I’m a fucking augur!
In niche jokes*…
But anyway, Lustrum is the continuation of the story from Robert Harris’ Imperium, and shockingly enough, given it’s a story about Cicero, I still love it. There’s not a huge amount I have to say that I haven’t really covered, either? It remains really really solid. The narrator remains really likeable, Cicero still feels like Cicero, with plenty of snark, sarcasm and general smart-arsery. It’s funny and enjoyable, while still also being a serious piece of historical fiction about a very political topic.
I think in many ways that’s one of the most satisfying things about it – because the politics in it is real, with real stakes and real motivations, it feels so much better to read than e.g. politics in fantasy novels. They’re always too contrived. Well, not always, some people do manage to get it right. But for the most part. Whereas this felt, shockingly enough, plausible. Even when Caesar is being frankly a bit bonkers (which he does not entirely infrequently), it feels… believable. And that’s such a trivial thing to say about a novel which is based on real events, but given that I normally read 100% fictitious fiction, it felt like such a change of pace and I loved it. I mean, I get it, politics is difficult and complicated, it’s a hard thing to write, especially when you’re using it as a tool for plot progression but it was just so satisfying to read it done well. It made me want more. Not enough to read about actually politics, admittedly, because well… no. Just no. But still.
On the other hand, the fact that it’s based in real events does have one downside – I know how this story ends. And it’s not exactly happy**…
Yes, yes I did spend the entire book being a bit sad about Cicero. I regret nothing. Because, well, he was an author who always felt, even when I was quite crap at Latin, like he had a distinctive voice. You read him and yes, you heard the sarcasm. The smug cleverness. It was pretty plain, even to First Year me. And that was really enticing, because it gave you that connection to someone who felt like a real person, but over 2000 years ago. So of course there’s always going to be some fondness there. Not for everyone, I know – not everyone loves the sentence that’s ten lines long and you spend the entire time waiting for the verb to show up – but for me, sure. So there’s a lot of nostalgia for me there, and for all that I’m hardly weeping at the fact of Cicero’s death, if you take a figure of nostalgic connection and make a story about him, well… I’m going to get a bit emotionally invested. Especially if you can write him as a good character.
And yes, Harris does write a good character. Or ten.
The above image is of one of my favourites, Metellus Celer. He’s not in the story a huge amount, but even in his brief wanders into the plot, he immediately hits you in the face with a force of personality. The text does it already, but I have to admit, seeing the play really doubled down on that because the actor playing him was brilliant – he’s a brash, unthinking patrician who just assumes everything will work out for him because well of course it will. And Boulton did him beautifully. And with all the comedy that his swearing is meant to invoke.
But Celer isn’t alone. Cicero’s family are all beautifully described and personal, as are his enemies and his friends. And then you have big figures of history, who come down to us in their own words and the words of others… and for all I’m not sure I buy his depiction of Caesar, for instance, it feels incredibly plausible. We’ll have fun when I meet Augustus in book 3, I’m sure. But Harris strikes the right line between “plausible from what I know about this person” and “plausible as a human actor in this story”, which I can imagine is really rather difficult. I think I said in my review of Imperium I found it interesting that Harris strikes such a different line on the same figures as McCullough’s books, and this remains true. It’s fascinating how you can get such differently characterised views from the same historical sources, and I love continuing to read and see that difference.
But yes, essentially… it continues to be good in exactly the same way as the first book. It continues to include sweary augurs. I’m happy.
Next up, Injection volume 2, which I’ve actually already finished…
*As I think I mentioned in my review of Imperium, we went to see the trilogy staged as plays in Stratford. This has, for good or for bad, permanently changed my mental image of Metellus Celer to be Nicholas Boulton wearing his augur’s cap and shouting “I’m a fucking augur!”. I swear this is funny if you see it. Well… ok, it might just be me. But it gives me the giggles when he says the same thing in Lustrum.
**It’s not spoilers to tell you Cicero dies. If you’re not up to speed 2061 years later, there’s no helping you.
A Reader of Else 