by Carol Ashby
Paul also told Christian slaves how they were to behave. “Bondservants (slaves), obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.” Galatians 6:5-7 (ESV). One can imagine how hard that must have been when a master was cruel and treated his slaves like livestock.
In True Freedom, Diegis is torn from his childhood home by Rome’s conquering armies and sold as a farm slave to labor until he dies. Renamed Dacius, his faith gives him strength to bear what he must and serve without complaining. When he follows Jesus’s command to love even his enemies and rescues his owner’s daughter, gratitude for his loyal service brings the freedom he never expected, with all the benefits his Roman owner can bestow.
For more about life in the Roman Empire at its peak, please go to carolashby.com.
Discussion Guide
1) Dacius had a good life in a close Christian community in Dacia. Then when he was eleven, he saw his parents killed by Roman soldiers, and he and his sisters were sold into slavery. Yet he holds onto his faith in Jesus, always reminding himself that God can use all things for good. Have you ever been in a situation where your life felt like it was crumbling? What did that do to your faith?
2) Born to wealth and the highest social status, Julia is not unkind, but she doesn’t notice those who serve to make her life comfortable. Do you ever find yourself taking the help of others for granted? How can we let those who serve know we appreciate them?
3) At eighteen, Julia’s brother Aulus is old enough to be a responsible young man, but he isn’t. After running up a debt gambling when his father told him not to, he takes the bad advice of a good friend on how to get money to pay the debt without his father knowing. Have you ever known someone who listened to bad advice to avoid a problem, only to make it go from minor to disastrous? What could have prevented that?
4) While trying to be a good friend, Marcus gives bad advice that involves lying to Aulus’s father. Lacking honor himself, he draws his too-easily-led friend down a dishonest path. Have you known such people? How did they affect you?
5) Africanus was enslaved at fourteen, fought as gladiator, and earned the respect and trust of his owner, who is also his good friend. He’s an honorable man wise in the world’s darker ways. Aulus and Marcus rely on his help in the hunt for Julia, but they respond very differently to a slave telling them what to do. Why the difference?
6) First Servilia and then Marcella and Gaius help Julia and Dacius and ask for nothing in return. How did that affect Julia? Why did she respond as she did?
7) When Dacius tells Julia she should change her name while they are in hiding, she decides to change his name, too. Why? How did the name changes affect their relationship? Have you seen the power of a name to change people?
8) As the time when Leander must take Juila home nears, he knows he must return to his life as a slave, treated as no more than property. How did that knowledge affect him? Could you have done what he did?
9) When Julia’s father Tiberius returns, he learns the daughter he’d thought dead is alive, but she no longer wants to be the young woman he knew. How did he respond? Would you have done the same?
10) When Aulus confessed to his father, did you expect Tiberius to respond as he did? How do you think the actions of both son and daughter will affect Tiberius in the future?
11) True Freedom is a story of faith when the future might seem hopeless, love to the point of sacrifice, and the power of faith and love to bring true freedom to all involved. What touched you most? What made you think about what your own choices would be?
Who would you like to see in a future novel?
I grew to love several of the characters in True Freedom while I was writing. That usually happens, and often the next story for a character takes shape in my head even before I finish. I knew Brutus would need his own story after introducing him in Faithful. Africanus and Brutus will be coming back in the next volume in the series, Honor Bound, in November 2019. But there are so many people in True Freedom that I would like to spend more time with, and I hope there are some for you, too. Who else would you most like to see in a future story? What was it about them that made you want more of them? I’d love to hear what you think. Please go to my website, carol-ashby.com and share your thoughts in the comment box. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Glossary
Alphabetum: alphabet
Auctoratus: gladiator who signs a limited-term contract to fight for a gladiator school
Aureus: (plural aurei) gold coin worth 25 denarii
Caldarium: the hot bath room in a Roman bath complex
Caupona: inn, canteen, tavern; sometimes a place to find prostitutes
Centurion: 1st level officer over 80 men; rises through the ranks based on merit
Cohors Urbana: Urban Cohort, a military unit serving as police force in Rome
Corbita: merchant sailing ship
Cursus honorum: the sequence of military and political offices held by men of the senatorial order
Denarius: (plural denarii) silver coin worth about one day’s living wage
Dies Solis: Sunday
Doctor: teacher; in gladiatorial schools, a trainer who assists the lanista
Domina: female head of a Roman household.
Dupondius: brass coin worth 1/8 denarius
Equestrian order: 2nd highest class of Roman citizens; required personal wealth greater than 100,000 denarii
Ergastulum: farm prison where slaves were locked up at night, often with feet chained
Flumen: river
Familia: the Roman family unit consisting of the paterfamilias, his married and unmarried children regardless of age, and his slaves
Familia gladiatoria Bruti: members of the gladiatorial schools (ludi) of Brutus
Gladius: short thrusting sword used by the Roman military and some gladiators
Inquisitor: investigator, spy
Instrumentum vocale: A slave, a “speaking instrument”
Lanista: the head trainer of a gladiatorial school
Libra: Roman unit of weight equal to 328.9 grams or 0.724 pounds
Ludi: “games,” especially public spectacles like gladiatorial contests
Ludus: a gladiator training school, which also rents bodyguards and professional “intimidators”
Ludus Bruti: the gladiator school, including all the trainers, fighters, and slaves belonging to Brutus
Mille passus: (plural milia passuum) Roman mile = 0.92 English miles = 1.48 km
Nauseabundus: seasick
Palla: rectangular cloth wrap worm by Roman women
Paterfamilias: oldest living male of an extended Roman family; the patriarch who owns everything
Peregrine: a person who is not a Roman citizen
Plagium: the crime of holding a Roman citizen against his/her will
Plaustrum: a wagon for carrying goods, often with 4 wheels,
Polenta: barley porridge
Praemia militiae: stipend awarded retiring legionary, money or equivalent in land
Quadrans: Roman bronze coin worth 1/64 denarius
Questor: Roman magistrate who oversees markets and financial matters
Raeda: a four-wheeled closed-in carriage
Res mortales: “Mortal thing.” Official Roman legal term for a slave.
Salutation: daily ritual during which prominent citizens received clients and others seeking favors
Salve: Latin greeting, “hello”
Saturni: Saturday
Senatorial order: highest class of Roman citizens; required personal wealth greater than 250,000 denarii
Sestertius: (plural sesterces) Roman coin worth 1/4 denarius, also called sesterce
Solis: Sunday
Stadia: Roman units for distances: 1 E
nglish mile = 8.7 stadia; 1 km = 5.4 stadia
Stola: a long robe worn by married women fastened by clasps at the shoulder and worn over a tunic
Taberna: tavern or shop selling prepared food
Tablinum: the main office and reception room for the Roman master of the house
Tabula: popular Roman board game, often played with betting
Tabularium: the central official records office of the Roman Empire, located in Rome.
Thermae: Roman bathhouse
Thermopolium: a shop selling hot foods and drinks
Trireme: Roman warship with three banks of oars
Vale: Latin farewell, “goodbye”
Veneris: Friday
Vestibulum: short hallway between the entrance door and the atrium
Scripture References
CSB = Christian Standard Bible
ESV = English Standard Version
NIV = New International Version
Chapter 1: Ephesians 6:5 (NIV) and 6:7 paraphrased.
Chapter 35: Luke 6:27-37 (ESV)
Chapter 39: I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and John 6:40 (ESV)
Chapter 45: John 14:23 (ESV) and John 15:13, 17 (CSB)
Chapter 48: Luke 6:36-38, Luke 17:3-4, Luke 11:2-4, Luke 6:46-49, and II Corinthians 13:11 (ESV)
Chapter 49: John 10:30 (ESV) John 14:9-11, 15-17 paraphrased.
Chapter 51: John 10:27-29, John 6:40, and Romans 10:9-10 (ESV)
Chapter 63: Ephesians 6:5 (NIV) and 6:7 paraphrased.
Acknowledgements
First, I thank God for this opportunity to tell a story of how He can use any of us, no matter how powerless, to make a difference in the lives of others. I loved writing how God brought good from the bad for Leander and Calantha, giving them both a future they never thought possible. It was even more fun leading Aulus from irresponsible adolescence to honorable young adulthood under Africanus’s and Brutus’s influence. Those two men of honor will have a chance to become men of God in the next novel. Nothing gives me more pleasure than writing about lives being transformed by forgiveness and love.
No one can write the best book possible without the help of many others. I want to thank Andrew Budek-Schmeisser for being my critique partner and good friend. Despite serious health problems, he’s given unstintingly of his knowledge of good writing, his spiritual insight, and his expertise with horses, combat, and low-tech field medicine. When I so often wanted to bounce something I’d just written off someone at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, he was usually online and willing to help. He’s helped me with The Legacy, Faithful, Second Chances, True Freedom, Honor Bound (the next in the series), and many brainstorming sessions about characters in future volumes. This book wouldn’t have been the same without him.
I’m especially thankful for my alpha beta and treasured friend, Lisa Garcia, who’s a true kindred spirit and wise woman of God. She’s also so good at spotting typos that I’ll never need a copy editor.
My critique partner, Katie Powner, who’s an award-winning author herself, helped me spot and fix things only an author would see. Ray Warters, a fellow author who also writes about the Roman empire, read and commented on the entire manuscript. Terry Shoebotham, my local writing buddy and prayer partner, also beta-read the full manuscript. Thanks also to Mesu Andrews for being my prayer partner for inspiration and meeting deadlines.
Special thanks to Anne Perrault, fellow author and expert on horsey matters, for checking the equine scenes to make sure Leander’s four-footed friends remained believable.
Many thanks to my friends who read shorter sections, looked at draft covers, and gave me helpful feedback: Shelli Littleton, Brennan McPherson, Hy Tran, and Patti Stouter.
My line editor, Wendy Chorot, has once more blessed me with her skill as an editor and her insights for making the deep spiritual scenes reflect real life. She’s a joy to work with as well.
Each time I think Roseanna White couldn’t possibly design a better cover than the last one, and each time she proves me wrong. It takes amazing talent to start with a collection of separate images and meld them together to get something that looks like the Romans had color photography. Once more, she came up with a design that’s attractive to both men and women. I can’t wait to see what she does with the next one in the series.
I especially want to thank my wonderful son, Paul, and my beautiful daughter, Lydia, for their love and patience with my obsession with writing.
But my special thanks go to my amazing husband, Jim. It takes a special man to listen to the latest twist in a plot for the umpteenth time with only a slight eyeroll, always accompanied by a smile. He makes it easy to write about men who are smart, funny, kind, patient…in short, men who are so much like him.
About the Author
Carol Ashby has been a professional writer for most of her life, but her articles and books were about lasers and compound semiconductors (the electronics that make cell phones, laser pointers, and LED displays work). She still writes about light, but her Light in the Empire series tells stories of difficult friendships and life-changing decisions in dangerous times, where forgiveness and love open hearts to discover their own faith in Christ. Her fascination with the Roman Empire was born during her first middle-school Latin class. A research career in New Mexico inspires her to get every historical detail right so she can spin stories that make her readers feel like they’re living under the Caesars themselves.
Read her articles about many facets of life in the Roman Empire at carolashby.com, or join her at her blog, The Beauty of Truth, at carol-ashby.com.
The Light in the Empire Series
Dangerous times, difficult friendships, lives transformed by forgiveness and love.
The Light in the Empire Series follows the interconnected lives of four Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Join them as they travel the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.
Available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle versions at Amazon,
paperback, hardcover, and Nook versions at Barnes&Noble,
and epub version at Kobo.
Forgiven
Are some wounds too deep to forgive?
With a ruthless father who murdered for the family inheritance, Marcus Drusus plans to do the same. In AD 122, Marcus follows his brother Lucius to Judaea and plots to frame a zealot for his older brother’s death. But the plan goes awry, and Lucius is rescued by a Messianic Jewish woman. Her oldest brother is a zealot and a Roman soldier killed her twin, but Rachel still persuades her father Joseph to put his love for Jesus above his anger with Rome and hide Lucius until he heals.
Rachel cares for the enemy, and more than broken bones heal as duty turns to love. Lucius embraces Joseph’s faith in Jesus, but sharing a faith doesn’t heal all wounds. Even before revealed secrets slice open old scars, Joseph wants no Roman son-in-law. With Rachel’s zealot brother suspecting he’s a Roman officer and his own brother planning to kill him when he returns, can Lucius survive long enough to change Joseph’s mind?
Available in paperback and Kindle versions at Amazon,
paperback and Nook versions at Barnes&Noble,
and epub version at Kobo.
Blind Ambition
Sometimes you have to almost die to discover how you want to live.
It’s AD 114 in the Roman province of Germania Superior, and being a Christian carries a death sentence. Tribune Decimus Lentulus is on the fast track for a stellar political career back in Rome. When he’s robbed, blinded, and left for dead, a young German woman who follows the Way finds him. Valeria knows it’s his duty to have her and her family killed, but she chooses to obey Jesus’s command to love her enemy and takes him home to care for him.
It’s not his miraculous recovery that shakes Decimus to his core. It’s the way they love him like family and their unconcealed love for Jesus. In spite of himself, he falls in love with the Christian woman
Rome wants him to kill. Can Valeria hide her faith to follow him into the circles of Roman power? Or should he abandon his ambition to help rule the Empire and choose to follow a different way?
Available in paperback and Kindle versions at Amazon,
in paperback and Nook versions at Barnes&Noble,
and epub version at Kobo.
The Legacy
When Rome has taken everything, what’s left for a man to give?
Betrayed by a ruthless son who’ll do anything for power and wealth, Publius Drusus faces death with an unanswered prayer―that his treasured daughter, Claudia, and honorable son, Titus, will someday share his faith. But who will lead them to the truth once he’s gone?
Claudia’s oldest brother Lucius arranged their father’s execution to inherit everything, and now he’s forcing her to marry a cruel Roman power broker. If only she could get to Titus―a thousand miles away in Thracia. Then the man who secretly told her father about Jesus arranges for his son Philip to sneak her out of Rome and take her to the brother she can trust.
A childhood accident scarred Philip’s face. A woman’s rejection scarred his heart. Claudia’s gratitude grows into love, but what can Philip do when the first woman who returns his love hates the God he loves even more?
Titus and Claudia hunger for revenge on their brother and the Christians they blame for their father’s deadly conversion. When Titus buys Miriam, a secret Christian, to serve his sister, he starts them all down a path of conflicting loyalties and dangerous decisions. His father’s final letter commands the forgiveness Titus refuses to give. What will it take to free him from the hatred poisoning his own heart?
