Dictator: A Novel Paperback – August 23, 2016

Anyone wanting an intensely vivid portrait of the history, politics and culture of the last years of the Roman Republic will want to read this book.Dictator is the third book of a series by Richard Harris based on the life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. The first book, Imperium, covers Cicero’s youth and his rise to fame and power as an attorney and orator, culminating in his spectacular victory in the prosecution of Caius Verres, the corrupt governor of Sicily in 70 B.C. The second book deals with the Cataline Conspiracy, which Cicero, as Consul in 62 B.C. uncovers. His leadership of the Roman Senate leads to the exile and ultimate defeat in battle of Sergius Catalina and the execution of five of the conspirators, all wealthy and prominent Romans.Dictator cover the last fifteen years of Cicero’s life, a most tumultuous period which saw the rise of Julius Caesar, the reign of terror of Publius Clodius Pulcher, which led to Cicero’s exile, the death of Clodius at the hands of Titus Annius Milo, the First Triumvirate of Caesar, Crassus and Pompey, the death of Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae, the crossing of the Rubicon and the resistance to Caesar by Pompey and Cato which culminated in Caesar’s victory at Pharsalus. Cicero watched in increasing distress as the Roman Republic appeared to unravel.Although he was not privy to the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar, he applauded the outcome and supported the conspirators after the fact. He observed with anxiety the rise in power and influence of Marc Anthony whom he considered to be “as bad as Caesar but with none of his virtues.” He fought against Anthony with a bold series of speeches that he called the Phillipics after Demosthenes’ speeches denouncing Phillip of Macedon. He attempted to form an alliance with Caesar’s heir, Octavian, but eventually Octavian betrayed him by forming a Triumvirate with Mark Anthony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.All three novels are told from the point of view of Cicero’s slave, and ultimately freedman, Tiro. Tiro has an intimate knowledge of both Cicero’s personal life and his political life and Harris does a tremendous job of interweaving the two. Tiro is known for having invented the first system of shorthand. He long outlived his master, dying in his 100th year. Students of the history, politics, culture and philosophy of the Late Roman Republic owe Tiro a monumental debt for the care he took in preserving Cicero’s writings.I once met a history professor who dismissed Cicero as pompous. Cicero may not have disagreed. As his end approached, proscribed by the Triumvirate of Marc Anthony, Octavian and Lepidus, and condemned to death, he tells Tiro to bring him his correspondence so that he may review his life. “Some of the letters showed him in a bad light-vain, duplicitous, greedy, wrong-headed-and I expected him to weed out the more egregious examples and order me to destroy them. But when I asked him which letters he wished me to discard he replied ‘We must keep them all. I can’t present myself to posterity as some improbable paragon-no one will believe it. If this archive is to have the necessary authenticity, I must stand before the muse of history as naked as a Greek statue. Let future generations mock me for my follies and pretensions however much they like-the important thing is that they will have to read me, and in that will lie my victory.’” Pompous or not, we owe Cicero a vast debt for preserving his writings.From Tiro’s perspective, the deaths of Cicero’s beloved Republic and of his beloved master were unmitigated tragedies. From our perspective, two millennia later, we may take a more nuanced view. The final eighty years of the Roman Republic were a time of nearly constant turmoil and civil war. It may be that the state had gotten too vast to be governed by the traditional Republican forms, given the limited technology of the age. The Principate of Augustus did usher in a time of peace and a cultural flourishing which would not be seen again until the Renaissance.

There is the famous (and apocryphal) "Chinese curse": May you live in interesting times. The era of Julius Caesar is without a doubt an interesting time. I am glad that I have not had to live in such an eraRobert Harris' novel Dictator tells the story of the fall of the Roman republic through the last years of the life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero was one of the major figures in this era. Of Robert Harris' four historical novels that cover Cicero's life (Imperium, Conspirata, Lustrum, Dictator) this final volume is the most suspenseful and dramatic. This final volume can be read as a standalone novel, but I recommend all of the novels.When the novel opens, Julius Caesar and his allies have largely taken control of the Roman republic and exiled Cicero. Caesar has left Rome at the head of his legions to conquer and raise the vast wealth that he will need to take control of what has become the Roman empire.I have read several of the sources that Robert Harris lists at the end of the book. In the 2000 years that have elapsed since Cicero's time, only a few written works survive. One of the reasons that we know as much as we do about Cicero is that he was a prolific writer and a famous figure in the latter era of the Roman republic.Harris is faithful to historical events. What makes his novels so enjoyable is all of the detail that he fills in which is missing from the sparse historical record.We know that Cicero was exiled for a time. In Harris' novel he paints a picture of what this exile was like and how Cicero might have interacted with the other political players. This is the great talent of Harris as a novelist - to provide the color and detail so that we can feel closer to the events and the people.The Rome of Julius Caesar and Cicero was a city of about a million people (where the population consisted of both Roman citizens and "barbarians"). At this time the city did not have a police force or much in the way of a fire fighting force (which could be disastrous in the packed multistory warrens that made up much of Rome). In Dictator Harris makes clear how dangerous Rome was. Those who traveled at night (or sometimes even during the day) unarmed or without bodyguards were sometimes murdered, often without legal recourse.Harris also provides a fascinating picture of what it must have been like to live during a time when Julius Caesar strode through the world. I have read several biographies of Caesar, but Harris provided a picture of Caesar as a genius and as a monster. Caesar was a brilliant general, a talented writer and someone who could manipulate events and people to his own ends. He was obsessed with his dignity and personal glory. We see in Dictator a man who will let nothing stand in his way.Anyone who enjoys classical history will enjoy Harris' novels covering the life of Cicero. The dramatic times covered in Dictator make this last volume especially compelling and I had a hard time putting it down.

The 3rd and final volume of the Cicero trilogy is a book of immense superb quality, due to wonderful storytelling and thus bringing vividly to life the history of Cicero and his secretary Tiro, and also the Roman world at that particular time.Once again this book has been historically very well researched and the details are described in a most immaculate way.Just like its two predecessors this book is once again narrated by Tiro, former slave but now Cicero's secretary.What I would like to mention also, is that Tiro was the inventor and thus the first man to use a shorthand system to record speech, and until to this day certain traces of it are still surviving and still in use, and this same man who according to legend will become 100 years old, what a man!This book contains the last fifteen years of the Roman stateman's life, with all the ups and downs, and this is all brought to us in a most thrilling fashion by the author.You must also remember that Cicero was a man from lowly origin, but eventually also a man who will become, with the skill of a brilliant orator and also his huge intellect, consul at the youngest permitted age of forty-two.The story of Dictator begins after Cicero has fled Rome due to the fact that he opposes the triumvirate of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Marcus Crassus, and the story will unfold further in a most exciting way right till the end.What follows is a story of unbelievable quality, simply because after his return to Rome Cicero will become a glorious and powerful man, but again life in politics also means betrayal and treachery from various sources, and after the death of Julius Caesar, life in Rome is in turmoil because of the struggle of who will take the power in Rome, and finally in the end Cicero is assasinated by his enemies.So this is the story of Cicero, a brave and brilliant but also a fearful man, who died because of his principals and opinions, in the hard and brutish world of the Republic of Rome.Highly recommended, for this is a superb Roman creation with "A Thrilling and Brutal Conclusion"!

The final years of Cicero’s life were dominated by Caesar's civil war, one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire. The life of a politician, at the time of Cicero, was indeed a noble affair and it was possible for the ordinary common man (plebeian) to be elected as tribune granting him the power to propose and veto legislation. Rome was a society in which the organization of both military and civil life was implemented to the nth degree. Equally it was also a civilization where oratorical skills demanded both the respect and support of the legislative, and yet life was viewed in an unprincipled manner the thrust of a rapier or the wire of the garote only a heartbeat away.Dictator is the third book by Robert Harris in a trilogy about the life of Marcus Tullius Cicero; statesman, lawyer, scholar and philosopher who played a leading role in the politics of the late Roman Republic. The author conveys this important period through the eyes of Tiro, Cicero’s confidential secretary and literary advisor made a freeman in 53BC. By using the voice and observations of Tiro Harris is able to bring alive Rome at this time, in particular the unpredictability and bawdiness that was the watchword of senatorial debate. A large portion of the novel is devoted to Julius Caesar and his attempt to have himself proclaimed Dictator who on his death was officially recognised as a god, the Divine (Divus) Julius…..”His body was glistening, well muscled, and plucked entirely hairless in every respect- a disconcerting affectation which had the effect of emphasising his numerous scars and bruises, presumably picked up on the battlefield. His face was undeniably striking- angular and lean, dominated by dark and penetrating eyes. The overall effect was one of great power, of both the intellect and the will. One could see why men and women alike fell easily under his spell.Set against a background and a time of painful change, with hard fought battles, and eloquent debate on every page Dictator is a superb read and a fitting conclusion to both a wonderful trilogy and history of an important historical figure. Highly recommended.

I have read all three of the books by Robert Harris covering the life and times of Cicero. They are worthing reading in order. The middle one, Lustrum, is the closest to being a thriller, but for me Dictator, which I have not quite finished, is a more thoughtful piece of writing. I was recommended to read them by a friend after I expressed my disappointment with Harris's The Second Sleep, which did not work for me. These books, though, carry a style, authority and sense of pace which make them a good read. My knowledge of Roman history is not good enough to know where fiction begins and ends. It is no problem for me, historical fiction is fiction, not academic history. Over all, the three books in the series are a good, absorbing read. They also warn us about the fragility of democratic institutions when confronted by ruthless populism. So a parable for our times, perhaps?

This is the third and final part of Harris's treatment of the life of Cicero. In the first Cicero is still recognisably in the old Republic of checks and balances (though where violence was never far away) arguing his way to fame via the law courts. In the second volume we see the rise of Pompey and Caesar, two powers too great to be contained within a Constitution. Now, in the last Cicero is obliged to fight the greater tyranny by allying with the lesser through two triumvirates. Though we know the outlines of the story there are many stations of the cross for Cicero to pass and Harris (speaking via Tiro, Cicero's slave and then freedman) brings a freshness to them. Is this portrait of Rome accurate? I cannot tell, but it has that meticulous quality as to the laws and the family links of the aristocracy that were so important in the minor alignments that had major effects. I particularly enjoyed his treatment of Cato

After reading Imperium, the first book of the trilogy, I knew I would have to read the other two, which for me was a bit daunting: I'm no expert on the history of Rome, though I have a keen interest as a layman on the machinations of the Roman empire. I confess I knew little of Cicero and his place in the politics of Rome: shocking I know! But Robert Harris is an incredible storyteller, and his prose is inclusive, so that even us lesser mortals can really have confidence that we will be able to follow the plot. For me, this trilogy has brought to life and put in perspective the huge political influences governing Rome at that time, as well as providing a social comment on the lives of the ordinary people. I read through Lustrum and then moved immediately on to Dictator: I think it is important to keep the momentum as there are such a huge number of players that they need to remain in the memory (the glossary/index at the end is helpful as an aide memoire), but I was at times overwhelmed by the names, places and the pace of the action taking place. I am simply in awe of Harris and the mountain of research that he undertook to provide the reader with such detail. His portrayal of Cicero was non-judgmental and the interpretation of events through the loyal Tiro proved an excellent vehicle for the entire trilogy. Dictator was a fitting final volume and immensely satisfying in bringing the life of this great man to conclusion.