The Roman Patricians

The patrician class was established in the 8th century BCE when Rome's legendary founder, Romulus, selected 100 distinguished male citizens to serve as his advisory council. These men formed the hereditary aristocratic core that monopolized the city's religious, military, and political power.

By Miriam bat Isaac’s time, over 800 years later, patrician status became an honorific title that could be directly bestowed or created by the emperor.

In “Sweet Revenge,” Miriam must consider Phoebe’s fear of encountering a dead body when they are summoned to help a patrician:

Phoebe shook her head like a shaggy dog. “I’m not sure I can go with you.”

“Since when?” I asked, my head snapping back as if she’d hit me.

“Well, this new client. Maybe he’ll be dead when we get there, his face bloated, his skull crushed into a shapeless mass, his body as white as a fish’s belly. Or maybe he’ll be in the throes of death, his body jerking convulsively, his blood and gobbets spraying the air.”

“Look, this client is a patrician. All he wants is advice on how to court his ex-wife.”

Well, that’s all this honorable patrician thought he wanted. But you’ll see in “Sweet Revenge” that he was mistaken. Don’t you be. Learn a lesson from “Sweet Revenge” in the September 2026 issue of Dark Horses: The Magazine of Weird Fiction. Click here.