Robert Harris' Imperium Should Not Be Missed

Robert Harris is a delight to read. His novel about Alan Turing and code breaking during World War II, Enigma, was good. So too with Imperium (Pocket Books, 2006), another work of historical fiction, this one set in Ancient Rome. The narrator is Cicero's stenographer Tiro.

A couple of notes are important because the pages are filled with Latin. Imperium is generally translated as power. The word emperor comes from imperator.

Cicero moves through the political ranks of Rome and one of his first efforts is to run for election as aedile, a mid-level political office responsible for supervision of the city, the games, and provisions. When Cicero announces that he intends to seek office even though Pompey the military leader disapproves, his confidants think he is joking. "Let us drink to pointless heroism," one quips. But Cicero is undeterred and plans to prosecute Verres, a corrupt governor of the Roman Empire. Cicero explains to the members of his circle:

"If you want power, there is a time when you have to seize it. This is my time."

"But how is this to be accomplished?"

"By prosecuting Gaius Verres for extortion."

So there it was. I had known he would do it since early morning, and so, I am sure, had he, but he wanted to take his time about it-to try on the decision, as it were, and see how it fitted him. And it fitted him very well. I had never seen him more determined. He looked like a man who believed he had the force of history running through him. Nobody spoke.

"Come on!" he said with a smile. "Why the long faces? I have not lost yet! And I do not believe I shall lose, either. I had a visit from the Sicilians this morning. The have gathered the most damning testimony against Verres, have they not, Tiro? We have it under lock and key downstairs. And when we do win-think of it! I defeat Hortensius in open court, and all this 'second-best advocate' nonsense is finished forever. I assume the rank of the man I convict, according to the traditional rights of the victorious prosecutor, which means I become a praetorian overnight-so no more jumping up and down on the back benches of the Senate, hoping to be called. And I place myself so firmly before the gaze of the Roman people that my election as aedile is assured. But the best thing of all is that I do it-I, Cicero-and I do it without owing favors to anyone, least of all Pompey the Great."

This book overflows with this type of political calculation. Sure to become a favorite among lawyers, it is packed with wisdom, political philosophy, wit and rhetoric. It is fun to read and should be included on everyone's reading list.

Source: Wikipedia