Corruption and connivance in Ancient Rome

Imperium is the first of three books by Robert Harris set in Ancient Rome. Any reader of this blog (and there are a very pleasing number of you) will know that I am a great fan of this author and have read many of his books including his book Pompeii which is also set at the same time (see my review here). I don’t, however, have any real knowledge of Roman history so the events in this book are historically accurate but yet what happens is a surprise to me – I don’t think that my ignorance affected my enjoyment of the book.

The story is narrated by a slave in his old age and concerns his master, a lawyer and politician, called Marcus Cicero. In this first section of the story the book relates Cicero’s rise to power and the conniving and manipulation that is needed to get him there. Although the book mainly deals with speeches made and law cases undertaken it is actually full of tension and we see the sacrifices that Cicero has to make to attain power.

The book is set at the end of the Roman Republic which is a time of great corruption and oppression of the ordinary people.  There are lots of descriptions of bribes taken and threats offered and the accommodations which people make with their consciences to achieve power. There is a movement to dispense with the republic and create an absolute ruler and it is obvious that Julius Caeser is manoeuvring for that role.

This was a surprisingly quick and easy read as the author manages to convey quite complex subject matter in a way that is simple for the reader to understand – the book feels like a modern political thriller. I enjoyed it a lot and am ready for the next volume to see how Cicero fares as things change.