_Imperium_
by Robert Harris
read by Simon Jones
Marcus Cicero, even today, holds the reputation of having been one of
the greatest orators in the history of the world, and definitely during
the time of the Roman Republic. His personal secretary, a slave named
Tiro, went on to become a writer in his own right and wrote a famous
biography of his master that was lost during the Middle Ages. Harris
presents a marvelous reconstruction of what Tiro's book might have been
like, drawn from extant records of the time and his rich imagination.
In it we see Cicero's rise from young, ambitious lawyer to finally the
Imperium, the Consulship of the Republic. Somehow Cicero managed to
avoid many of the pitfalls that drew many of his fellows to their
individual destructions, and used his exquisite command of language and
knowledge of human nature to wend his carefully managed way amongst
such dangerous individuals as Pompey, Julius Ceasar, Crassus,
Cattalinus, and so on. The story is superbly written without going as
fully into the often licentious nature of Roman aristocracy as Harris
did in _I, Claudius_. Jones was the perfect reader for the book, I
felt. Definitely recommended.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise
cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
