The Cicero Trilogy: Robert Harris

Product Information

The occasional scene perked up my interest: mostly anything with Caesar, and Harris did surprise me in that regard.

Cicero, the greatest orator of his age, devotes all his energy and cunning to preserve the rule of law, and defend Rome’s Republic against the predatory attacks of political rivals, discontented aristocrats, and would-be military dictators. Still, Harris’ portrait of Cicero remains captivating and convincing and he brings Ancient Rome to life very skilfully.

With only ten days to go until the games of Pompey the Great, Cicero follows Terentia's advice and makes a short, withering speech saying he will make his case in the space of ten days. Imperium - Compellingly written in Tiro's voice, Imperium takes us inside the violent, treacherous world of Roman politics, to describe how one man - clever, compassionate, devious, vulnerable - fought to reach the top. I really feel like Harris’ output post-Fear Index has been severely lacking any of his earlier brilliance.

Cicero dispatches Tiro to the National Archive, Catulus's domain, to check Verres's quaestorian records as governor and finds no accounts submitted. Still, I rated the trilogy only 3 stars, because as a whole I found it a bit of a missed opportunity. Robert Harris has achieved something truly wonderful with this enthralling trilogy about the life of the great Roman statesman, politician, lawyer and defender of the Republic. I started it 3 months ago as part of a monthly group readalong and I have been entertained, I've been hooked, I've been fascinated and I've learned so so much.A theatrical adaptation of the trilogy by Mike Poulton was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in 2017, and transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London in 2018. Registered office address: Unit 34 Vulcan House Business Centre, Vulcan Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE5 3EF. Marcus Tullius Cicero was one of the greatest and cleverest statesmen, orators, lawyers, and philosophers the Roman republic produced.

As described by his scribe-slave Tiro it is positively hagiographic, with pretty much everything Cicero touches turning to gold. Publication of the sequels was delayed whilst Harris worked on other books, including his contemporary political novel, The Ghost, inspired by the resignation of Tony Blair. I’m astounded that anything ever got done in the Roman Republic given that the those at the centre of power seemed intent on tearing it to pieces for their own gain. Here is its grandeur, ambition and corruption; and here is its tumultuous collapse into dictatorship and anarchy - a story of the fragility of democratic institutions that holds a warning for our own time.

The books are amazingly detailed and realized, with every peculiarity of Roman life and political system explored, and with so many similarities to our own society and political system. Harris takes rather a lot of Cicero's writing at face value, but that's a justified authorial choice, given that the narrator is Cicero's secretary - Tiro would hardly be interested in explaining the anti-senatorial faction's reasoning. It is remarkably deadpan, and as I read I couldn’t help thinking it resembled an ancient-world version of Bridget Jones’s’ Diary - profoundly unfair as I have never read Bridget Jones’s’ Diary: but that’s what it felt like. Crassus and Pompey are evenly matched against one another, with each having enough supporters to veto the bill if required.