Rubicon by Tom Holland

From the title one would believe that this book only concerned the crossing of the Rubicon by Caesar in 49 BC, but, although it does encompass that event, it is far more, as its subtitle "The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic" indicates.

Thanks to Hollywood, television, and to William Shakespeare, those with a passing interest in classical history will know much about the period of the late Roman Republic, through to the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the first five Roman emperors, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. As always the genius of Shakespeare is easy to confuse with the actual events, and his Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, define for many the final end of the republic, although Coriolanus does look back to the end of the age of the Roman Kings.

This book by Tom Holland is written in a very accessible style, yet does not trivialise the subject in any way. The Roman Empire endured for well over one thousand years from 753 BC, until 476 AD, although arguably, as the Eastern Empire lasted until 1453, it could claim to have endured for over two thousand, and of course its influence still exists today. However the book concentrates on the period of the republic, largely from the time of Marius and the dictator Sulla, taking in the brief ascendency of Julius Caesar, and ending with the death of Augustus.

The personalities of the time come and go, some not so well known to the average person, even including Sulla, who marched on Rome almost exactly two thousand years before Mussolini, made himself dictator, then suddenly resigned. He destroyed the foundations upon which the Republic had been based by his march on Rome, by his proscriptions and by his dictatorship, and his actions were antithetical to the entire project of the Republic which was precisely to prevent the return of tyranny. Others described who had significant influence on their times include Catiline, Cato, and Catulus, although the most famous are of course Pompey, Crassus, Cicero, Julius Caesar and Augustus.

Holland makes clear that Rome's republic could have been saved if Tiberius Gracchus had found a compromise with his opponents in 133 BC, or if Livius Drusus had managed to get Romans to accept his citizenship extension to all Italy, or even if Sulla's commanders had refused to follow him when he chose to march on Rome in 88 BC. It was many centuries before Rome finally fell, but the ideals of the republic really died with the advent of Augustus, who was the longest serving Emperor, but obviously admired by Holland, as he was much superior to so many of those who followed him to the purple.

At nearly 400 pages this book is not short, but it is well worth reading by anyone who would like to learn more about the Roman Republic.