(A peculiar title ...)<p>I&#x27;ll leave aside the professional historians, but if we&#x27;re tossing in story telling like Tom Holland&#x27;s, I&#x27;d put in a good word for John Maddox Ford&#x27;s (also named) SPQR series - a dozen or so stories about a fictional character inserted in the critical final years of Roman republic. Best hard-nosed, not excessively modern look at those times I&#x27;ve come across.