Tag: reviews

Colleen McCullough, The First Man in Rome (Avon 1991)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/480570.The_First_Man_in_Rome?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=LcqcJow4HP&rank=1

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.

Colleen McCullough, The Grass Crown (Avon 1992)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3424.The_Grass_Crown?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=kWftwdXP4c&rank=1

This Book Two of the Masters of Rome series follows the political and personal lives of the famous men and women of ancient Rome.
Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Publius Rutilius Rufus dine together. Marius announces his intention to go on pilgrimage to Pessinus, but his friends know he wants to check out what’s going on in Cappadocia.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus (Piggle-wiggle) is out for blood, and Marius’ man Manius Aquillius is on trial. Sulla is about to leave for Spain on campaign. Marius takes his family to Patrae, then Athens, then Helicarnassus and in the spring, on to Pessinus. Young Gaius Julius Caesar is a precocious lad, and Aurelia hires a pedagogue. The rivalry between Sulla and Piggle-wiggle escalates.
In Sinope, King Mithridates of Pontus reads a letter—Gaius Marius wants to meet. Mithridates travels incognito. He is out for conquest.
Marius and family make it to Bithynia, where he becomes involved in politics with Mithridates and Nicomedia.
Marcus Livius Drusus dreams of ‘a general enfranchisement for the whole of Italy’; Quintus Poppaedius Silo, an Italian, dreams of Italian ‘secession from Rome’.
Drusus is determined to get his law passed emancipating the Italians. Their spokesperson thwarted and murdered, leaders of 14 Italian peoples decide to use threat of war. The early victories in the Social War go to the Italians, giving Rome a fright. Though Rome eventually wins, the Italians win their citizenship.
The story follows the lives of Young Caesar and Young Marius. Young Caesar attends upon Marius after his second stroke. Caesar pulls Marius back into politics, and Marius begins to train him. Young Marius kills Lucius Cato the Consul in a mutiny, which saves a battle. Sulla is awarded by his men a Grass Crown. Sulla massacres Aeclanum.
Despite his infirmity, Rome wants Marius at the helm against Mithridates, and Sulla is told to hand over his legions. Instead, he invades Rome. But the troops rebel. On the run from Sulla, Marius flees and takes shelter at Cercina.
At the ludi Romanii, Lucius Cornelius Cinna makes his move to introduce laws regarding the distribution of new citizens and for the recall of 19 fugitives—including Gaius Marius. The controversy leads to the Massacre of Octavius’s Day.
The story finishes with the tale of the battle between Cinna and Gnaeus Octavius Ruso and the deadly rivalry between Marius’s faction and Sulla’s.
The scope of this novel, encompassing the gamut of Roman history, both political and personal, during the 1st century BCE, means learning a lot of complicated Roman names, more so than Book One, which was mostly Marius and Sulla. It takes you through the Senate meetings, the patricians’ dinners, the war strategy and the battlefields as if you were there yourself.