Of all the historical novels of recent times, none has found such widespread public response as Robert Graves's reconstruction of the grandeur and folly and fantastic sensuality of Imperial Rome. The mild Claudius, moving unobtrusively among his sinister relatives and recording their proud and vile history, unfolds a panorama of weird intrigue and startling events.  Poison, blasphemy, incest, black magic and unnatural vice flourish with a fine disdain for the good opinion of history.  Such worthies as Caligula, Nero and Messalina come to life in a book as historically accurate as it is enthralling.