内容简介
All along the Mediterranean coast, the Roman empire's richestcitizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas, enjoying the lastdays of summer. The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchorin Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seasideresorts of Baiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. But the carefreelifestyle and gorgeous weather belie an impending cataclysm, andonly one man is worried. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primushas just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueductthat brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in ninetowns around the Bay of Naples. His predecessor has disappeared.Springs are failing for the and#64257;rst time in generations. Andnow there is a crisis on the Augusta's sixty-mile mainline--somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of MountVesuvius. Attilius--decent, practical, and incorruptible--promisesPliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repairthe aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. His plan is to travelto Pompeii and put together an expedition, then head out to theplace where he believes the fault lies. But Pompeii proves to be acorrupt and violent town, and Attilius soon discovers that thereare powerful forces at work--both natural and man-made--threateningto destroy him. With his trademark elegance and intelligence,Robert Harris, bestselling author of Archangel and Fatherland,re-creates a world on the brink of disaster. "From the Hardcoveredition."