The Philosopher Prince

Two young fourth-century warriors are swept into high-level political intrigue and warfare from Britain and Gaul to the Adriatic coast as they are caught up in the fight against the threat of barbarian invasion in this low-key but engaging sequel to Cast Not the Day. When the corrupt imperial notary Paulus has the Roman-British Drusus and his lover, Marcellus, arrested for treason, they are unexpectedly befriended by the scholarly prince Julian. Reluctant defender of the Gallic frontier, Julian shares a secret with the two men, a leaning toward the old gods despite the empire’s official Christianity. As officers in Julian’s forces, Drusus and Marcellus face both scheming bureaucrats more concerned with petty power games than Julian’s mission and the danger that his martial success will be perceived as treason by his suspicious cousin, the Emperor Constantius II. Though Waters’s cool narrative style is distancing, he ably portrays both the rise of Julian and the love between Drusus and Marcellus in a well-researched tale illuminating a little-known historical era. Agent: Jonny Pegg, Curtis Brown U.K. (Mar.)