Valerius (novel)

Valerius is an 1821 historical novel in three volumes by the Scottish writer John Gibson Lockhart, the first of four that he wrote. Lockhart was the son-in-law of Walter Scott, and the work was seen as an attempt to imitate the style of his father-in-law's Waverley Novels. It is set in Ancient Rome, a historical period that Scott himself avoided writing about. Valerius, the hero, converts to Christianity and has to flee to Britain to escape the persecution of the Emperor Trajan.