It was the age of Da Vinci and Michelangelo, of enlightened creativity and unparalleled intellectual achievement. But it was also the age of Machievelli, of rampant lawlessness, incessant war and unspeakable depravity. At the heart of the world order was the Vatican, the arbiter of conflicts between kingdoms and empires. And at the center of the Vatican was a man whose quest fo...。Nero's reign. The invasion of Parthia has been a fiasco. Two Roman legions have been brought to a stand still in the snowy mountains of Armenia, and the men are dying slowly in the cold. The rest of the Roman army is in Syria, only two weeks march away but the mountains swarm with Parthian patrols. Noreno, a half-Roman, is entrusted the mission of crossing the mountains to ask ...。