In Conspirata Robert Harris has again written a novel of classical Rome that is rich with characters, atmosphere, historical detail, and plot. The book focuses on Cicero’s attempts to preserve the authority of the Roman Senate, and the Republic, against Caesar’s dictatorial machinations that flexibly reached both certain patrician quarters and vast tracts of the disenfranchised (but traditionally protected) popular classes, or plebes.The major figures here are Cicero, Pompey the Great, Crassus, Cicero’s secretary Tiro, his wife Terentia, Cataline (here called Catalina), and many others, including the amoral Clodius and his sister Clodia.Cicero is an unlikely hero in many ways, astute and yet shaky politically, not a soldier in a martial culture, and given to anxiety and unattractive dealmaking. But this makes him all the more interesting. He detects Cataline’s plot to storm and dismantle Rome and thwarts it, but this goes too much to his head, so he isn’t quick or flexible enough to outwit the triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus, and by the end of this book, he is heading into exile (though history tells us he came back, perhaps as influential as ever.)The novel is fast-paced and well-informed without being too technical and overly detailed. Harris does an excellent job in fleshing out characters like Crassus, Cato (the very younger), Caesar, and a raft of miscreants and plotters.My passage through translating Cicero’s great speeches from Latin into English fifty years ago did seem to me more vivid than what I encounter here, but I’m not sure there’s much a modern author can do about this. A single Ciceronian sentence can go on for ten or fifteen lines of text. That doesn’t make for good novelizing. But at the same time, Cicero would pack so much into his long sentences that finding an end to them brought a fantastic sense of relief and understanding. He possessed a rhetorical mind equal to any. Think of Churchill because Churchill thought of Cicero; think of many another great Western orator, because they, too, thought of Cicero.One aspect of life in Cicero’s Rome that comes through Conspirata with disturbing clarity is how dangerous and fickle it was. Cicero defended governance by the upper class, not a popular stance today, but one can see how tense and ready to burst Rome was as its wealth and decadence grew. Pompey the Great brought fantastic riches to an empire that still thought of itself as a kind of city. Caesar capitalized on the instability this wealth engendered. Then he was killed. Finally, Augustus established order, but the beloved Roman Republic was dead. One of Cicero’s greatest legacies was bringing Greek philosophy into the Latin language and amplifying Latin to accommodate it. He was, as Harris portrays him, a thoughtful man of public affairs. Today we can look around and find few public leaders with a broad intellectual horizon. Though he does not flaunt it, Obama has such an horizon. Churchill had it and so did Woodrow Wilson. Sometimes this is a weakness, perhaps more often than not, but it’s a fascinating characteristic and introduces a kind of melancholy into learned leadership. Such figures know the outer limits of what philosophers can dream, and they know the limits of what politicians can accomplish. All too often the ultimate agent of change is war, and no one who is widely read can be an enthusiast of violence rather than reason. Harris has written a number of books about Rome and its Empire. This one takes place just before the events that turn Rome from a republic to a dictatorship. We have all the prime characters in play: Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, Catalina, Cicero, etc.This book (and others in the series) is told from the perspective of Cicero's slave/secretary, Tiro. Rome is thick with politics as Cicero assumes the consulship. We and Harris are lucky that so much of Cicero's thoughts have been preserved and organized over the past 2000 years. This is the foundation from which Harris builds his story of greed, power, murder and mayhem. The first half of the book puts the reader right in the midst of a massive plot to overthrow the government. The story begins a bit ponderously with a rare snow that has Rome somewhat paralyzed. A body is discovered and, as incoming consul, Cicero is called to the scene. It is the body of a young male slave, and the death was violent. Cicero has no idea how entangled he will become in related events. The death's significance is played out as the story gathers speed. The first half of the book deals with his year as consul. It has his greatest triumph as he arguably saves Rome from rebellion. Lacking a famous family, Cicero is on the outside in Senate, though he is its head. He has to fulfill campaign promises to his supporters while getting a majority together on major issues. He has to balance the patrician faction with those who gain their support from the lower classes. It all leads to constant conflict and shifting alliances. In the second half of the book deals with how full of himself Cicero has become and the challenges of living a more public life and spending beyond his means. The return of that triumphant general, Pompey, creates new threats to an Empire dependent on its army. And, Caesar is always ready to seek advantage in even the smallest events. In the end it comes down to what Cicero can do to impede Caesar's grasp for total control over the Empire. The move by move "chess game" enlivens the historical facts of this four year period that was critical to Rome's future.Harris's has the ability to tell a compelling tale and he manages to weave seamlessly historical fact and fiction. Famous characters such as Caesar and Cicero become fully formed people rather than the two-dimensional names of history. The conversations are well-crafted revealing each historical player's idiosyncracies and enhancing the plot. The fine details of Roman life: religion, funerals, governance, and domestic life make this a lively and compelling picture of one of the most critical periods in history.PS: Cicero, thanks to his writings may have been the citizen of Rome who had the greatest impact on Western Civilization for the next 2000 years. His works, when re-examined and amplified by Plutarch, served as a foundation for much of Renaissance thought. And, his influence on European thought continued for centuries culminating in acknowledgements by many of the key figures of The Enlightenment. Harris gives us the man, as well as his thoughts and does so in a manner that is easily accessible.
What do You think about Conspirata (2010)?
The second part of Harris's trilogy on the life of Marcus Cicero, this surpasses the excellent first novel Imperium in scale and suspense. A superb thriller based around the historical context of the political happenings in Rome between 63-58 BC, this had me hooked from start to finish. Cicero's strengths and flaws are brilliantly portrayed through the eyes of his secretary Tiro. I can't wait to read the third and final book once Robert Harris has written it.
—Morenita
Picks up the baton where Imperium left off and wets the appetite nicely for the 3rd and final instalment in the series. When oh when will Roberts Harris actually confirm the due date for this though, you can't make something this entertaining and then withhold the goods. Come on Robert, it's been nearly a lustrum! I hope the masterful Bill Wallis will get the gig again for the audiobook when it does come to fruition.
—Szasa
Interesting and thrilling sequal delving into life of a troubled buy brilliant Roman senator.
—butch
The best way to learn about ancient Rome. Almost as good as a Shakespearean tragedy.
—kitkay1
