Vespasianus

Vespasianus wanted life, money, wine and, most of all, to be left alone.

Born into poverty and raised in a brutal world, he grows into a man with remarkably little capacity for compassion and an obsessive fear of losing what little he has. Then Rome forces him into the army.

He is recruited, commanded, promoted and dragged from one end of the empire to the other, stumbling into wars, political intrigues, women, betrayals and situations for which neither his character nor his judgment has prepared him. His weaknesses should probably destroy him. Instead, through luck, circumstance and the failures of everyone around him, they merely lead to the next disaster.

History has plans.

Beside Vespasianus, like a half-mad shadow, stays his only friend: his dog, Ugly — terrifying and loyal until death. Around them come and go generals, soldiers, senators, women, emperors and eventually Domitilla, as Rome itself becomes richer, more corrupt and increasingly absurd.

The reluctant soldier survives. He rises. And the man who despises the world ends up with the one thing he never seems to have wanted:

The Roman Empire.

Vespasianus is a darkly comic historical novel about a deeply flawed man carried through history by circumstance, bad judgment and extraordinary luck — until, old and worn out, he is forced to limp to the throne.

History remembers the emperor who built the Colosseum and taxed public toilets.

This is the story.

© 2026 Kenneth Westlin (Audiobook): 9780466460556

Release date

Audiobook: 1 August 2026