The thief might have left it at that, but having come back to finish his business he seemed determined to strike a final blow. He slipped behind the stupefied banker and raised his dagger high, gripping it with both hands. I cringed and braced myself as if the blow were aimed at me.

But I never saw it fell. A strong hand gripped my shoulder and spun me around. I faced a hulking young man with glinting eyes and a grimly set jaw. At the bottom edge of my sight I saw flashing steel and knew he held a dagger.

I have faced the prospect of imminent death on several occasions

in my near-sixty years. It always seems to provoke the same chain of thoughts in my head. You fool, I always think-because it seems that such situations could always, somehow, have been avoided or at least postponed-you fool, this is the end of you at last. The gods have lost interest in the little story of your life. You no longer amuse them. You shall now be snuffed out like a guttering lamp…

It is always the same: the names of my loved ones echo in my head. I hear the sweet sound of my father's voice, which I have not heard for many, many years. And sometimes, in such moments, and this was such a moment, I see the face of my mother, who died when I was very young, and whose face I can otherwise never quite recall. I remembered it vividly in that instant, and knew that my father had been right when he had told me, as he had often done, that she was beautiful, very beautiful…

But of course A part of me knew that I was not yet destined to die, and understood at once when the hulking young man, in a gruff desperate voice, said, "Thank Jupiter I found you! The master is furious! Come on!"

The fellow was one of Eco's young bodyguards, of course. In my confusion I had not recognized him.

Eco had retreated behind a nearby temple, where a lean-to shed attached to the plain rear wall offered a degree of concealment. We could still be seen from two directions, since the shed was open at either end, but the spot was at least more defensible than standing in the open.

"Papa! Thank the gods Davus found you!"

"Never mind the gods. Thank Davus." I smiled at the sturdy young fellow, who grinned back at me. "What now?"

Eco peered out glumly. There was nothing and no one to be seen except blank walls which cast back the echoes of the rioting mob. "I suppose we could stay here. Not a bad spot to make a stand, though there's no knowing what we might come up against."

"Should we make a run for it?"

"Maybe. To your house or mine?"

"Mine's closer," I said. "But we'd have to cross the Forum somehow, and I imagine there's more chance of the riot spreading up that way, towards Milo's house." I felt a chill as I thought of my wife and daughter alone at the house, with only a barred door and Belbo to protect them.

"To my house then, Papa?"

"No. I have to get back to Bethesda and Diana."

He nodded. The sound of the not seemed to grow louder, though it might have been only a trick of the acoustics. Suddenly two figures appeared from around the corner of the temple. We ducked into the shadows.

From their plain tunics, the two appeared to be slaves. They rounded the corner so fast they bumped into each other and almost fell. The taller one saw the shed and pointed. "There! We could hide there!"

The shorter, stockier one saw the shed and rushed towards it, pushing his companion out of the way. They were almost like comic slaves out of Plautus, except that in a play they would be fleeing a just beating from their master, not a bloody riot.

"Jupiter's balls!" said the taller one, hurrying to catch up. "You needn't push me down, Milo!"

"And you needn't shout my name out loud, you idiot! Come on, before someone sees us."

Milo was inside the shed before he realized it was occupied. The first thing he saw were four daggers pointing towards him as Eco's bodyguards advanced. Caelius, coming up from behind, bumped into him and knocked him forwards. Milo's eyebrows shot up and he bared his teeth in a grimace as he tripped forwards and very nearly impaled himself on the nearest dagger. Caelius, glimpsing steel, skittered back and peered wide-eyed into the shed.

"Draw back!" said Eco, calling off the bodyguards. "These two won't hurt us."

Milo scanned the faces confronting him and stopped at mine. "Gordianus? Is that you? Cicero's man?"

"Gordianus, yes. Cicero's man, no. And you're Milo, though who would know it to look at you? Where's your toga?"

"Are you joking? The mob is going after anybody in a toga. They're all a bunch of cut-throat slaves and thieves, killing and robbing every citizen they come to. I threw off my toga the first chance I got. Thank Jupiter I was wearing this tunic underneath."

"You took off your ring of citizenship as well," I said, looking at his bare finger.

"Yes, well…"

"I see that Marcus Caelius followed your inspiration." I shook my head. Two of the most powerful men in Rome were deliberately posing as slaves, and behaving like slaves as well. I suddenly had to laugh.

"Stop that!" said Milo.

"Sony. It's the tension of the moment." But I started laughing again, and was soon joined not only by Eco but by Eco's slaves. Even Caelius, always ready to see the absurdity in any situation, barked out a laugh.

"But where's your retinue, your bodyguards?" I said.

"Slaughtered. Scattered. Who knows?" said Milo.

"I don't suppose that could be them?" I said, all laughter dying from my voice. A group of dagger-wielding men had just appeared from around the corner.

"Oh, Jupiter's balls!" Caelius groaned. He and Milo shoved their way through the shed and fled out the other side. I followed with Eco and his bodyguards bringing up the rear. Behind us I heard a clash of steel and turned to see one of the pursuers stagger and fall, clutching his chest where Davus had wounded him. At the sight of one of their own gushing blood, the brigands lost heart and fell back.

Caelius and Milo had disappeared. We found ourselves at the edge of the riot, amid the scattered bodies of the wounded and dead. The paving stones were slick with blood. Smoke belched from the entrance to the Temple of Castor and Pollux. Next door, atop the House of the Vestal Virgins, the Virgo Maxima and her priestesses had gathered on the roof and were watching the scene below with expressions of horror and outrage.

"Come! This way!" I said, pointing to the paved walkway between the two buildings. It took us to the base of the Palatine Hill and onto the Ramp. Others were ahead of us, fleeing up the long sloping path like refugees from a sacked city. I thought I glimpsed Caelius and Milo far ahead, travelling at a breakneck pace and knocking people out of their way right and left.

I was completely out of breath before I reached the top of the Ramp. Eco saw my distress and signalled to his bodyguards to help me along. They seized my arms and practically carried me the last few steps. We hurried across the street, towards my house.

Suddenly, ahead of us, from out of one of my neighbours' houses, a group of armed men burst into the street. Their leader clutched a handful of jewellery – strands of pearls and silver links dangled from his grubby fingers. In his other hand he held a dagger dripping blood. The door behind him had been knocked from its hinges.

"You there!" he shouted at us. Though he was some distance away I smelled wine and garlic on his breath. Garlic for strength, an old gladiator's trick; wine to fortify his courage. He had a red face and ice-blue eyes. "Have you seen him?"

"Seen who?" I gestured to the bodyguards to give the party a wide berth but to keep moving forwards.

"Milo, of course! We're going from house to house searching for him. When we find him we shall crucify him for killing Clodius."