rhfarmer said:
One could argue that the fall of the Republic is the fall of Rome, yes?
And yes, its historical fiction in that no one can know what Cicero and Tiro spoke about in private. But the major events that take place in the novel are historically accurate.
Disagree on your first point. For everyday people, very little changed in their day to day lives for the next 1500 years inside the changing boundaries of the Roman Empire (including Byzantium),
Agree on your second and third sentences. Once again, though, major events included tons and tons of actual civil war from ~ 90 BC - 31 BC.
The demagoguery may be similar to today, but Cicero was one of the best at that (Caesar, and then Octavian, much better though).