" History and legend conspire to convince us that there are men who rise above the common lot of humankind, who are set apart from the rest of us by birth or achievement or the favor of the gods; but no man, regardless of his pretensions to greatness, is immune from death, and the death of the so-called great is often more squalid and terrifying than the deaths of their most humble subjects. "

― Steven Saylor , The Judgment of Caesar (Roma Sub Rosa, #10)