Imperium, by Robert Harris
Random House
Sep 7, 2010
Fiction – 496 pages
It’s déjà vu all over again as we travel back with author Robert Harris to Republican Rome just before it became Imperial Rome.
In America, we complain of corruption. Lying politicians. Fearing the end of our Democracy. We wonder about conspiracies. We brood darkly on the failure of the government to address issues of inequality.
We deplore the bribery of officials. The world, we say, is going to Hell or, depending on our point of view, has already gone to Hell.
Except that the government went to Hell a long time ago and you could easily argue that government — all government — was always hellish. Compared to Rome, our government is a clean machine, as clean as a fresh snowfall. It’s a matter of perspective.
Cicero, Musei Capitolini, Roma Italiano: Bust of Cicero, Musei Capitolini, Rome (Photo: Wikipedia)
Reading history puts the world in which I live into perspective. Whatever problems we face, we — the human family — have faced them before. We survived. It’s important to remember our ability to survive is greater (for the most part) than our ability to screw up.
Imperium, by Robert Harris, is about a guy named Cicero. You’ve undoubtedly heard of him. Famed as a lawyer, more famous as an orator, Cicero rose to power during a critical cusp in history as Rome was about to change from Republican to Imperial. Julius Caesar had just stepped onto the stage of history.
It was the beginning of the greatest imperial power the earth had ever seen … and the end of the greatest republic the world would ever know.
Perspective.
Marcus Cicero started his journey to power as an outsider from the provinces. His first significant legal case put him head-to-head with the dangerous, cruel and utterly corrupt Gaius Verres, governor of provincial Sicily. Using his stunning oratorical abilities and displaying a dogged determination and persistence in the face of impossible odds, Cicero beats Verres in court. He then goes on to triumph over many powerful opponents, making friends — but more enemies — along the way.
Cicero seeks ultimate power — imperium. His allegiance is to the Republic. Cicero’s secretary and slave, Tiro, is the inventor of shorthand and has become the author of this biography of his master. Tiro was at Cicero’s right hand throughout his career, by his side, through triumph and catastrophe. Through his voice, the world of ancient Rome is brought to life.
It’s a fascinating story. Pompey and Julius Caesar stride across the stage of this deeply corrupt, depraved, dangerous and strangely familiar society.
Robert Harris is a brilliant story-teller and author of historical fiction. He lures us into a violent, treacherous world of Roman politics simultaneously exotically different from and startlingly similar to ours.
This is part one of a duology. The second volume in the American printing is titled Conspirata. In Great Britain, the same book is titled Lustrum.
Both books are available on Kindle, paperback, and Audible.com.
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Categories: Book Review, History, Literature, Writing
Very depressing but probably a good read.
Leslie
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It isn’t depressing. It’s history. It’s also absolutely fascinating to realize that not only did we not start the fire, THEY didn’t start the fire. I think that the fire has always been burning. It’s just a much BIGGER fire now. History calms me because it puts things into a wide perspective. Yes, this is fiction, but there’s a lot of truth in it, too. And the comparison between now and the end of the Roman Republic gave me goose bumps.
History is safe for me because it’s OVER. It’s not like the news. It’ not happening to me. It’s gone, dead, buried … and I wish we’d stop trying to relive it.
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Yes that is the one good thing – history is history…
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