donachie
THE JOHN PEARCE ADVENTURES
By the Mast Divided • A Shot Rolling Ship
An Awkward Commission • A Flag of Truce
The Admirals’ Game • An 1ll Wind
Blown Off Course • Enemies at Every Turn
A Sea of Troubles • A Divided Command
The Devil to Pay • The Perils of Command
A Treacherous Coast • On a Particular Service
A Close Run Thing • HMS Hazard • A Troubled Course
THE CONTRABAND SHORE SERIES
The Contraband Shore • A Lawless Place • Blood Will Out
THE NELSON AND EMMA SERIES
On a Making Tide • Tested by Fate • Breaking the Line
THE PRIVATEERSMEN SERIES
The Devil’s Own Luck • The Dying Trade • A Hanging Matter
An Element of Chance • The Scent of Betrayal • A Game of Bones
HISTORICAL THRILLERS
Every Second Counts
Originally written as Jack Ludlow
THE LAST ROMAN SERIES
Vengeance • Honour • Triumph
THE REPUBLIC SERIES
The Pillars of Rome • The Sword of Revenge • The Gods of War
THE CONQUEST SERIES
Mercenaries • Warriors • Conquest
THE ROADS TO WAR SERIES
The Burning Sky • A Broken Land • A Bitter Field
THE CRUSADES SERIES
Son of Blood • Soldier of Crusade • Prince of Legend
Hawkwood
A ROMAN REPUBLIC NOVEL
THE
SWORD
OF
REVENGE
DAVID DONACHIE
An imprint of Globe Pequot, the trade division of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200
Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
Copyright © 2008 by David Donachie
First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2008
First McBooks Press edition 2023
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Donachie, David, 1944—author.
Title: The sword of revenge / David Donachie.
Description: First McBooks Press edition. | Essex, Connecticut : McBooks, 2023. | Series: Republic ; 2 | Summary: “Volume #2 in the Roman Republic trilogy. Rome has lost its greatest warrior—for Aulus, the doom-laden prophecy of forty years earlier has come to pass. It is now left to Lucius to defy the oracle’s curse alone, and the corrupt and powerful senator leaves nothing to chance in his bid to survive. But one boy, alone in the world, holds the key to his fate—and the future of the Republic”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023035576 (print) | LCCN 2023035577 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493075966 (paperback) | ISBN 9781493075973 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Rome—History—Republic, 265-30 B.C.—Fiction. | LCGFT: Historical fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PR6053.O483 S96 2023 (print) | LCC PR6053.O483 (ebook) | DDC 823/.914—dc23/eng/20230816
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023035576
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023035577
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
DAVID DONACHIE was born in Edinburgh in 1944. He has always had an abiding interest in British naval history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as in military history, including ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, and the clandestine services during the Second World War. He has more than fifty published novels to his credit with over a million copies sold. David lives in Deal, the historic English seaport on the border of the English Channel and the North Sea.
THE
SWORD
OF
REVENGE
To Edward Ephraim,
who has overcome many difficulties in
a fascinating life, not least having
me as a neighbour.
CONTENTS
Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EPILOGUE
Guide
Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
PROLOGUE
Start of Content
EPILOGUE
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PROLOGUE
The dedication of a tomb to a great man was a magnificent occasion, doubly so when the person whose life was being recalled was someone seen as honest, upright and a friend to the common people. Few doubted that the individual being honoured this day had been such a man; if he had demonstrable defects they were those of the ordinary mortal: however upright a man tried to be in his life, he could never quite stand unbowed against the malice or jesting nature of the Gods.
Born into one of the leading families of Rome, Aulus Cornelius had been a great general, the man who led the legions against, and humbled the heirs of, Alexander the Great. His victories in Greece had earned him the suffix Macedonicus and wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, but it was not just his fighting qualities that singled him out. He was remembered as an administrator who had employed, both in Rome and in the provinces, a light touch in the magistracies he had occupied, including the two occasions on which he had held the office of Consul, never bearing down on the poor and dispossessed in favour of the rich, the well-born or the powerful.
There were many ex-soldiers resident in the city who could recollect serving under him and recall his ease of manner, his natural nobility, as well as his concern for their welfare. Not that Aulus Cornelius was soft; any legions he commanded were a byword for their tight discipline and good order. But most telling, he was loved by his comrades because he had that commodity esteemed by all fighting men: he was successful. To crown a glittering career Aulus Cornelius Macedonicus had left behind him an inspiring tale to make the whole population of the city of Rome feel proud. He had died a hero’s death in the province of Illyricum, leading a mere seventy men who perished with him, to hold back, in a narrow defile, a much more numerous enemy, so that the legions to their rear could prepare for battle, a contest in which they were victorious.
‘Is that what they are saying?’ asked Titus Cornelius, the dead man’s youngest son, who had arrived from Spain the day before. ‘That he and his soldiers died to give the 10th legion time to prepare. That it was a deliberate sacrifice?’
‘It is what is being put about by the man who betrayed him, as well as his friends.’
Claudia Cornelia, widow of Aulus and stepmother to Titus, spoke softly, not being sure who was within earshot. Quintus, her other stepson, was preparing for the ceremonies, seemingly unconcerned that such falsehoods regarding his father’s death were being openly peddled around the city.
‘And does this lie go unchallenged?’
Claudia smiled ruefully. ‘The supporters of Vegetius Flaminus have paid people to go to the baths, streets, markets and taverns to spread this tale. And it is clever, Titus, for it does not diminish your father. If anything it makes him more of a paragon and that goes for the soldiers with him. They are seen as dying like Leonidas and his Spartans, knowingly giving up their lives for the greater good. What could be more puissant to a Roman soldier than to be likened to the heroes of Thermopyle?’
‘Then it’s time to counter it.’
Titus had been told the truth in the despatch which fetched him back from his military duties; how Vegetius Flaminus, the corrupt and corpulent governor of Illyricum, had, through his rapacity, caused an uprising amongst the locals and through his ineptitude had allowed them to combine with Dacian tribesmen from beyond the borders of the province to create a full-blown revolt. Aulus Cornelius had headed a senatorial commission to investigate Vegetius and his gubernatorial record. On seeing the depth of his fellow-senator’s depredations - rapacious taxation, open bribery and fiscal chicanery - as well as the way his army, more accustomed to labouring than soldiering, had ceased to be effective, he had superseded him.
