Rubicon

Posted on September 20, 2009 by smellincoffee
Rubicon
© 1999 Steven Saylor
276 pages
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“Alea iacta est.”/”The die is cast.” / “Let the game begin!” – Julius Caesar

“The most honest man in Rome! No wonder nobody likes you.” (Pompey, to Gordianus.)
Murder on the Appian Way began with the people of Rome rioting in the streets. Although our Roma sub Rosa narrator Gordianus was able to leave the city on business, he was unable to escape the political maneuvering that resulted from the murder of populist Publius Clodius.Partially as a result of the increasing political instability, Rubicon begins with news of Julius Caesar’s having broken the law of Rome and crossed the northern frontiers of Italy with his army. The Republic has reached point of crisis. Aging and allegeldy retired Gordianus the Finder would just as soon spend the rest of his life in his study, reading through plays and memoirs while entertaining his grandchildren, but it so happens that a visitor to his home is found death in his garden under the eyes of a newly repaired statue of Minerva. The visitor happens to be a young relative of Pompey the Great, one that the dictator is quite fond of. As Gordianus prepares to sort out the means of the young man’s death, Pompey the Great himself arrives at Gordianus’ door to inquire as to where his relative and courier has gone off to. When he finds out that his relative’s destination is somewhere beyond the river Styx, he promptly seizes Gordianus’ new son-in-law Davus out of spite and impresses him into military service. Davus will only be released from his newfound obligation when Gordianus has solved the mystery of who murdered young Pompeius and why.
The timing is rather unfortunate, as Julius Caesar is marching through the Italian peninsula with his army. His position in Rome being weak, the Great One is departing with those loyal to him to Italy’s extreme south, where he hopes to rally supporters around him. Gordianus must solve the murder before Caesar and Pompey’s armies meet: for no matter who wins, Gordianus will lose. His son Meto is Caesar’s scribe, and with Davus in Pompey’s army his family could meet great sorrow in the battle’s aftermath. Such an investigation seems impossible, as everyone who might be of informational use has fled Rome — either out of loyalty to Pompey or to hiding places in the countryside. Gordianus is given a chance to accomplish his mission when he spots Cicero’s allegedly bedridden scribe and ex-slave Tiro strolling about Rome in disguise as an Alexandrian philosopher. Cicero and Gordianus may not share the same politics or values, but they both dread a Sullan-style dictatorship and are attempting to stay neutral — although Cicero intends to keep on top of things by employing Tiro as a spy to both sides. Together Tiro and Gordianus set out for Brundisium, where they are expecting Pompey and Caesar to meet in battle.
In the last book I commented that the historical background of the novels was becoming increasingly important, and here my attention was attracted wholly to it, with little thought given to the murder that forces Gordianus into such a predicament. History is about to change, and the reader is able to see it happen through Gordianus’ eyes. Rome is utterly deserted by its government, and the Appian way is occupied by marching troops. Before the book’s end, Gordianus will have been invited into the tents of both Pompey and Caesar as they attempt to out-manuever the other. The book succeeds as historical fiction and fiction proper: after finishing the book and reflecting on it, I realized Saylor worked in more foreshadowing than usual in this work, perhaps as a consequence of telling the story differently. I often feel as though I’m literally following in Gordianus’ footsteps, privy to his every thought and facial expression. To be sure, Gordianus always keeps some cards close to his vest, but in this book he seems to have lost an entire deck of cards in there. It’s a fine addition to the series, and I eagerly await more.
It will be some time before I’m able to continue the series, though. I cannot find the three books three books preceding The Triumph of Caesar and following Rubicon in any of my libraries, and I will not read Triumph out of order for purposes of continuity, so I have purchased the books used through Amazon marketplace, and I cannot say how long it will take for Last Seen in Massilia to arrive.
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In Praise of Slowness

Posted on September 19, 2009 by smellincoffee
In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed
© Carl Honoré 2004
310 pages
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I have been living philosophically for over a year now, and as time passes I am attracted more and more to a life that is quiet, gentle, simple, and slow. This is facilitated by the university town I live in that allows such a life — a life where I linger for long hours in the university cafeteria enjoying the company of friends, a life where I am free to simply go for a walk around a beautiful town any time I feel like it. I want to live as a free human ought. As my politics become more radical, my sense of spirituality more universal, and my mind more centered, I have found a variety of topics to be of increasing interest — like the New Urbanism movement, which is intent on making communities “human-sized again”, getting away from ill-considered suburban sprawl. Another is the philosophical and religious concept of “simple living”.
In Praise of Slowness is a book that incorporates simple living, New Urbanism, and the philosophical life into its text. I will summarize as it as being written to make human lives human and livable once more. Where our way of life has reduced us to living passively, consuming unthinkingly, and bouncing from one task to the next without ever really enjoying anything, Slowness asserts that we should slow down and think about what it is we’re doing. This happened to author Carl Honoré in his pre-Slow days: after fuming at every person whose path interrupted his in a busy airport, he was drawn to a store display promising bedtime stories for children that could be told in sixty seconds or less, sparing parents the annoyance of having to sit down and read for their child. In his recollection, he was preparing to order the entire set when he realized that this was going too far. That capitalism, consumerism, suburbanization, industrial agriculture, and other systems in use in our society have gone too far is a common criticism, but is not less valid because of this. As the author writes, people in the United States work too long, drive too fast, turn meals into pit stops, and have allowed life to become nothing more than background noise they are annoyed by while working on to-do lists. Separate chapters cover living arrangements, sex, work, leisure, food, spirituality, medicine, and childrearing. There’s a lot of depth here, because author Carl Honoré is applying the same principle to as much of human life as he can without making the book overly long.
As much as I like the book’s premise, there are signs that some parts of it were written incautiously. There were facts put forth that needed citing and a little too much reliance on anecdotes. The entire chapter on medicine was disappointing. Homeopathy does not work “slow”, it does not work. Perhaps the “medicine model” does need checking — some matters are more psychological than biological, I would suspect, and a little philosophy would be more effective than a pill — but evidence-based medicine is still far superior to massages that are meant to let the body’s “energy” move around more freely. What startled me was how true the holistic doctors kept to the descriptions made by them of skeptics like Steven Novella and James Randi who have examined their claims and found them lacking. The tactics they used haven’t changed!
Although the chapter on medicine is quite week, the newage doesn’t spoil the rest of the book: it’s quite localized, as it were, and I can recommend the book on the whole. Just read with a salt-shaker nearby.
Related Reading:
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Constantinople: the Forgotten Empire

Posted on September 19, 2009 by smellincoffee
Constantinople: the Forgotten Empire
© Isaac Asimov 1970
289 pages
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The history of the eastern Roman empire, ruled from Constantinople, has long been a weak point in my own historical literacy. When I spotted a book on its history by Isaac Asimov in my library’s catalog, I was delighted at the prospect of introducing myself to both Byzantine history and Isaac Asimov’s history work. Unfortunately I won’t be able to read more of it — these books, like most of his work, are out of print and the only copies on Amazon are held by opportunists who offer them only at obscene prices.
The old city of Byzantium’s history as told in section one’s six chapters became the history of the Roman empire when the Emperor Constantine decided to rebuild it in his own image, creating a “New Rome” out of a city on the straits between southeastern Europe and Asia minor. It gained more importance under the reign of Diocletian, when he divided the old Roman empire into four administrative areas headed by two emperors — one in the west, and one in the east at “New Rome which is called Constantine’s City”, or Constantinople.
Although the western empire eventually transformed into the European feudal world and officially died in 474, the empire in the east continued long after — for nearly a thousand years, before finally being done in by the rising Ottoman Turks. In my own experience, histories of the Roman empire have referred to the eastern empire in a very passive way, as if it were only the echo of the west’s once-ringing bell. Although Asimov is only able to give the empire a summative treatment, its history still emerges as fascinating and unique, deserving of more attention. There are many interesting characters and stories here — like the emperor who saw his empire nearly destroyed by the Parthians, who triumphed over them and restored his dominion only to see it eviscerated again by Islam’s armies before his death — and Asimov makes me think of issues I’ve never before pondered. I never for once have given any thought to how the crowning of Charlemagne as “Holy Roman Emperor” by the western pope might be received by emperor in the west, who arguably has a better claim to being holy, Roman, and imperial. It also raises more questions, as answers often do: while I found out how Christianity spread to Russia (and why it is more East Orthodox than Roman Catholic), I then wondered what it replaced in Russia.
For all the story’s interest, it is not a story with a happy ending. Although the Byzantine empire at its height resembles the Roman empire at its height (with much less influence in Europe), over the course of a thousand years it is weakened by constant political intrigue from within (monks seemed to have held a great deal of political power and ambition for more) and the constant attack of enemies from without. “Barbarians” in the Balkans seem to be an ever present problem, the western polities view the old Empire with scorn and hatred (demonstrated by their vicious sack of the city in 1204), and Asia provides a merry list of rivals starting with the Parthians and culminating with the Turks — who destroy the withered remains of the state in a move that is more redundant than dramatic. Asimov’s epilogue comments that while the western empire left an imposter “ghost” of sorts in the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantines left their own imposter-ghost in the form of the Russian empire, who married one of the last Byzantine princesses and assumed the title tsar, from caesar.
This was a very readable introduction to Byzantine history. I recommend it, but good luck finding it.
So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can’t go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks
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This Week at the Library (16/9)

Posted on September 17, 2009 by smellincoffee

Books this Update:

  • Death by Black Hole, Neil deGrass Tyson
  • Murder on the Appian Way, Steven Saylor
  • Waiter Rant, “The Waiter”
  • Taming the Mind, Thubten Chodron
  • Pebble in the Sky, Isaac Asimov
  • Dark Force Rising, Timothy Zahn
  • The Philosophy of Humanism, Corliss Lamont

This was an unexpectedly busy week for reading, although I had read most of two of these before finishing them this week. I began by finishing Neil deGrass Tyson’s Death by Black Hole, a collection of popular science essays and edited for continuity purposes — largely so that the essays refer to one another. The 42 essays are divided into seven sections: “The Nature of Knowledge”, “The Knowledge of Nature”, “Ways and Means of Nature”, “The Meaning of Life”, “When the Universe Turns Bad”, “Science and Culture” and lastly, “Science and God”. Tyson is definitely entertaining to read: popular science readers should give this one a go if they can.

I then returned to Steven Saylor’s Roma sub Rosa series. What stands out most about this book is that history is becoming a more powerful force in the books. Before it was just the setting: when commenting on Roman Blood, I said that Gordianus could just as easily be a streetwise detective in the gritty streets of New York back in the thirties or fifties. As the series has progressed, this has become much less true. The murder of a populist politician, Publius Clodius, has outraged the common people of Rome. The book begins with rioting in the streets, rioting that will see houses of any stature looted and the Senate house burned to the ground. Gordianus escapes this chaos when he is asked by several people to find out the details of Clodius’ murder in the Roman countryside. Unfortunately for Gordianus, politics extend far beyond the city walls, and he will find himself in the thick of things. The book ends with the dictatorship of Pompey the Great, meaning — for students of Roman history — that the death of the Republic isn’t too far off.

I next read Waiter Rant: Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, a semibiographical book consisting of essays recounting the author’s near-decade of waiting tables and serving as front-area manager. I said before that it reminded me of This American Life in that it uses the stories of some people in society to both entertain and provoke to response. The Waiter isn’t just interested in making the reader laugh or wince: he muses on political and sociological topics that relate to why their lives are the way they are.

I also finished Taming the Mind by Thubten Chodron on various elements in Buddhist religion and philosophy. I wasn’t too happy with the book: it was more dogmatic than other Buddhist books I’ve read, even Zen Buddhism for Beginners. It also seemed to lack focus. (No pun intended.) It covers a little bit of everything but doesn’t go into a lot of detail: only one section of the book seemed to deal with the topic’s title, and I think had it been expanded the book would have been better for it.

I picked up Triangle on Sunday for some lunchtime reading. It contains all three of Isaac Asimov’s Empire books, and despite having had it for a year or so I’ve never read any of them. I read through Pebble in the Sky that Sunday, though, and found it enjoyable enough. The book is set in the galaxy’s far future, when humanity has populated most of the galaxy and been unified under a central empire ruled by Trantor. So much time has passed that no one really knows of humanity’s origins on the lowly planet of Earth. It is viewed by the galaxy as you or I might view a wretchedly small town in the middle of a fetid swamp populated by violently superstitious people. On Earth, the reigning theocrats believe that in times past, Earth was strong, mighty, and ruled the galaxy. This opinion has led to their outright revolt several times, and when a time-traveler from 1949 is accidentally thrust into the future, the secret police believe he is an imperial agent sent to uncover their plans for future galactic domination.

I next continued in the Thrawn trilogy by reading Dark Force Rising. The new Republic continues to struggle with its place in the galaxy, and political intrigue makes things all the more worse. Grand Admiral Thrawn is continuing to strengthen the Empire under his leadership, and is enjoying a growing reputation for unfailing cunning. A very interesting element of this book is the Dark Force, a ghost fleet of sorts lost years before the clone war. The ships’ crew went mad and destroyed themselves, but not before launching into deep space with no known coordinates. If found, its two hundred ships could give either the Empire or the New Republic a decisive tool to eradicate the other. This is not quite as strong as the first book, but it is strong enough to keep the story going.

Lastly, I read an introduction to the philosophy of humanism by Corliss Lamont, former president of the American Humanist Association. I read it more for historical information, which I was able to find here. I don’t know that the book’s purpose is to convince those who do not associate themselves with the label: I think it may be more suitable for those looking for information about Humanism, like those who are already drawn to its values. It’s recommended reading for humanists an those interested in nonreligious philosophies of meaning.

Pick of the Week: Murder on the Appian Way was too strong to ignore.

Quotation of the Week: I read a fun little ditty in The Philosophy of Humanism that I’ll share next week, but what I liked most this week was an excerpt from Taming the Mind:

By ourselves is evil done;
By ourselves we pain endure.
By ourselves we cease from ill;
By ourselves become we pure.
No one can save us but ourselves;
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path,
Buddhas only point the way

Potentials for Next Week:

  • Constantinople: The Forgotten Empire, Isaac Asimov
  • Our Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism, John F. Buehrens, F. Forrester Church
  • Rubicon, Steven Saylor
  • Flim-Flam! Psycics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions; James Randi
  • In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed, Carl Honore
  • The Last Command, Timothy Zahn
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The Philosophy of Humanism

Posted on September 16, 2009 by smellincoffee

The Philosophy of Humanism
© 1990 Corliss Lamont
326 pages

This is very straightforward book on the obvious subject, giving a history, description, and promotion of contemporary humanism. Author Corliss Lamont once headed the American Humanist Association, although he is perhaps better know for his political activities. After a short introduction, Lamont gives a history of the Humanist tradition, tapping both religious and scientific personalities as well as poets, politicians, and poetry — for humanism is a grand tradition.

Subsequent chapters delve into humanist values and common beliefs — he focuses on the importance of affirming life and using the scientific method as our guide whenever possible, and devotes a chapter to metaphysics. The chapter on the affirmation of life was interesting. Not only did he express a need for naturalistic mysticism — the importance of losing one’s self in the feeling of the sublime — but he writes on ethics and politics. Lamont’s socialistic political views do not seem to motivate the text: he writes that while Marxism and democratic socialism are themselves friendly to humanism, humanists need not be socialists.

Lamont’s humanism is a kindler, gentler humanism, reminding more of Erich Fromm and Isaac Asimov than of the voices in the “New Atheism”. Perhaps Greg Epstein’s so-called “New Humanism” is merely a return to Lamont and Fromm’s. While Lamont criticizes religious elements and maintains that humans must and should ground their lives in the natural world, he doesn’t seem bitter or angry at it — only at the abuses. He’s also more open to emotional life than modern humanists are. Lamont is more passionate about what Humanism is and what it does than the failures of its rivals.

The book is quite readable, although the chapter on metaphysics may give some reades pause: it tends toward academic. My own copy of the book came with the first and second humanist manifestos, which were replaced in 2003 by the third. This is reccommend reading for humanists and those interested in a life of meaning and joy outside of religious belief.

Related Reading:

  • Erich Fromm’s The Sane Society
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Dark Force Rising

Posted on September 16, 2009 by smellincoffee

Dark Force Rising
© 1992 Timothy Zahn
376 pages

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I’m continuing in the Thrawn trilogy with Dark Force Rising. When we left the series at the end of Heir to the Empire, Leia Organa Solo was about to pay a visit to a mysterious alien planet with a strong affection for the recently deceased Lord Vader and his progeny. Leia hopes to use her “royal” influence to encourage the Noghri to break with the old Empire. Luke is drawn to a man who is rumored to be a Jedi master from before the great purge, while Han and Lando Calrissian participate in numerous action sequences.

The title can again be taken in two ways: the Empire is growing more strong thanks to Thrawn’s leadership, but much of the second half of the book concerns the discovery of a “Lost Fleet”. In the last decades of the Republic, a fleet of largely automated ships was lost when their crews went mad from disease. The location of the lost Fleet — the “Dark Force” — has been every merchant’s Holy Grail since. In this book we learn that Talon Kardde, the smuggler-merchant who was sch a strong character in the last book, knows where it is and he might be persuaded to sell them to the Republic if they make a good offer. Things will not go the way anyone expects, however.

This book didn’t seem as strong as the first book, although the ghost-fleet was a strong element. Still, I will be finishing the series.

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Pebble in the Sky

Posted on September 14, 2009 by smellincoffee

Pebble in the Sky

© 1950 Isaac Asimov
223 pages
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After finishing the Foundation and Robots series (save Robots and Empire) I decided to move on to the Galactic Empire series which fits in between them — tying Earth’s near future as depicted in the Robots books and the Galaxy’s far future in the Foundation novels together. I was able to purchase Triangle last fall but have never gotten around to reading any of the three Empire books contained within (The Stars like Dust, Pebble in the Sky, and The Currents of Space) in full until today. My impression of the series from what I’ve read in Asimov’s biographies is that they were not produced as a deliberate trilogy, but are rather three books that share the same essential setting. As the stories are not related, I’ve decided to read them in the order that they were published instead of in order of internal chronology.
The Galactic Empire books are set thousands of years in Earth’s future, in which humanity has colonized the galaxy and forgotten its own origins. Eight hundred years ago, the galaxy was united under the Spaceship and Sun emblem of the Empire, bringing peace, prosperity, and order. This I was expecting, and so you can imagine my surprise when the novel started out in 1949 Chicago, beginning with the story of a retired tailor named Joseph Schwartz who is suddenly thrust into Earth’s future when he walks through an undetectable fissure in space-time. He is an artifact — his language dead, limited parts of its vocabulary known only to archaeologists who specialize in the dismal subject of Earth.
Dismal? Earth? Indeed — in Asimov’s setting, Earth is a partially radioactive backwater planet regarded as the back end of nowhere, populated by superstitious and generally nasty people who think too much of themselves. The Galaxy, lead by the city-planet of Trantor, has long forgotten its populations’ origins: the theory that life arose on one planet and spread is supported by only a few, and bears an embarrassing resemblance to the stories told by the theocrats reigning in Earth that once Earth was the center of the galaxy, that all of civilization sprung from that meager pebble in the sky.
The theocrats on Earth — the “Council of Ancients”, who rule through custom and secret police — have not forgotten Earth’s former glory. If we can believe characters in the book, Earth has rebelled against the might of the Empire on at least two occasions. Earthers may be their galaxy’s Roma, despised and regarded as “uncultured”, but they are fiercely proud of themselves regardless. They regard themselves as free and technically at war with the Empire, although they allow an imperial procurator to live in a fortress on Mount Everest. Thus, when an Imperial archaeologist arrives to do some research in Earth’s radioactive zones — forbidden by custom — and a stranger is taken in by Earth scientists who are quite possible subversives, the Ancients’ secret police smell a conspiracy. As the story unfolds, we shall see that their paranoia is being induced by their fear that a plan in the works will be uncovered by the Empire — a plan that could topple the Empire and give Earth its “Second Kingdom”.
Pebble in the Sky is very much dated, but one of the reasons I like reading Asimov’s stuff is that his works are dated. His novels and story stories have that mid-20th century feel to them, one that’s hard to put into words but very noticeable — like when the characters speak of tape recordings. The same feeling is present when watching Star Trek’s original series, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. Pebble in the Sky is a rather interesting story, although it was not originally meant to be a novel and may bear that out. It’s recommended reading for Asimov fans like myself, and for those who like their science fiction to have that classic “feel” to it, whatever it is.
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Taming the Mind

Posted on September 13, 2009 by smellincoffee

Taming the Mind

© 2004 Thubten Chodron
217 pages
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I judged a book by its cover when I read this one. Oh, I looked it up on Amazon to see what readers were saying about it — my substitute for thumbing through the book, which I cannot do when requesting books through an online library catalogue — but really, I checked this book out because I liked the cover. The scene looks simple, natural, and tranquil — and that’s the neighborhood I like my mind to live in. The book is apparently written as a sequel to a beginner’s guide to Buddhism, although I’m not sure why — as this book seems to cover the basics. Chodron gives a history of Buddhism, comparing its schools of thought to one another, explains the essential teachings, and then applies them to parenting or employment.
Chodron takes Buddhism very seriously — judging from their works that I have read, more seriously than the Dalai Lama. What I like about the Buddhist tradition is its emphasis on rationality and skepticism, and parts of this book made me uncomfortable in their apparent failure to live up to that standard. Siddhartha is viewed as less a wise teacher and more a demigod, and Chodron’s advice to practicing Buddhists to avoid people who don’t take the teachings carries a whiff of isolating fundamentalism. The book doesn’t seem to mesh together very well, aside from being about Buddhism in general. There are chapters on Buddhist history, Buddhist culture, and other assorted topics that don’t seem to go with “Taming the Mind”. That book is in here — some of the introduction, and the two beginning sections of “Our Relationship with Others” and on habits — but there’s a lot of information that distracts from that and absorbs space that perhaps should have gone to expanding the aforementioned sections.
Parts of the book are better than others, but I can’t say I would recommend it. And I’m sorry to say that, because I never like reading a book and not being able to get anything out of it.* I’m going to try the author again, though.
* Save this, from “Dhammapada 165″:
By ourselves is evil done;
By ourselves we pain endure.
By ourselves we cease from ill;
By ourselves become we pure.
No one can save us but ourselves;
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path,
Buddhas only point the way
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Waiter Rant

Posted on September 12, 2009 by smellincoffee
Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip — Confessions of a Cynical Waiter
© 2008 “The Waiter”
302 pages
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While browsing humor site NotAlwaysRight, in which the malevolence and stupidity of the average consumer are celebrated through submitted quotations, I noticed a link in the sidebar to this book, which is based off an older blog of the same name (old enough for me to have read it years ago). I was pleased to find that my library had access to it. I decided to read this immediately following A Murder on the Appian Way (instead of finishing Taming the Mind) for the benefit of a friend, who spotted it and was immediately hooked after he read the introduction in the few minutes we had before a class started.
As you might guess from its title, Waiter Rant consists of stories told by an experienced waiter who has worked in a couple of restaurants for nearly a decade. It reminded me much of the NPR show This American Life, where every episode consists of first-person stories about a theme. Although I’ve listened to TAL for years, I approach every episode cautiously: it’s a poignant show, a very human show. When it’s funny, it’s tear-inducing, gasping for air funny. And when it’s sad, disturbing, or maddening, it hits the same way. There’s no hint of manufactured comedy or tragedy in either This American Life or Waiter Rant, making both the comedy, tragedy, and otherwise more powerful. Although this is a very funny book, sometimes the humor is bitter, and it’s always served with thought-provoking musings by the Waiter.
Our host — not to be confused with his occupation of waiter, peon, and quasi-manager — recounts the near-decade he spent working in two restaurants of varying quality, although neither of them seem like very pleasant places to work. Although some of the chapters are straightforward story-telling, most chapters consist of stories told about a given theme — the narrator recounting them to himself in thought as he is involved in something similar. For instance, in “The Back Alley of Influence”, he muses on the hidden side of restaurant life: just as customers will never see the back door of the restaurant with its overflowing dumpster, nor will they ever really realize anything about the lives the waiters live or on how much they depend on illegal immigrants.
Waiter Rant is definitely a recommendation, even if you don’t make a habit of frequenting restaurants. Just be prepared for the authenticity.
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A Murder on the Appian Way

Posted on September 12, 2009 by smellincoffee
A Murder on the Appian Way
© 1997 Steven Saylor
413 pages
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“Oh, the times! Oh, the morals!” – Cicero
“Ah, judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts and men have lost their reason!” – Mark Antony, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. (Act 3, scene 2)
A Murder on the Appian Way starts out in chaos. Publius Clodius, the darling of the plebs, has been murdered on the highway south of Rome. Clodius has been deeply involved in Rome’s political wranglings between the populares (populists) and Optimates (aristocrats). His own personal rival is Milo, a man who has been threatening to have Clodius done away with for some time. Clodius was loved by the mob for many reasons, chiefly his support of the grain dole, and when his stabbed and strangled body appears in Rome they want blood. The city is dark, but alive with hatred as people gather torches and march on the Senate, then on Milo’s home.
The setting here at the beginning is well done: I really felt as though I was in Rome, hiding behind locked doors staring out into a dark city and hearing the voices of the mob. I could feel Gordianus’ fear and anxiety about what the next hours would bring. They brought nothing good, as the Senate house burns. The Republic hasn’t held elections in a year, and the rioting mob results in a period of anarchy where homes larger than huts are sacked and people are murdered. Gordianus’ own home is similarly plundered when he and his son Eco are attempting to glean information at a political gathering, and the statue of Minerva in his garden is pushed off of its pedestal, breaking in half. It is very appropriate that the goddess of wisdom, justice, and civilization would be broken in two in a book such as this, where men “lose their reason”.
Although Milo is commonly thought of as the man who killed Clodius, many people aren’t quite certain — among them, Clodius’s widow and the general-politician Pompey the Great. Both approach Gordianus and ask him to find the truth of the matter, leading him to the countryside surrounding the Appian way where he will conduct interviews and try to find the truth of the matter. Gordianus’ attachment to the truth, which Saylor’s Cicero will thumb his nose at as being foolishness (he being of the opinion that “Truth” is whatever oratory that helps the Republic), serves him well in gathering the respect of many people in Rome, but also makes him dangerous to those who don’t want the real story being told.
Saylor has delivered an incredible read here. History is no longer the setting but is now actively driving the plot — think of a story set on the Titanic before and after the ship hits the iceberg and begins to sink. The fall of the Republic is similar to the sinking of the Titanic, and it may be here in this book that the Republic hits its iceberg. Historical fiction must be both good history and good fiction, and I’m reasonably sure A Murder on the Appian Way is both — its setting is compelling, its characters believable, its drama gripping. Saylor combines historical fact with an examination of moral ambiguity, both in interpersonal affairs and in politics.
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