Imperium is a 2006 novel by English author Robert Harris. It is a fictional biography of Cicero, told through the first-person narrator of his secretary Tiro, beginning with the prosecution of Gaius Verres.
The book is the first in a trilogy. The second volume, Lustrum (Conspirata for U.S. audiences), was published in October 2009. The third volume, Dictator, was published in 2015. 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.
The book opens with Tiro, the secretary of Marcus Tullius Cicero and the book's narrator, looking back in time over the thirty-six years he was with his master. After a brief background covering Cicero's vocal training under Apollonius Molon, the narrative shifts back to Rome with Cicero being visited by an old acquaintance, Sthenius of Thermae. Sthenius reveals that he has fled his home in Sicily to escape its governor, Gaius Verres, who runs the island like a protection racket. After some hesitation, Cicero takes the case, despite opposition from the Patrician faction in the Senate, who do their best to undermine him from the start.
After several false starts - including pledging to aid Pompey the Great, only to be snubbed - Cicero gathers enough evidence to prosecute Verres in the extortion court. However, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus - Verres' defence lawyer and Cicero's rival - uses procedural tricks to try and delay the trial until the new year. Once that happens, Hortensius, along with Verres' ally Quintus Metellus, will be consul, and Metellus' brother Marcus will be head of the extortion court, leaving the trial's outcome all but guaranteed. Cicero's wife, Terentia, advises him to make his opening speech shorter, and Cicero, taking this to its logical extreme, declares he will make no speech at all. Instead, he begins calling his witnesses straight away, leaving Verres and his allies blindsided as they sit through one damaging testimony after another. Verres' fate is sealed when he drunkenly implicates himself in the death of Publius Gavius, who Verres had crucified despite Gavius repeatedly proclaiming, "I am a Roman citizen!" Despite this triumph, it is revealed that Cicero had made a deal with Pompey to ensure he could proceed as he wished. In return, Pompey "advises" him to take whatever offer Hortensius makes, setting the tone for their relationship going forward.
Part Two – Praetorian 68–64 BC
Two years later, Cicero receives word that Rome has been attacked by pirates, along with summons to an emergency war council at Pompey's estate. Pompey, supported by Julius Caesar, outlines a plan to divide the Mediterranean into fifteen zones, each with its own legate, responsible for clearing his area of pirates and ensuring they don't return. In a complete departure from the norm, all fifteen legates are to report directly to one supreme commander - Pompey the Great. Through Cicero's clever politicking, Pompey receives the command unopposed, and, once the pirates are dealt with, is given command of the ongoing war against Mithridates VI of Pontus, displacing the aristocratic Lucius Licinius Lucullus and earning the ire of the patricians. Cicero, as Pompey's proxy, ends up on the receiving end of their anger.
Around this time, Cicero learns of the growing drama surrounding Lucius Sergius Catilina, a former governor of Africa awaiting prosecution for abusing his position. Eventually, events take a dramatic turn when the young patrician Publius Clodius Pulcher lays charges against Catilina for his crimes. Cicero, in need of a running mate for consul, offers to defend Catilina, which the latter accepts, while making it clear that he has already bought the jury, and that Clodius is in on it. However, the birth of Cicero's son that night makes him reconsider, and he rescinds his offer, earning him Catilina's undying hatred. Further developments convince Cicero that Crassus is trying to hijack the election through Catilina, his running mate Antonius Hybrida, and numerous others. Needing proof, he works with an inside man to have Tiro hidden in a secret alcove in Crassus' house and use his shorthand system to record everything said. Tiro's notes confirm that Crassus is heading a conspiracy to seize the state and enrich themselves under the guise of populism, as well as confirming numerous co-conspirators such as Catilina, Hybrida, and Caesar. The following day, Tiro takes a copy of the notes to Hortensius, while Cicero, in his opening bid for the consulship, launches a verbal attack on Catilina in the Senate. Afterwards, Cicero and Tiro are taken to a secret meeting with Hortensius, Lucullus, and other leading patricians. After being given a firsthand demonstration of Tiro's method, they agree to support Cicero in return for future favors.
At the consular election the following day, the aristocrats keep their word. Cicero wins first place, while Hybrida, coming in second, becomes his designated colleague. Catilina loses badly, leaving him close to bankruptcy, and Crassus and Caesar find their schemes thwarted, at least for now. Cicero celebrates his elevation to the highest office in the Roman state, and, with Pompey absent and the conspirators defeated, is optimistic about what the future holds.
Sources
Imperium, Robert Harris, Arrow Books, copyright 2006, Epub ISBN9781409021629
Release details
2006, UK, Hutchinson ( ISBN0-09-180095-1), Pub date 4 September 2006, hardback (First edition)
2006, US, Simon & Schuster ( ISBN0-7432-6603-X), Pub date 26 September 2006, hardback
Related Research Articles
This article concerns the period 59 BC – 50 BC.
This article concerns the period 69 BC – 60 BC.
This article concerns the period 79 BC – 70 BC.
The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gaius Julius Caesar. The republican constitution had many veto points. In order to bypass constitutional obstacles and force through the political goals of the three men, they forged in secret an alliance where they promised to use their respective influence to support each other. The "triumvirate" was not a formal magistracy, nor did it achieve a lasting domination over state affairs.
Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician and demagogue. A noted opponent of Cicero, he was responsible during his plebeian tribunate in 58 BC for a massive expansion of the Roman grain dole as well as Cicero's exile from the city. Leader of one of the political mobs in the 50s, his political tactics – combining connections throughout the oligarchy with mass support from the poor plebs – made him a central player in the politics of the era.
Marcus Porcius CatoUticensis, also known as Cato the Younger, was an influential conservative Roman senator during the late Republic. His conservative principles were focused on the preservation of what he saw as old Roman values in decline. A noted orator and a follower of Stoicism, his scrupulous honesty and professed respect for tradition gave him a political following which he mobilised against powerful generals of his day, including Julius Caesar and Pompey.
Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther was a Roman politician and general. Hailing from the patrician family of the Cornelii, he helped suppress the Catilinarian conspiracy during his term as curule aedile in 63 BC and later served as consul in 57 BC. Denied the opportunity to invade Egypt the following year, he nevertheless won some victories in his province of Cilicia and celebrated a triumph over it in 51 BC.
Roma Sub Rosa is a series of historical mystery novels by Steven Saylor set in ancient Rome and therefore populated by famous historic Roman citizens. The phrase "Roma Sub Rosa" means, in Latin, "Rome under the rose." If a matter was sub rosa, "under the rose," it meant that such matter was confidential.
Appius Claudius Pulcher was a Roman patrician, politician and general in the first century BC. He was consul of the Roman Republic in 54 BC. He was an expert in Roman law and antiquities, especially the esoteric lore of the augural college of which he was a controversial member. He was head of the senior line of the most powerful family of the patrician Claudii. The Claudii were one of the five leading families which had dominated Roman social and political life from the earliest years of the republic. He is best known as the recipient of 13 of the extant letters in Cicero's ad Familiares corpus, which date from 53 to 50 BC. They do not include any of Appius' replies to Cicero. He is also well known for being the older brother of the infamous Clodius and Clodia.
The lex Manilia was a Roman law passed in 66 BC granting Pompey the military command in the East against Mithridates VI of Pontus.
"In Verrem" is a series of speeches made by Cicero in 70 BC, during the corruption and extortion trial of Gaius Verres, the former governor of Sicily. The speeches, which were concurrent with Cicero's election to the aedileship, paved the way for Cicero's public career.
Quintus Marcius Rex was a consul of the Roman Republic.
Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, younger brother of the more famous Lucius Licinius Lucullus, was a supporter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and consul of ancient Rome in 73 BC. As proconsul of Macedonia in 72 BC, he defeated the Bessi in Thrace and advanced to the Danube and the west coast of the Black Sea. In addition, he was marginally involved in the Third Servile War.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer was a Roman politician who was consul in 60 BC and in the next year opposed Pompey, Caesar, and the so-called First Triumvirate's political programme. He was a member of the powerful and influential plebeian noble family, the Caecilii Metelli. Prior to 62 BC, he was an ally of Pompey and had served as urban praetor in 63, augur by 63 BC, possibly aedile in 67 BC, and plebeian tribune in either 72 or 68 BC.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos was an ancient Roman politician during the Late Republic. He was a son of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos and served as tribune of the plebs in 62 BC, consul in 57 BC, and the governor of Hispania Citerior from 56–55 BC.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus was a politically active member of the Roman upper class. He was praetor in 74 BC and pontifex from 73 BC until his death. He was consul in 69 BC along with Quintus Hortensius Hortalus.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, often referred to as Metellus Scipio, was a Roman senator and military commander. During the civil war between Julius Caesar and the senatorial faction led by Pompey, he was a staunch supporter of the latter. He led troops against Caesar's forces, mainly in the battles of Pharsalus and Thapsus, where he was defeated. He later committed suicide. Ronald Syme called him "the last Scipio of any consequence in Roman history."
The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC. The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most powerful families of the late Republic, from the decades before the First Punic War down to the time of Augustus.
Imperium: The Cicero Plays is a stage adaptation of the Cicero trilogy of novels by Robert Harris. It was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 16 November 2017 to 10 February 2018, directed by Gregory Doran and with Richard McCabe as Cicero. It played at the Gielgud Theatre in London from 14 June to 8 September 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
