People would probably find it a little funny that one of the books I kept on my desk while writing Stray Drop was a history of Rome, Tacitus’s Annals. In part because I could open it up and see what was going on during the time on my story, and largely because I could say, “Need a name, need a name,” flip it open, and voila! A Roman name!
I suppose I shall also note here that Caius Asinius was a real person, recorded as being the consul a few years of Tiberius’s reign; he had a particularly easy job of it because the emporer was in a good mood after his longtime rival, General Germanicus, died.
I, of course, totally fictionalized the character of Caius. He is only mentioned once in Tacitus, and it certainly says nothing about him being a womanizing jerk. (Though enough other politicians of the day are described as such that it wasn’t a stretch;-)
In any case, I did indeed take notes from Tacitus as to the important historical details of the day. I recommend you just trust me on that instead of wading through hundreds and hundreds of pages of Roman history for yourself. Unless, of course, that floats your boat.
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