During his lifetime Edward Lucas White was known for several historical novels that were critical and commercial successes: El Supremo (1916), The Unwilling Vestal (1918), and Andivius Hedulio (1921), the latter two of which H. P. Lovecraft later recommended to Fritz Leiber as “the finest modern fictional reflections” he’d read about the Roman Empire. Each of these three books went through a dozen printings and sold widely for more than a quarter of a century. However, he is best remembered for his contribution to weird fiction in this story.