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A review by rpbperry
Antony and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough
5.0
I have now read Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series for the second time in my life. I loved it the first time around, and really savored it on the re-read. This 7th volume, Antony and Cleopatra, deals with the title characters of course, but even more so with Octavian. The series as a whole is centered around Julius Caesar... the beginning volumes lay down the immediate Roman and family history (Gaius Marius, Sulla) which shaped the conditions for Caesar's advent. This last volume seals the story and illustrates how Octavian (Augustus) was able to consolidate power, and complete the transformation of Rome from republic to empire.
McCullough of course is very biased toward Caesar. She deifies him in her stories long before he is cast as Divus Julius. This is fine with me (he is an extremely likable historical figure), but one must keep in mind that he was the quintessential populist. Yes, he was capable; yes, he was honorable. But he did move Rome from its Republican setting to something else (and perhaps that was inevitable). But one cannot dwell upon this history, draped in the superb fiction of McCullough, without drawing parallels to our own current world. Populism is a cathartic force in America presently... I'll stop short of drawing personal parallels, but we have to ask: are we moving from our traditional form of government and exchanging our mos maiorum for something else?
[Loved the series and the book!]
McCullough of course is very biased toward Caesar. She deifies him in her stories long before he is cast as Divus Julius. This is fine with me (he is an extremely likable historical figure), but one must keep in mind that he was the quintessential populist. Yes, he was capable; yes, he was honorable. But he did move Rome from its Republican setting to something else (and perhaps that was inevitable). But one cannot dwell upon this history, draped in the superb fiction of McCullough, without drawing parallels to our own current world. Populism is a cathartic force in America presently... I'll stop short of drawing personal parallels, but we have to ask: are we moving from our traditional form of government and exchanging our mos maiorum for something else?
[Loved the series and the book!]