First in an exciting series, charting Rome's bloody road to empireRecounts the desperate struggles for survival of the young Roman republicDescribes how and why Roman Armies eventually beat their Etruscan, Samnite, Celtic and other neighbours to dominate all of ItalyDiscover how the Roman legion fared in its first battles against Hellenistic pike phalanxes and war elephants.For who is so worthless or indolent as not to wish to know by what means...the Romans have succeeded in subjecting nearly the whole inhabited world to their sole government- a thing unique in history? Or who again is there so passionately devoted to other spectacles or studies as to regard anything as of greater moment than the acquisition of this knowledge.''POLYBIUS