430 pages.
Robinson paperback.
1992.
72 BCE: While Spartacus is ravaging the countryside of Southern Italy and making all good Romans distrust their slaves, Goridanus the Finder is brought to Baiae on the Cup, what today is known as the Bay of Naples, to find a killer. Lucius Licinius, the cousin of Marcus Crassus, has been found murdered in the villa he manages for Crassus, his skull caved in by a blunt object and the word “SPARTA” carved into the floor tiles beside him. Crassus, lobbying for the command of the next Roman army to be sent against Spartacus, has decided that the perpetrators were two missing slaves sympathetic to the Tharcian gladiator-turned-general. He has also decided that all ninety nine slaves in the villa household should be executed as punishment for the runaways’ deeds, and as a signal to the Senate and the people of Rome that Marcus Crassus is tough on slaves. Gordianus, of course, suspects that the truth is a bit more complicated, and is racing against time to prove this, as the execution of the slaves is set to take place a few days after Lucius Licinius’ funeral — and when Gordianus arrives, the man has been dead for five days already.
In other words, Arms of Nemesis is pretty much your typical Agatha Christie murder mystery, with nobles, butlers and a great big mansion, only this time there’s no police involved, and if it does indeed turn out that the butler did it, the butler and all his servant colleagues will be put to death. Something which, you know, kinda raises the stakes somewhat and increases the tension of the narrative.
And it was in this heightened level of tension that the main strength of Arms of Nemesis was to be found. Saylor actually managed to convey a sense of urgency, as the reader could sense the approach of the hour of horrible atrocities, as the slaves would be slaughtered in an arena by Roman legionaires following Lucius’ funeral games. This hourglass atmosphere was further enhanced by Saylor’s often touching portrayal of the slaves, who awaited their time of judgment with something resembling Stoic calm. Compared to Roman Blood, where at least I didn’t feel any attachment to the accused and thus failed to be gripped by any dramatic tensions, this was a significant improvement.
Arms of Nemesis also featured some intriguing characters. Marcus Crassus was, of course, delightfully greedy and cynical; the retired drag-actor Metrobius dominated whole scenes with his acidic tongue; Dionysius, the household’s resident philosopher, was a glorious windbag; and the rest of the cast did their things well, too. Gordianus still failed to distinguish himself particularly, however, except in his staunch humanism and his dedication to truth. He is still a very likable character, but he still feels kinda bland. It could simply be that I have overdosed on the larger-than-life characters of most fantasy novels, but aside from his often downplayed ability to dig out the truth, no matter how deeply hidden, he seems to lack any special characteristics. Of course, while I occasionally regret that he doesn’t have a slightly more extreme personality, I am at the same time eternally grateful to Saylor for not trying to copy the tormented and flawed detectives of noir stories, especially as the first few chapters of Roman Blood read somewhat like a Roman noir.
When it comes to the historical side of the novel, I have nothing but awe for Steven Saylor. For example, while Gordianus and a few other characters might hold anachronistic or at least very progressive views on slavery, a Roman social institution with which this novel is very much concerned, there’s nothing anachronistic about his presentation of slavery. In fact, it conforms perfectly to every scholarly text I have read on the subject, and Arms of Nemesis can as such be warmly recommended as a lighthearted introduction to Ancient slavery for the layman. Slavery can as such serve as a general example; Saylor appears to have a very steady hand on every aspect of Ancient Roman society and history.
All in all, Arms of Nemesis was an enjoyable read. It resembled Roman Blood quite a bit in most aspects, but was a tad tenser. However, Roman Blood had Marcus Tullius Cicero, and while Marcus Licinius Crassus is both arrogant and sneaky, there’s only one Tully. So in the end I think I’ll rate them approximately the same. 7.0 out of 10.
4 Comments
Really? You find Cicero to be more interesting than Crassus? Personally, I think Crassus is probably the most interesting high-profile Republican Rome-era politician I know of, bar Cæsar and perhaps Sulla.
A very enjoyable review. I catch myself at getting very interested in reading these, as the 7s at the end keep disappointing…
My encounters with Crassus have usually been in contexts like “and then Crassus went and got himself killed by the Parthians, thus leaving Caesar and Pompeius to go for each others’ throats”, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for interest. In fact, my education in things of the Roman Republic have been so cursory, I didn’t even know that Crassus pretty much made his own fortune (albeit through Sulla’s proscriptions). But he’s certainly growing for me, especially the question concerning his possible patronage of Caesar early in the latter’s career. although I still find Cicero to be more fascinating.
As for the ratings, I should probably remind people that I have absolutely no frame of reference; I can’t really tell how good a crime novel is, so I’m rewarding Saylor for his scholarship and any other discernible literary qualities, and pretty much guessing at the mystery part of the novels…
I only know of Crassus indirectly too, except two stories – the famous one about his personal fire fighter slash real estate venture, and the Spartacus-business with the ensuing quarrel with Pompey – but what I know of him indirectly (his possible patronage of Cæsar indeed being one of the main intriguing topics) has always fascinated me further. He seems a far more insidious man than Pompey, yet more laid-back than Cæsar. Cæsar’s entire career seems like a series of Faith’s “see, want, take, have”-dogma, whereas Crassus always seem more like the spider lurking in the corners. I think the late republic’s end would have likely looked drastically different if he’d had success in the East.
As for Cicero – he’s amusing, interesting and even sometimes a little impressive, but I’ve never really been FASCINATED by him. He’s just not… I don’t know, Epic enough?
I am great fan of Steven Saylor. Steven Saylor (born March 23, 1956) is an American author of historical novels. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and Classics.
Although he also has written novels about Texas history, Saylor’s best-known work is his Roma Sub Rosa series, set in ancient Rome. The novels’ hero is a detective named Gordianus the Finder, active during the time of Sulla, Cicero, Julius Caesar, and Cleopatra.