A social media trend a few years ago revealed something pretty surprising. Apparently, a good portion of men think about the Roman Empire. A lot. The trend usually involved someone asking a man, "How often do you think of the Roman Empire?" and being shocked when the answer was all the time.
I confess, I'm not that man. Ask me how often I think about what book I'm going to read next, and we'd have a very different conversation.
Still, when I learned that Robert Harris, author of Conclave, had written Agrippa, subtitled A Novel of Ancient Rome's Descent into Dictatorship, I was intrigued enough to pick it up. Maybe it was finally time to see what all those other men have been thinking about.
Agrippa was never meant for greatness. Born a commoner, he entered the world feet first, killing his mother in the process and earning a name said to mean "mother killer." But a chance encounter as a child, when he defended a boy who turned out to be the nephew of Julius Caesar, would forever alter the course of his life.
Agrippa grew into a brilliant military mind, leading Roman forces to victory and earning the respect that came with it. Then, spoiler alert in case you've never heard the history, Caesar was murdered by the Senate. Suddenly, Agrippa found himself helping Caesar's successor, Octavius, fight for control of Rome.
And so, Harris gives us the life of a man who had a seat at history's table, witnessing—and helping shape—the transformation of Rome from a republic into something very different.
There's a timeliness to the release of Agrippa that made the parallels between this history and our current political moment in the United States hard for me to ignore. There's very little writing from Agrippa himself that survives, giving Harris the freedom to build his own narrative around the known history. And as I read, I couldn't help but see similarities to today. One man amasses more and more power, takes credit for the accomplishments of those around him, refuses to own his failures, and watches as those closest to him bend to his will. Seeing it play out in ancient Rome was remarkable.
And while that made for compelling reading, I'll admit I felt a bit of distance from the novel itself. Harris follows Agrippa across decades of battles, political upheaval, shifting alliances, marriages, and betrayals. There's so much history to cover that I never felt as close to Agrippa or the people around him as I wanted to.
Maybe that's my disinterest in the Roman Empire showing, but I couldn't help wishing Harris had occasionally slowed down and let me spend more time with these characters. There are glimpses of the political intrigue and deception that made Conclave so riveting, but the sheer breadth of Agrippa diminishes some of that tension. I was fascinated by what was happening, even if I wasn't always as emotionally invested in the people it was happening to.
Ultimately, Agrippa didn't turn the Roman Empire into my Roman Empire. I'm still far more likely to be thinking about what book I'm going to read next. But Harris did help me understand the fascination a little better. Watching ambition, betrayal, and the slow erosion of a political system play out across ancient Rome was far more interesting than I expected, especially when so much of it felt strangely familiar.
Maybe those Roman Empire guys were onto something after all.
For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2026, 77)
I've never had much interest in the Roman Empire myself. In fact, that's one of the things in a blurb that will make me instantly put a book back on the shelf. ;D
ReplyDeleteI've never been too interested in the Roman Empire either, but this does sound like an interesting read! Great review!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea men think about the Roman Empire. I studied Latin for four+ years, so I read about it a lot. In English and Latin.
ReplyDeleteI heard about that question that people were asking men. That's kinda funny. I'm not really interested in the Roman Empire.
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