When Tiro, the confidential secretary of a Roman senator, opens the door to a terrified stranger on a cold November morning, he sets in motion a chain of events which will eventually propel his master into one of the most famous courtroom dramas in history The stranger is a Sicilian, a victim of the island's corrupt Roman governor, Verres The senator is Cicero, a brilliant young lawyer and spellbinding orator, determined to attain imperium ??? supreme power in the state