The First Man in Rome (Mass Market Paperback)

All of us have read books and seen movies about the glory of Ancient Rome. Yet few of those books and movies deal with just how Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire. This one does, with great prose, astounding battles, and characters which are fleshed out far beyond the usual born, died, significant dates style of most dry biographies.

It's key to remember that Gaius Marius was not a "Roman" in quite the same way Julius Caesar was a Roman. Marius was an outsider, a Latin, a "new man" who nevertheless succeeded militarily where many of Rome's leaders from the "famous families" did not. And did they hate him for it! You would think that a brilliant general who saved his country from hordes of invading Germans would have earned himself praise and respect from everyone in Rome, both high and low. But that wasn't the case at all. Many of the leaders of the time actively plotted at Marius' downfall, just as Marius in his own way (Saturnius) plotted at theirs.

The result of all this plotting is a highly complex novel, thankfully written in modern English in such a way to make the main characters appear more "real" than the speech-quoting stone statues of your typical Roman History class. They curse (often obscenely), they back-bite, they joke, they argue, they cut deals and break deals, they scratch, belch, get drunk, and act like...well, like men. Envy, greed and jealousy are right there next to noble intent and sacrifice. McCullough does an excellent job showing us *why* Marius did what he did. She also does a very good job of showing us how Marius' actions began to erode the foundation of Republican Rome. Of course, she presents a very pro-Marian line, casting much of the blame on Noble Rome's military incompetence.

The cast of characters is brilliant and not at all hard to follow. Sure, there are a lot of names, but McCullough doesn't go overboard describing minor characters. She keeps the focus on the main players: Marius, Sulla, Scaurus, Aurelia, etc. When a new character is introduced, she gives us enough background to place him within the Roman spectrum, and makes sure that such characters are only introduced when they have direct impact on the storyline; which is roughly Marius' rise from Successful General to "First Man in Rome."

Marius' reforms would lead eventually to civil wars fought between generals leading professional armies recruited from Rome's lower classes, an aspect McCullough hints at, and then fully develops in The Grass Crown. Yet the book is mercifully free of the ponderous moralizing and dry analysis so typical of books on this period (and even of Roman writers themselves).
The book is fairly breezy considering the gravity of the subject matter. At 900 pages, that's a blessing. Fun, informative, a great read, and sets the stage for the rest of the novels, which chart the disintegration of the Republic and the rise of what would become Imperial Rome.

With an enchanting eye for detail (her description of the great lengths Romans will go to even while at war in order to protect the secret of a prized snail population is delightful), McCullouch breathes life into some of Rome's most famous and infamous characters. Gaius Marius is a provincial military man, a "hayseed with no Greek" in the eyes of most patrician Romans, desperate to prove himself because he knows, with every fiber of his bull-like being, that he is the best man in Rome. Protecting a dirty little secret that it has been foretold that Marius will be consul seven times -- an unprecedented feat, given that you had to wait ten years between terms in office -- and will become the Third Founder of Rome, Marius has the military brains and the vast fortune, but not the upbringing to rise to his destined station.

All that changes when the head of the impoverished-yet-impeccably noble Caesar clan, Julius (not *that* Julius - he comes later in the series) offers an alliance with Marius -- marriage for cash. In one fell swoop, allied with the Caesars (descended directly from Venus herself), Marius is on the rise.

Also rising, from even greater depths, is the wolflike Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Of almost as noble of birth as the Caesars, Sulla is even more destitute, forced to share his bed with women who love him desperately. Too creepy to be called sinister, depraved but not quite evil, Sulla is only too willing to use poison to achieve what ends he may. Sulla is one of McCullouch's great characters, and he far more complex than Marius.

Eventually, Marius and Sulla go to war in Africa against Rome's rival, Jugurtha, and victories there lead to Marius' command of the Roman armies against the horrifying Germans who storm out of the distant north.

More than a mere military history, although McCullouch has gift for describing the horrors of battle without too much gore, "The First Man in Rome" also throws the reader into the middle of Senate intrigue. Led by Scaurus, the Princeps Senatus, the Roman patricians do not sit idly by as Marius rises to power.

Throwing even more heft into this novel is the powerful cast of female characters. Roman society did not officially honor its women with votes, elected office, or titles, but it is clear to all and sundry that Roman women are players to be reckoned with, and this side of the story is what elevates McCullouch's efforts above and beyond so many other novels about Rome.

One advantage McCullouch uses to her advantage in this, the first novel in her "Masters of Rome" series, is that there are relatively limited surviving historical records of this time period. We have much more extant history from later years. McCullouch uses this freedom to flesh out her characters and her story as she will, and the result is wonderful. A detailed glossary, maps, and even sketches of the main characters all provide the details necessary for this time period.

A must for any fan of historical fiction or of the Roman world.