If a book contains ancient Rome or Cicero it's an instant read for me, and this series really didn't disappoint, Cicero is such a worthy protagonist in the shambles that was politics in Rome. Cicero Trilogy Robert Harris Collection 3 Books Collection box Set includes titles in this collection :- Imperium: (Cicero Trilogy 1), Lustrum: (Cicero Trilogy 2), Dictator: (Cicero Trilogy 3). I thought the book would end with Caesar as Emperor but it goes on beyond that - and by “that” I mean “that” famous scene, which was remarkably written.

I started it 3 months ago as part of a monthly group readalong and I have been entertained, I've been hooked, I've been fascinated and I've learned so so much. One of the great epics of political and historical fiction, The Cicero Trilogy charts the career of the Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero from his mid-twenties as an ambitious young lawyer to his dramatic death more than thirty years later, pursued by an assassination squad on a cliff-top path. Cicero's plan is to have Gabinius summon Pompey to the rostra the next day, asking him to serve as supreme commander, and to have Pompey reject it and then the people would demand he take it. Na 700 bladzijden kan ik echter de moed niet meer opbrengen om de zoveelste plotwending, het zoveelste verraad, de zoveelste alliantiewissel, de zoveelste redevoering.

The stories of these real historical figures - their alliances and betrayals, their cruelties and seductions, their brilliance and their crimes - are all interleaved to form this epic novel. Je moet je hoofd er echt bijhouden want door de vele personages, gebeurtenissen en politiek gekronkel raakte ik de draad soms even kwijt.

For anyone who like me in his youth read the Catilinarian Orations in Latin, in particular the book dedicated to that struggle is a very amusing and pleasing read. More than ten years in the writing, and now published in a single volume for the first time, The Cicero Trilogy brings the world of the Roman republic vividly to life.

To fund his case and also his aedile election campaign, Cicero is obliged once more to borrow money from Terentia.

The novel is divided into two halves: Consul, about Cicero’s year as leader of the Senate and de facto ruler of Rome, and Pater Patriae, that details his severe fall from such mighty heights.

This was recommended by a friend after I read and enjoyed ‘Memoirs of Hadrian’ by Marguerite Yourcenar. His success is confirmed when the court hears of the case of a Roman citizen, named Herennius, beheaded by Verres because he knew of the Governor taking bribes from the pirates. The story centres around arch rival Catilina’s conspiracy to assassinate Cicero and its aftermath, spanning roughly five years in total (hence the title Lustrum, which is a period of five years, and the US/Italian title of this book, Conspirata).