Chronicles the lives and accomplishments of Roman figures whose influence continues to be felt today, including Camillus, Scipio Africanus, Cato the elder, Plautus, Terence, Gracchi Brothers, Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Spartacus, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero, Mark Antony, Catullus, Augustus, Agrippa, Virgil, Horace, Livy, Ovid, Tiberius, Livia, Claudius, Nero, Agrippina the Younger, Seneca, Vespasian, Domitian, Martial, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Trajan, Hadrian, Juvenal, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian, Constantine the Great, and Theodosius the Great.

Includes index. Relentless rise to power (396-78 B.C.); Prosperity and power (73-30 B. C.); Empire emerges (30 B.C.-A.D. 37); Empire expands (A.D. 37-98); Preserving the Roman world (A.D. 98-410).