With their bloodthirsty gladiatorial contests and brutal wars of conquest, not to mention the alleged corruption and sexual depravity of their tyrannical emperors, the Romans have a reputation for violence, excess and immorality. In this book Jerry Toner puts Rome on trial, using historical and legal texts, as well as evidence from surviving papyrus documents, to investigate how Romans thought about crime, whether ordinary citizens were basically law-abiding and what forms of detection and redress were available to victims.