The Grass Crown is the second historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. The novel opens shortly after the action of The First Man in Rome. Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla eat dinner together with their wives, and discuss the threat presented by Mithridates VI of Pontus and Tigranes II of Armenia. Although these two powerful Eastern rulers would eventually declare war on Rome and slaughter thousands of Roman citizens, the plot of the novel centres on the Social War of 91 to 88 BC, a civil war which Rome fought against its mutinous Italian Allies after they were... refused full Roman citizenship. Marius and Sulla, still friends and professional colleagues, face the Italian threat together, and succeed in putting down the rebellion of the Italians. However, Marius suffers a serious stroke , and is forced to withdraw from the war.
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| Author: | Colleen McCullough |
| Genre: | Fiction, Historical fiction |
| Year published: | 1991 |
| Number of editions: | 6 |