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207 of 214 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Novel about Republican Rome, September 27, 2006
I give this novel my highest personal rating: it performs the extremely difficult task of making Cicero, a rather stuffy icon for 2 millennia, as accessible and as politically understandable as the national news in your local paper and to paint his turbulent times in a way anyone can identify with and understand. It is simply the best novel I've ever read, in terms of historical accuracy and intelligent reading of complex personalities, about the failing Roman Republic. I have always had problems with Cicero. You have the "lawyer's briefs," his speeches and trials; you have the wonderful intimate, flawed, and somehow endearing correspondence in which Cicero proves he was far from able to navigate the complex political currents of his remarkable day; then you have his alliance with the Optimates, the rich nobles whose refusal to reform the Roman Republic made it, in part, possible for military strong-men like Pompey and Caesar to threaten and finally help destroy it. Harris is simply superb. He uses Cicero's actual slave, Tiro (famous as his closest assistant) as the narrator of the remarkable and tragic events of those final years. I've read enough of Cicero to feel that Harris has somehow internalized and channeled both his speeches and correspondence; the context is effortlessly painted. Harris' comprehensive knowledge of Rome in the period roughly 70 BC is so meticulous that he makes it seem as easy to paint as an artist in a modern Chinatown. I've read enough of Harris' earlier novels to know that he's a fine plotter and draws clear characters. But I did not expect how he would recreate living men and women in a vanished time with such comfort and authenticity. One of the great early trials that "made" Cicero's name was his prosecution of the politically-connected noble, Verres, who had pillaged his Sicilian province. In reading of the preparation for and prosecution of this trial (which took real political courage, in view of the vested interests ranged against conviction), I can honestly say it reads like a thriller and its culmination is extraordinarily moving - all while following history meticulously. But Harris isn't out to make Cicero a saint - we see (perhaps all too clearly, as parallels with modern politics spring easily to mind) just what it takes to claw your way up the Roman political tree, the kinds of compromises it requires, the kind of damage it can do to the man. First in, I understand, a remarkable trilogy in which Cicero's career is impacted by other giants - Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, Clodius, all unforgettably drawn - this book is unput-downable, remarkably effective in conveying us to an ancient world, thrillingly able to make the connections between ancient and modern times through the medium of a remarkable politician who would be equally at home, now, in Washington or Baghdad. You will not feel the same about Cicero, or ancient Rome, again.
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66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Friends, Romans and Amazon shoppers, lend me your ears!, November 4, 2006
What a treat this book is and what an extraordinary author is Robert Harris. His scholarship is impeccable, his story-telling is mesmerizing, and his writing is a pure treat. This novel, depicting the early career of Marcus Tullius Cicero, is presented as the recollections of Tiro, Cicero's personal secretary and assistant throughout his life. There was an actual publication by Tiro on the life of Cicero which was lost forever during the tumult during the 6th century and the fall of empire. Harris writes a plausible, and thoroughly enjoyable, recreation of that lost tract. If you enjoy Roman history you will be entranced with this novel. In my opinion it is better even than his popular "Pompeii" which was a smashingly good book. The novel covers the first twenty years of Cicero's career from when Tiro was first given to Cicero in their early twenties, their travels through Greece to learn philosophy and their sojourn on the island of Rhodes to learn public speaking from Molon, the brilliant legal career of the young Cicero on his return to Rome including his infamous prosecution of Gaius Verres, the wicked governor of Sicily, and his rise to the seat of Consul during the years of strife between Crassus and Pompey. As the book itself points out, Cicero was never an able, dashing general, nor an aristocrat; he was an upstart young attorney from the country, a "new man" with no friends or fortune. So how, in the face of adversity, and the enmity of the ruling class, did he climb the cursus honorum to become Consul of Rome? Why, when he controlled no armies, conquered no territory, amassed no fortune, is the name of Cicero still remembered and revered today along with the likes of Crassus, Julius Caesar, and Pompey? This book does an admirable job of showing how Cicero used his mind, his indomitable will, and his razor sharp wit to carve himself a place in history. For those unfamiliar with Cicero, I can't imagine a more entertinaing or enjoyable introduction to this complex and fascinating figure. I have long been a fan of Colleen McCullough's Rome series, perhaps my favorite work of literature ever, but I have to admit that Imperium is so good it compares favorably with her works. If I have any true quibbles with this book it is only that it ends on the day he becomes Consul of Rome at age 42. The story of Cicero has so much more to it yet! Where is the story of his persecution of Catilina, his antagonism to Caesar even while his beloved brother Quintus served as one of his legates in Gaul, and his role in the Civil war between Pompey and Caesar? Harris tells only the first half of the story; I am hoping that there will be a sequel soon to complete this fabulous and wonderfully entertaining treatment of the brilliant Cicero.
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51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good for the history, but a little flat on the story, October 12, 2006
I enjoy Harris's work and looked forward to this one, though with a slight hesitation that came from my disappointment with his last Roman novel, Pompeii. The book is interesting in terms of the history; it places Cicero in the political context of Pompey that precedes the era of Julius Caesar. It gives Cicero presence and depth. But otherwise it's so flat. None of the characters come to life - nor does Rome become more than a backdrop to the narrative. In the end I gave up on it and skimmed the last fifty pages. There's no dramatic tension and the style and story are very homogenous -- the same pacing, tone and talkative exegesis. For eaxmple, Cicero's marital tensions are talked about but his wife's personality and language never come to life. I'm obviously in a minority among the Amazon reviewers, most of whom give the book 5 stars. They see something in it that I don't. I offer my opinion only as a caution for the reader who isn't interested in the history -- it's the history that makes it, not the story or the narration
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