William Ware

Aurelian - or, Rome in the Third Century William Ware

William Ware's partly fictionalized history of the Roman Emperor Aurelian takes the form of a series of letters by Lucius Manlius Piso, one of the ruler's most respected associates.

Ware places himself in the role of Nicomachus, a former servant of the Queen of Palmyra, who is charged with the task of gathering and organizing the letters written by Lucius Manlius Piso to Fausta, the aristocratic daughter of Gracchus. Writing from the Syrian city of Palmyra, Piso volunteers much information to the young woman about the conduct and operations of the Emperor Aurelian, who is himself an incidental character in the narrative.

The author mainly focuses upon the conquest of the Eastern provinces lost under previous Roman administrations. The Palmyrene Empire, ruled by Queen Zenobia, encompassed this land - it is from the city of Palmyra that Piso writes his missives. Dramatic, flowing descriptions of the city and its classical architecture, as well as the nascent Christian culture that already commanded great attention on the part of Rome. Eventually, Piso realizes that Christianity will not be defeated by violent suppression, and asks Aurelian to practice lenience.

Although great parts of this book, and many of its characters, are fictional invention, Ware demonstrates an immense historical knowledge of the time. A minister as well as an author, he researched the Roman persecutions of Christians and sought to present a dramatized version of these events to modern readers, albeit with a firm grounding in truth.