Дата выхода: | январь 2005 |
ISBN: | 9781844014972 |
Объём: | 368 страниц |
It`s a rainy day in 446 on the edge of the Roman Empire. Two men, both at the height of their powers, relax in a hunting lodge on Epsom Downs. Over wine, one of them, Ambrosius Aurelianus, asks his visitor, General Aetius, a crucial question: `Did you have an affair with the Empress Galla Placidia?` The short answer is easy. The longer one, here set out brilliantly in the form of a conversation, diary excerpts, and letters from people close to the heady - and bloody - action of those troubled times, covers the love life and political intrigues of the last great Roman general. Wives, mistresses, umpteen children, plots, treason, murders, invasions, and a fierce relationship with Attila the Hun - the scourge of God. We hear, from the depths of time, the sly voice of the Roman-Briton priest, Gildasius, revealing the true story, while the author himself poses several questions: Should the lives of great men reveal their moral flaws? Was there such a thing as the `fall of the Roman Empire`? And could the turning point have been Aetius` senseless assassination in AD 454? Closely linked to Intimate Memories is Virgilio Campos` fictional work of the same period, The Valkyries take the Warriors to Valhalla.