The Empire Lives on

“Since when has idiocy been a bar to advancement in Politics”

The sub-text that runs through Robert Harris’, Imperium, is that politics – more particularly, democracy has not transcended the petty power manipulations and hegemonies since the Roman Republic. Reminiscent of the Sergei Eisenstein classic , Ivan the Terrible, Harris’ novel could be set in the modern day seat of the empire, the United States and Obama could easily replace Cicero as the protagonist.

Imperium is ostensibly the story of Marcus Tullius Cicero, and his quest for consulship of the Roman Republic as told by his secretary – slave and later freedman – Tiro. What makes this journey fantastic is that Cicero is a second-generation Plebian citizen, who is absolutely broke, when he sets out on this journey – in ancient Roman terms – an impossible journey. The plot remains remarkably close to the historical accounts of Cicero’s life. Apparently, there was an account of Cicero’s life that was written by Tiro, a philosopher in his own right, as attested by Plutarch and Asconius, which is said to have vanished in the general collapse of the Roman empire.

But what is captivating about the novel is the stark parallels that the author manages to draw to present day politics, Rome being the seat of world power. Rome is a city that has never been attacked in a long time, and the first attack on Ostia by some pirates help a coterie around Pompey, including Julius Caesar and Cicero whip up insecurity amongst the citizenry that are “accustomed to the magical incantation ‘I am a Roman Citizen’ guaranteeing deference around the world”, in a bid to get power concentrated amongst them followed by a war against piracy. No prizes for guessing the slogan on which the power to wage this war is usurped through legal processes – if you are not with us, you are with the pirates”. All this is reported through the unassuming secretarial gaze of Tiro.

As a character, Cicero emerges, at least for me, out of the boring mustiness of jurisprudence and political science textbooks, perhaps for the first time capturing literary imagination. A lawyer and jurist par excellence and a master politician – the book tries to give a gist of his major arguments and political philosophy without the reader noticing it. The book starts off with a young idealistic Cicero arriving to conquer Rome, with nothing more than his oratorical skills. Though Tiro is full of admiration for his master, his displeasure very often seeps into the narrative. The journey is marked by mutual contempt between Cicero and the powerful Patricians who control the senate. From his entry into the Senate, Cicero builds his career on an anti-patrician posturing – defending and prosecuting what is seen as Plebian and sometimes non-citizen causes. But, of course, he has to compromise. Midway, when chided by his cousin and conscience-keeper, Lucius, Cicero justifies himself; “Politics is not a fight for a cause, it is a career”. However, it is Lucius who captures the essence of Cicero; “Words, words, words. Is there no end to the tricks you can make them perform? But as with all men,, your great strength is also your weakness,, because soon you will not be able to tell your tricks from the truth. And then you will be lost.” And paradoxically, Cicero is lost and has to sell his soul to the Patricians to make sure that he realizes his ambition – the supreme Imperium of Roman Consulship at the youngest allowable age and the Patricians go home for the day, like men who had been required to perform some distasteful duty.

The novel interestingly is also the story of Marcus Tullius Tiro, who appears extremely intelligent, but at the same time very self-effacing and conscious of his station – an ancient Jeeves. Cicero is seen as unabashedly using Tiro, often to the extent of putting his life at risk – with a promise of freedom – which is not kept till the end of this narrative. But historical records does show Tiro as a freedman, later in his life. Tiro’s observations and judgements on the politically powerful lot of ancient Rome are also noteworthy. For instance, Julius Caesar is seen as a dishonorable, clever and dangerous opportunist, who leads a debauched life, while Tiro keeps one of Caesar’s darkest secrets – even from his master – partly out of fear. In fact, it is that adulterous secret of Caesar that provides the inevitable sex to a story of power!!

As an aside there is an interesting boast that Tiro makes – that he founded the modern shorthand technique. To quote him;

“It is, if you will forgive a little immodesty at this juncture, the most wonderful invention, my shorthand system. Although, I concede that Xenophone had some primitive version some four centuries before me, that was more of a private aid to composition than stenography, and besides it was suitable only for Greek, whereas mine compresses the whole of Latin, with its large vocabulary and complex grammar, into four thousand symbols. And it does so, moreover, in such a way that the system can be taught to any willing pupil; in theory, even a woman could become a stenographer.”

Whatever the veracity of this claim, shorthand plays a pivotal role in many twist in this story.