Lindsey Davis

“Love and death are gritty subjects. Their appropriate handling by poets does not require myrtle petals and violets.”

“In an ideal world I ought to have gone with him to observe their reactions, but in an ideal world heroes never get tired or depressed; what's more, heroes are paid more than me.”

“In fact, making up a spiteful lie has become respectable. Today's "jesters" are outright public nuisances.”

“The new "humour", if you can call it that, is pure malicious gossip. Instead of making a genuine point, it's now good enough to repeat any ribald story without a thought for whether it's even true.”

“Communicating wit is a lonely art. It demands an independent soul.”

“You're not bloody Aristophanes, and the people who are paying for tickets are not educated Athenians. We're acting for turnips who only come to talk to their cousins and fart. We have to give them a lot of action and low-level jokes, but you can leave all that to us on stage. We know what's required. Your job is to hone the basic framework and remember the simple motto: short speeches, short lines, short words.”

“The world is full of people slandering their birthplaces, as if they really believe that small-town life is different elsewhere.”

“But mere technical details can be worked out any time. All a hero needs is grit.”

“Stick with it, Xanthus. There are fortunes to be made out of bristle for a man with deft hands.”

“Justice never paid a poor man's bills.”

“Marcus! I thought you must have been developing other interests, but I never expected to find you with your arms locked round a fish...”

“I had been right in the first place. Getting involved with politicians is complete stupidity.”

“Petronius would take his free bread buns and run. I happened to know that since Petro had been elected to the watch he had never cast a vote. He believed a man on a public salary should be impartial. I didn’t agree but I admired him being so stubborn in his eccentricities. Aufidius Crispus would be an unusual politician if he had allowed for such morality in the voters he was courting.”

“She called me a rat.”“Oh yes, I gathered you two were very close!”

“He listened with the mild demeanour of a man who had waited eight years for his town council to draw up a specification for emergency repairs.”

“The plumber plodded along in silence, like a man who has learned to be polite to lunatics through dealing with civil engineers.”

“You could tell those two had been married by the way that she ignored him.”

“I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher’s bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing himself the son and the grandson of gods, and who thought wearing the purple gave him free rein to indulge his personal vanities, execute real talent, bankrupt the Treasury, burn half of Rome – and bore the living daylights out of paying customers in theatres!”

“Senator, don't let your judgement be warped by one heady moment.”

“Emperors must make their own rules.”