Colleen McCullough, The First Man in Rome (Avon 1991)
Gaius Julius Caesar, grandfather of the future emperor, and his sons have joined the procession of Marcus Minucius Rufus’ inauguration to consul; his wife Marcia and their teen daughters Julia and Julilla join the crowd of spectators. Somewhere in the crowd is Gaius Marius. He runs into Caesar, who invites him to dinner. Despite humble origins, Gaius Marius was born to lead soldiers; Caesar sees it and offers him one of his daughters to wed.
Next door to Caesar’s house is Sulla’s stepmother Clitumna. Lucius Cornelius Sulla sleeps with both his stepmother and his mistress Nicopolis, but he prefers boys, like Metrobius.
Jugurtha, usurper to the throne of Numidia is on the outskirts waiting for permission to cross the pomerium. Close friends with Gaius Marius and Publius Rutilius Rufus, they were all twenty-three.
Julilla has a crush on Sulla, and weaves for him a grass crown—a symbol of military victory. Nicopolis dies, leaving him a fortune. At 50, Gaius Marius finally has enough money to run for consul and leaves Africa in a mad dash for Rome. Wedded now to Julilla, things look up for Sulla, too.
There is a crisis in the Roman army—too many have died. Marius builds a new army of recruits from among the proletarian Head Count, offering booty land as payment.
The Germans in their 100s of 1000s are on the march, but Roman generals Gnaeus Mallius Maximus and Quintus Servilius Caepio are busy fighting each other, leading to the worst defeat in Roman history. Enter Gaius Marius’ African legions, sent to save the day for the Empire.
This is Book One of the colossal Masters of Rome series.
These people we know from history come gorgeously to life; the intricacies of Roman class politics are portrayed vividly. Marius’ military campaigns in Numidia and Gaul are not just discussions of armour and battles, but also feature debates over strategy, inter-personal politics and even espionage.
Told through the strong Voices of Gaius Marius, Sulla, Julia, Jugurtha. I can’t decide which I loved more, the juicy historical accuracy or the wonderful story-telling. 2000 years ago, but the characters and their letters and conversations are as natural as those of you and your neighbours. The only trouble is there’s a lot of complicated names to learn, but that’s Roman history’s fault not McCullough’s. She helps by making the characters colourful and memorable. I wish I knew how she sniffed out all the intricate inter-personal scandals behind every dollop of historical fact. If purely invented, it is totally believable.
Susie Helme 
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