Second in the Roma Sub Rosa history mystery series set in Ancient Rome at a time when Spartacus is raging through the countryside, terrifying the populace and revolving around Gordianus, a Finder, who brings his son, Eco, along.My TakeIt's years after Roman Blood, 1, and much has changed in Gordinaus' life. He has a son, for one, who follows Gordianus through life---rolling his eyes---even as we follow Gordianus around as he detects---a fascinating education in the politics of the day, slave interactions, the day's rituals and expectations, and the basics of it apply to today as well.Saylor sets this tale of ancient Rome beautifully, making me believe I'm there---I can feel the breeze off the sea, the warmth of the baths, taste the food, and fear a man with the power to destroy. A man is who so singleminded, so content with his own theories that he'll condemn a hundred people to promote his own ambitions while ignoring the truth. Orata's business advice is eternal; it's interesting how eternal human behavior is, no matter the year, country, philosophy…politics, ambition.I certainly want to slip into the baths at Crassus' house in Baiae. I fell in love with what Iaia is painting in the baths. I want this mural...Reading of ancient Rome and their myths makes the Romans come more alive, makes them real people. I do find their funeral rites peculiar what with mimes and poetry about the dead, although it does seem in keeping with the Roman mindset, still I much prefer the Jewish ritual of stories.I do understand the reasoning behind Crassus' statement, but there's something so wrong about his buying and then educating a slave being so much more economical than hiring the services of a professional. And Fabius. He sounds like those idiots who believe that Negroes were of a lesser people, that owning them did them a favor when he talks of slaves not having legends or heroes. When he claims that being slaves, they have no moral character to be free. I find it impossible to believe that anyone can hold such imbecilic thoughts! It turns my stomach.Interesting side story about Crassus evading certain death from Marius and Cinna by hiding in a Spanish cave. Yeah, what was Gordianus thinking about to go down to the pier. At night. Alone…? It doesn't seem like the type of action he would normally take.I can't say you'd enjoy the characters in this story: there are only three, maybe four, who have any real honor, but I can say you'll find it riveting.The StoryGordianus is given no chance to say no, and he and Eco sail off to Ancient Rome's version of the Riviera: Baiae. An important man has died, and an even more important man wants to use this opportunity to further his own political ambitions. Only, two of the household are determined that justice be done.The CharactersGordianus the Finder lives on the Esquiline Hill with his adopted son, Eco, a young mute boy from Roman Blood; Bethesda is still his slave. Belbo is his strongarmer, the house guard.Marcus Licinius Crassus is one of the wealthiest Romans of his day and determined to ramp up his reputation. Lucius Licinius is/was Crassus' cousin and in charge of Crassus' business interests in Baiae. Gelina is his not-too-unhappy widow.Marcus Mummius is one of Crassus' protégés with a vested interest in preserving the slaves. Well, one of them. A good military man, Mummius is very sensitive about an ancestor, Mad Mummius. Faustus Fabius is another protégé from an old, but very poor, patrician family.Meteo is one of the household slaves. Zeno was Lucius' secretary and accountant while Alexandros had some skill with copying and simple sums although he was technically a stablehand. Apollonius is a beautiful slave who helps in the baths and has the most incredible voice.Guests at the Villa include:Iaia Cyzicena is an incredible artist who built her reputation painting portraits. Olympias is her assistant with a huge secret of her own. Iaia has a small villa in Cumae, but frequently stay overnight with Gelina. Sergius Orata is a builder of baths, including the incredible ones in the villa. Metrobius is a female impersonator and an old friend of Sulla's...and Gelina's. Dionysius is the resident Stoic philosopher, and an excellent lesson in not brown-nosing.The Sibyl of Cumae "is an oracle in the Eastern sense", who speaks through her priestesses. Pompey is busy with an army in Spain.The CoverThe cover is gorgeous: a red and gold fresco with a Greek key border separating the primary picture of three people engaging in separate actions from the upper border of painted panels. The title is Gordianus, for he is the Arms of Nemesis.
After reading Roman Blood, I was in a good enough mood that I drifted over almost immediately to the next book in the series, Arms of Nemesis. Instead of sticking it out in Rome, Gordianus heads on over to the nearby resort town of Baiae to investigate a murder - and in the meantime, Spartacus's slave rebellion is tearing up the countryside, forcing slave-owning Romans everywhere to look askance even in their own households, in case their own slaves decide to murder them.And that's precisely why Gordianus goes to Baiae in the first place: to investigate the murder of a man who was supposedly killed by his slaves. Of course, the answer isn't as straightforward as that (if it were then there would be no novel). Compared to the last novel, this one seems a bit more tense than Roman Blood. The ending, in particular, was significantly more action-packed than the ending of Roman Blood. Or perhaps it was because there were more lives at stake in Arms of Nemesis than in Roman Blood - the life of one man versus the lives of ninety-nine people, including women and children, certainly is a significant difference in terms of the stakes. That the ninety-nine lives are actually slaves doesn't make much of a difference.It is on the subject of slaves that I found this novel to be more of a stand-out than Roman Blood. Gordianus's treatment of slaves and the way he regards them is interesting and makes him sympathetic. The reader will want him to succeed, if only because of that inclination of his. One thing I greatly appreciated in this novel compared to the last one: the inclusion of a strong female character in the form of a female painter named Iaia. I don't know if she is a historical figure or not, but I do appreciate the inclusion of such a character in the novel, instead of making it an all-boys' club, as it were. I also found certain explanations regarding the use of poisonous and medicinal herbs during the period, as well as details about the Sybil of Cumae, to be fascinating enough to distract from the typical nature of the plot itself. Again, as with Roman Blood, the plot might not be anything earth-shattering for anyone familiar with mysteries, but the milieu is interesting enough to make it interesting enough to keep on going.
What do You think about Arms Of Nemesis (2001)?
Mais um livro bastante agradável de Steven Saylor! Devo dizer que esta mistura de policial com Roma Antiga fascina-me, bem como a personagem principal, Geordiano, o descobridor! Nesta obra, passada em plena revolta dos escravos liderada por Spartacus, o protagonista terá de descobrir quem matou o primo de, nem mais nem menos, Marco Crasso! Considerado talvez o homem mais rico que o império conheceu e que mais tarde viria a derrotar Spartacus com o seu exército particular, Crasso tem um papel preponderante no desenrolar da história. No entanto, e apesar de se ler bem e de o livro estar, no geral, bastante bem escrito, sinto que faltou um pouco mais ação e uma trama mais complexa, o que fez com que não apreciasse tanto este como o primeiro da série Roma Sub Rosa.Pontuação: 3.5/5
—Inês Beato
This is my first in the Roman Mysteries series by Steven Saylor. I studied Latin for five years both in high school and college so have a good orientation to minutiae of Roman life from writings we had to translate. Steven Saylor adapts the idea of a detective for the historical context. His main character is Gordianus the Finder. In this novel, Gordianus is summoned by Marcus Crassus, whose is "rich as Crossus" to unravel a mystery in Southern Italy not far from Pompei and Herculaneum, the resort area of villas built by Roman elites. It is the time of the Spartacus slave revolt. It seems to Gordianus that slaves are being set up as scapegoats in this crime. The author is adept at taking documented historical events in the life of the republic and empire and using accurate historical detail in an engaging way. Gordianus resembles modern hard boiled detectives. Though he doesn't come from a wealthy family, he has passable social graces that allow him to mix in most classes of Roman society and through observation, solve whatever mystery is put before him.
—Lianne
This is the second book in a series featuring Gordianus “the Finder”, a Roman citizen during the period of the Republic, who makes a living as a private detective. In this episode, which takes place some years after the events of the first book in the series, Roman Blood, Gordianus is engaged to discover whether the murderer of Marcus Crassus’ cousin is someone other than household slaves suspected of having joined Spartacus in his revolt. Saylor makes use of his Classics degree to write an engaging novel, with an interesting combination of real-life and fictional characters and a pleasing prose style. The imparting of historical information – an important feature of both this novel and its predecessor in the series - is achieved with a light hand. I know almost nothing about Roman history, but I was able to acquire pertinent facts without feeling either confused or patronised. That said, the mystery itself is only moderately interesting, even though it contains the usual quotient of suspects and red herrings. For a “finder”, Gordianus does relatively little finding. Indeed, he spends more time being beaten up or otherwise assaulted than he does solving the crime.Overall, this was a pleasant excursion into historical mystery fiction, made all the more pleasant by (a) reading some of the novel while I was in Rome and (b) sharing the experience with my friend Jemidar. I will definitely want to read the next book in the series at some point.
—Kim
