“Oh yes, I gathered you two were very close!

He listened with the mild demeanour of a man who had waited eight years for his town council to draw up a specification for emergency repairs.

The plumber plodded along in silence, like a man who has learned to be polite to lunatics through dealing with civil engineers.

You could tell those two had been married by the way that she ignored him.

I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher’s bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing himself the son and the grandson of gods, and who thought wearing the purple gave him free rein to indulge his personal vanities, execute real talent, bankrupt the Treasury, burn half of Rome – and bore the living daylights out of paying customers in theatres!.

Senator, don't let your judgement be warped by one heady moment.

Probably be sick over the side in Charon's ferry too…' Downhill to the dark boat across the Styx. I did not want my corpse to be stuck with her in any case.

I thanked Jove for her ruthless good sense. It struck me there might be a reason why Helena Justina whipped along at such a cracking pace: she did not want to be stuck in the wilderness with my corpse.In my experience, men who sit in corners are the ones to watch.Popular men who laugh at your jokes pose a threat which blatant villains can never command.If they start out with nothing I tend to get depressed because either they have just stripped off for someone else or, in my line of work, they are usually dead.

I like my women in a few wisps of drapery: then I can hope for a chance to remove the wisps.

Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis