Customer Reviews

The Course of Honor

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Being a fan of Lindsey Davis' series of historic mysteries of Marcus Didius Falco, and also having recently read "Vespasian" by Barbara Levick, I found this novel to be an acurate and entertaining portrayal of the long time relationship of Vespasian and Caenis. It is neither the rollicking, irreverant narrative of Falco, or the dry statement of historical footnotes in a textbook; "Course of Honor" combines the best of both in a tale that gives a wonderful perspective on the life of one of Rome's better emperors through the eyes of the woman who truly stood by his side.

Fans of Lindsey Davis' rollicking Falco novels will find here a more restrained style, as she polishes up a small lost history into a life's love. The care used to tell the tale befits the main players on the stage. We meet Caenis, an intelligent, resolute woman who happens to be a slave in Rome's Imperial household; hand in hand with that, we meet a steady, decent young soldier named Vespasian. (That name's familiar for a reason, Latin students.) The skein of attraction, duty, forsaking, and fulfillment that will drive these two apart and together over their lifetimes plays out with even pace against the nasty backdrop provided by Rome in the time of the Claudians. Vespasian's fate won't surprise the reader, but as for Caenis: will she or won't she? Loyal readers of Davis may be taken by surprise at the almost Victorian gravitas of her style in this work. I found it soothing, but I could note that she does tend to overuse a few favorite phrases. Still, I don't hesitate to recommend it; it's refreshing to read a love story in which restraint is an almost tangible third partner.

The (true) story on which this novel is based -- the decades-long love affair between the impoverished nobleman/unlikely emperor Vespasian and the freed slave Caenis -- is inherently compelling, and the author of the "Falco" mysteries seems like the perfect writer to retell it. Unfortunately, I felt that the novel fell flat. Choosing to tell the story in the third person (why?) meant that Davis spent far too much time on rather dry exposition -- in the first few chapters there were about 10 pages of background for every page of dialog. She falls into this same habit in some of the Falco novels (e.g. "The Iron Hand of Mars"), but there the expository bits are more fun because they're told in the narrator's cynical, wise-cracking voice. The historical characters are engaging enough when they're allowed to speak for themselves -- the straight-arrow Vespasian (I kept seeing John Wayne playing him), the loving but all-too-intelligent Caenis, her sorely tried royal mistress Antonia -- and even the made-up ones, such as her gold-digger friend Veronica and her manipulative mentor Narcissus, have considerable depth. Occasional scenes -- such as Vespasian's triumphal return from Britain -- came vividly alive, and the conclusion kept me up past my bedtime. But I suspect that Davis, in trying to write a "serious" novel rather than Philip Marlowe in a toga, went too far in the opposite direction. She seems to have forgotten a couple of basic principles of fiction writing: (1) A novel should be entertaining, and (2) Show, don't tell. I would have found the story much more absorbing if it had been told from Caenis' point of view; I'm sorry Davis decided to play it safe and go for Victorian omniscience and excruciating dignity.

Many stories written about Ancient Rome are from the man'spoint of view with little or no attention paid to the strong womenbehind the men. Lindsey Davis has done excellent work in incorporating women in the Marcus Didius Falco books with Helena, but this book is riviting and a wonderful story. Vespatians mistress, Caenis is the main character and Davis does an excellent job portraying a strong woman in the man's world of Ancient Rome. A must read for anyone interested in the female voice in Ancient Rome!

In an interview with Davis that appeared on the web, she said that she originally set out to write historical fiction (as in the Course of Honor) that was closely based on actual events and that provided an accurate perspective on Roman life. However, her Marcus Didius Falco books attracted a much wider audience, and so her subsequent writing has followed that character. I enjoy the anachronistic, wise-cracking Falco; but I wish Davis would also write more fiction that takes us back to the "real" Rome. Caenis was an actual historical figure, about whom very little is known. Davis used accounts by Tacitus as sources of major events in Vespasian's life, and those events provided an interesting story line. I thoroughly enjoyed the feisty, independent Caenis; it's so rare to see a strong independent woman in stories set in the ancient world (other notable examples are Bradshaw's female physician in A Beacon at Alexandria, and Brenda Jagger's Antonia, and of course, the strong women who appear in Colleen McCullough's novels. The middle part of Caenis's life (in the novel) was not as interesting as the periods when she was involved with Vespasian; I would have liked to see something more inventive here, because the pace was rather slow in some parts of the story. In spite of that, this remains one of my favorite ancient world novels, and I hope that someday Lindsey Davis writes additional books outside the Falco series.

This is an amazingly sweet book.

Two people, one a bad tempered angry slave and one the unimportant son of a provincial tax collector meet when the man and his brother get lost in the imperial palace in Rome. They come across a young slave girl cooking sausages and an attraction is formed for life between the young man and the slave.

Vespasian is not an important man in Rome when he meets Caenis. In fact, though he is later and senator and she is later a freewoman, there is a long span of time where her connections to the royal family make her important than he is. But they loved each other deeply their whole lives in spite of their long separation of twenty years when he married, and she even helped him raise his children. When Nero died and Vespasian took the purple in a military coup, he has his beloved move into the palace with him-defying all social conventions to be with her.

The absolute only thing I think could have made this book more sweetly romantic would be Vespasian overruling the law that members of the senate couldn't marry freedwoman. But hey, perhaps that was a more drastic step that it seems it would have been. Roman society confuses me, but in this book it is clear, wonderful, corrupt and a place where even social opposites can fall in love.

Five stars.

For more reading on Vespasian's younger son corrupt and disastrous rule of Rome check out The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie.

This is the only Lindsey Davis novel I have seen that is not one of the Falco series. It is a fictionalized biography of a Roman freedwoman who was a the concubine of the emperor Vespasian. She was apparently a real person and is mentioned in Suetonius' The Twelve Emperors just as is stated in the book. There is, of course, too little documentation to do a genuine biography, but Davis had done an excellent job of integrating the scanty documentation on her subject with other research on the time period to create versimilitude. The characterization is well done, both of the subject, and of the emperor and his two sons.

The Course of Honor is an engaging novel which elucidates the typical lifestyle of a Roman. The love story between the two main characters, Caenis and Vespasian, is sentimental and charming. The plot is entertaining. The only part of the book that is dissatisfactory is that Lindsey tends to drone on and on about what Caenis sees in the city and what the current emperor is doing. It is, for the most part, historically accurate and the main characters are real people. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

I almost didn't want to read this book since it wasn't part of the Didius Falco series, but decided to go ahead because Ms. Davis is such a wonderful writer. Am I ever glad that I did! This is a marvellous book. It so richly descibes the life of ancient Rome, and the many coups, killings, wars and public displays that went on then in the Imperial city. It also richly describes a great love story. This is a love story between a freed woman and a future emporer of Rome - Vespasian. It is a love story that survives for decades. What a wonderful woman Caenis must have been - a true partner for a great and wonderful leader. The author depicts her characters so well that they appear to come alive in this beautiful story. I feel privileged that I was able to read this wonderful book.

I fell in love with Lindsey Davis' writing for her Marcus Didius Falco novels, but what always appealed to me in her writing was the rich historical details and the very real characters and, in this regard, "The Course of Honor" is no different. Based loosely on the true story of the Roman Emperor Vespasian and his life-long love the freedwoman Caenis, this is a sweet and genuine love-story of the sort that usually doesn't move me but manages to in this case.

Lindsey Davis is obviously a devotee of the Emperor Vespasian given that the Falco novels are written during his reign and "The Course of Honor" is about his rise to power. I once saw a historian on television describe Vespasian as "the kind of Emperor you'd knock back beer with while watching the football game" and that IS the man whom the slave (and later freedwoman) Caenis comes to know and love in the course of this novel.

This is a romance and I don't normally enjoy "romance novels" (which are too frequently just excuses for pointless sex-scenes), but this one is different. It's more about heart than heat and takes decades to unfold fully. This story shows a relationship evolve, from familiarity to friendship to love to life-partnership, with devotion and patience playing key roles.

Caenis is a Palace slave when the Senator Sabinus and his younger brother Vespasian stumble across her. It is by no means love at first sight. Her first words to the future Emperor are, in fact, "skip over the Styx!"

Since young Vespasian is expected to pursue a political career, he is about to embark upon the Cursus Honorum (the "Course of Honor"), the mandatory step-by-step political path that any young Roman politician is expected to take. This absents him from Rome for a year, but, at the end of that time, he seeks Caenis out again.

From there, they embark upon a cautious courtship, both well-aware that a relationship between them may be allowed but it will never be ACCEPTED. Vespasian comes and goes in Rome, doing what his family expects of him, absenting himself from the city for months or years at a time.

But, whenever he comes home, he seeks out Caenis. Neither waits for the other. She takes lovers and he marries, but they remain friends throughout.

They fall out of touch. They reconnect. They remain friends.

With Caenis' intercession, Vespasian gains honors under Tiberius and Claudius. Perhaps because of THOSE connections, he falls out of favor under Caligula and again later under Nero. For a time, he is in fear for his life due to Nero's jealousy.

Then the Year of the Four Emperors comes and Vespasian suddenly finds himself acclaimed Emperor by his troops. And, as is written in actual history, the new Emperor refuses to move into the palace without his loyal lover and his best friend in the world...

On a historical note, the true Caenis remained in the Imperial Palace until her death a few years after Vespasian's accession to the throne. This is one of those love stories where, while difficult, everything went right for both characters. And Lindsey Davis does a beautiful and moving job of capturing it without being remotely sappy or fake. And, as always, she immerses you right in the era.