VALIDVS
Book II—Renascentia Res Publicae
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
...No sooner had Validus recovered the double-edged axe from where he had dropped it earlier during combat, did the angered lion turn around and back at him. He then uselessly hurled the weapon at the beast, nervously missing his target, and soon found himself again under the attacking predator’s unremitting assault. Forced now to bring his squared wooden legionary’s shield over his unprotected skull after having his fi n-crested silver helmet yanked away by a swipe of his beastly opponent’s paw, the desperate gladiator riskily exposed his legs and upper arms to the beast’s razor-like claws which then indiscriminately sliced and cut at them. The big cat then instinctively tried to reach under its victim’s protective shell and as it did with its claws swiftly cut deeply into its prey’s left ear, slicing the top part of it in half and cutting into that side of his scalp as it pulled away.
A diminished Validus could now feel himself losing his strength, he could fell himself giving in and surrendering his will to survive. As he sensed this, in an instant his panicked thoughts drifted aimlessly; not back to his God or his children, not to his mother or his family nor any of his friends or Rome; but instead his thoughts returned to she whom he now, more than ever, realized he loved more than he loved life itself. “Aemilia!” he tiredly cried out an instant before the attacking animal above him fi nally managed to rip his shield away from him...
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
While serving as a tribune in Rome’s legions in Old Judea during the first century AD, Novemus Opimius Validus was mortally wounded. But he was then touched by the healing hand of Jesus Christ himself. After that momentous occasion, his life forever changed. Validus witnesses Christ’s fabled and momentous Sermon on the Mount and becomes a secret Christian, embarking on an astounding journey that puts him in close proximity to other monumental historical figures, including Christ’s devoted apostle, Peter. He encounters the young and demented Emperor Gaius Caligula, his unlikely successor and uncle; the stuttering, physically crippled, and oft-ridiculed but kindly Emperor Claudius; and Claudius’s lifelong friend, the illustrious King Herod Agrippa. From the lowly depths of the gladiatorial arena to the grand halls of the Roman Senate and later to the Roman Emperor’s chair, Validus changes the path of Roman history, making a distinct connection between faith and empire. In this second installment of a four-part series, author C. Martinez Landrau offers a fascinating look at what ancient Rome might have been like had a man destined to become its greatest emperor also been one of Christianity’s first Roman converts, albeit secretly …
About the Author
C. Martinez Landrau was born in 1962 in New York City. After his parents relocated to Puerto Rico in 1968, he attended local schools and studied history and business administration at the University of Puerto Rico. Landrau is currently a real estate agent in New York City.