The First Man in Rome (Abridged)

"The First Man in Rome was not the best man: he was the First among other men who were his equals...To be the First Man in Rome was something far better than kingship..."

In the first century B.C. at the height of the Roman Republic, two men set their sights on becoming the First Man - the Roman more respected than any other. Marius, a heroic man of strength and means, lacks the noble blood to contend for the First Man, but overcomes his common status when he marries into the patrician ...