Review: Sword of Rome by Douglas Jackson

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2015

When we left Gaius Valerius Verrens at the end of Book 4 of the "Hero of Rome" series of novels by Douglas Jackson, Valerius was attempting to elude the Roman Emperor Nero's assassins in Antioch and escape to the safety of Vespasian's headquarters in Africa. He has been charged with the care of the daughter of his former commander and mentor Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo who was ordered by Nero to commit suicide  and he and his faithful freedman and former gladiator, Serpentius, are determined to keep the lady (and future empress) safe.

I thought the next book, "Sword of Rome", would take place in Africa where Valerius would serve as a cavalry commander under Vitellius, but instead we discover it is 68 CE, the Year of the Four Emperors, and Valerius is leading a small contingent of cavalry escorting Marcus Salvius Otho to Rome where Otho's fellow conspirators are preparing to end Nero's tyranny and install the aged patrician traditionalist, Galba as the new ruler of the Roman Empire.

Roman emperor Marcus Salvius Otho
Photographed at The Louvre by Mary Harrsch
© 2008

Galba was childless and Otho has been assured by one of Galba's favorites, Titus Vinius, that Otho would be adopted by the old general if Otho would secretly marry Vinius' daughter.

The problem with "too many caesars" though, as Octavian once put it, is that troops loyal to different imperial claimants often run into each other in the surrounding provinces.  Such is the case when Valerius' troopers encounter a squad of Batavians still loyal to Nero and in the ensuing struggle Valerius kills the brother of a high-ranking Batavian commander.  The resulting blood feud shadows Valerius' missions throughout the rest of the novel.

When Valerius finally arrives in Rome, he is asked to secretly meet with Nero's vile Praetorian Prefect, Tigelliunus, who has accepted a bribe from the rebels to betray his longtime benefactor. Valerius finally has the opportunity to exact vengeance on the now cowering and terrified emperor, Nero, who ordered Valerius' father figure Corbulo's suicide.

Jackson then introduces a group of Roman sailors who Nero has promised the opportunity to become a new legion.  Valerius meets these men and, although they are not properly trained in the use of arms, Valerius is impressed by their courage and loyalty and assures them that he will try to get the new emperor to recognize Nero's pledge.

Servius Sulpicius Galba.  Image courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons.

But the pompous Galba will have nothing to do with them and orders his troops to slaughter many of the men when they confront Galba during his triumphal procession into the city.  Among other mistakes Galba makes is his tight-fisted refusal to pay a promised donative to the Praetorian Guard. Then Galba names a feckless patrician youth as his heir instead of Otho and Otho incites the Praetorian Guard to put an end to Galba's blunders.

Valerius is torn by his soldier's sense of duty and honor between Galba and Otho since, by now, he has already pledged the military sacramentum to Galba.  So, Valerius is caught right in the middle of this maelstrom of violence and he and Serpentius barely escape with their lives.  As history tells us, Galba was not so fortunate, however.

Otho finds among Galba's papers reports that the gluttonous Vitellius, now governing Germania Superior, has been declared emperor by the Renus legions.  So, in exchange for Valerius' life he asks Valerius and Serpentius to travel to Vitellius' headquarters as Otho's envoy to try to avert civil war.

The so-called pseudo-Vitellius at The Louvre,
a 16th century copy of an ancient bust thought to
be the gluttonous Roman emperor Vitellius.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The rest of the novel is focused on Valerius' journey to and from Germania Superior ending with the climactic battle of Bedriacum that leaves Valerius an "Enemy of Rome", the title of book five.

Once again Jackson has fleshed out the meticulously researched events of history with vibrant characters and breathtaking battle sequences.  Although I was aware of the key players in the "Year of the Four Emperors", I had not studied it in depth even though I have an, as yet unread, text on the subject, "The Year of the Four Emperors" by Kenneth Wellesley.  Jackson's narrative, however, has seared the events of that momentous year into my memory as no textbook could.

Once again, I am anxiously looking forward to the next novel in the series "Enemy of Rome" although it has not yet been released on audio which is my favorite format.  I keep checking my Audible.com offerings and hope it will show up there soon.



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Review: "Avenger of Rome" by Douglas Jackson

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2015

As the third novel in Jackson's "Hero of Rome" series opens, we find Gaius Valerius Verrens, Hero of Rome, has not escaped the clutches of the depraved emperor Nero.  The praetorian prefect killed at the end of "Defender of Rome" has been replaced by an even more vicious creature named Tigellinus.

Tigellinus was a real historical personality known for his cruelty and for gaining imperial favor by arranging the emperor's notorious debaucheries. To a man like Tigellinus, a courageous warrior like Gaius Valerius Verrens posed a threat to Tigellinus' ambitious plans to assume more and more of the emperor's power.  So, threatening Valerius' physically fragile sister, Tigellinus gets Valerius to agree to a mission to travel to Antioch and report on the loyalty of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Rome's most accomplished general and even more of a potential threat to Nero's power base than Valerius.

The journey, further complicated by the presence of Corbulo's daughter, Domitia, is a suspense-filled endeavor that requires Valerius to battle Illyrian pirates and an unforgiving desert.

When he finally reaches Antioch, he finds a wary Corbulo surrounded by outwardly hostile officers that do not trust him and suspect he has been sent by Nero to assassinate their beloved commander.

Little by little Valerius redeems himself in their eyes and when Corbulo gathers his legions to repulse a Parthian incursion lead by the "king of kings", Vologases I, Valerius is appointed to lead auxiliary cavalry on a dangerous "behind the lines" mission that will mean ultimate Roman victory or death to the last man of Corbulo's combined army.

Coin of Vologaces I.  Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Once again Jackson has crafted a thrilling narrative that compels the reader to attack each chapter in anticipation as Verrens survives one nearly fatal encounter after the next.  His characters, from the wise but fiercely disciplined Corbulo to the courageous but fatally flawed young tribune, Tiberius, vibrantly bring the eastern Roman Empire, with its multicultural challenges, to life, with Valerius and his trusted companion and former gladiator, Serpentius, at the forefront of the action.

Furthermore, Jackson demonstrates his mastery of both Roman and Parthian battle tactics as he orchestrates, what would have been, if it had actually occurred, one of the greatest Roman victories ever achieved against overwhelming odds.

Parthian infantryman.  Image courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons.

In history, Corbulo, with his command of four legions (III Gallica, V Macedonica, VI Ferrata, and the newly-arrived XV Apollinaris) invaded Armenia in 63 CE to defend the reigning client king of Armenia.  It is thought that Vologases and his brother Tiridates, who claimed to be the rightful heir to the throne of Armenia, thought that a war could not be won over such a force.  Corbulo, too, was convinced that fighting such a war would have been arduous in the moutainous country of the region. So, before the armies came to blows, a treaty was negotiated.  The Parthians agreed to let the Roman emperor appoint the king of Armenia and Tiridates laid down his crown and traveled to Rome where Nero replaced it upon his brow with Rome's blessing.

Jackson imagines how the avoided war would have unfolded and compresses the timeline by three years to combine Corbulo's victory with his ultimate historically documented fate.

Obviously, I highly recommend "Avenger of Rome" and am anxious to begin the next installment in the series, "Sword of Rome".

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Review: Defender of Rome by Douglas Jackson

A historical fiction review by Mary Harrsch © 2015

Gaius Valerius Verrens has returned to Rome after surviving the brutal Boudiccan Revolt in Britain.  Although his emperor, Nero, has bestowed upon him the corona aurea, pronouncing him a hero of Rome, Valerius finds Nero's court filled with treacherous, ambitious men who consider him a threat to their dreams of power.  He also finds his sister on the brink of death from a lingering illness and his father strangely distant.  All he wants is to return to the legions now that he has been fitted with a walnut fist to replace the hand taken from him in payment for his life by the woman he once loved and an Iceni nobleman he once called friend.

But Nero is a creature of perverted fascinations and toys with Valerius, hoping to add a hero of Rome to his stable of conquests.  So, Valerius spends his days retraining to become a left-handed swordsman in a local gladiator school, hoping to somehow convince the emperor to reward him with a new military posting instead.

One day, a summons arrives and Valerius is astonished to learn from the Praetorian Prefect that he has been assigned the task of finding the hiding place of Petras, a follower of a crucified Judean rebel called Christus.

The 1st century CE Roman Emperor Nero
Photographed at the Capitoline Museum in
Rome, Italy by Mary Harrsch © 2005

Mr. Jackson had told me the second book was quite a bit different from the first book in the series, so at this point I had reservations about the direction the story was going.  I had bonded with the warrior protagonist in the first book and I certainly didn't want him transformed into some meek pacifist.  But, as it turns out, I didn't need to worry about that.  Valerius' pursuit of Petras becomes a tense cat and mouse game complicated by the efforts of the powerful Praetorian Prefect and his nasty henchman to spy on Valerius so they can stay one step ahead of him and ultimately capture Petras themselves to garner any laurels that are to be had from Nero and hopefully destroy Valerius in the process.

Their betrayal is not the only forces working against Valerius either.  During his investigations he discovers his old neighbor and tutor, Seneca, has designs on Valerius and his family's estates as well.

As the search progresses, Valerius inadvertently reveals some highly placed members of the Christus cult and he is horrified to witness Nero's disposal of the cult members in a gruesome orgy of slashing teeth and seering flame.  Valerius begins to loathe his assignment, but is threatened with the destruction of his entire family if he does not continue.

Nero's torches by Henryk Siemiradzki

Historical note - Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix, a descendant of the famous Roman general, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, was executed by Nero in 62 CE, although he was cut down by assassins sent by Tigellinus at dinner, not in the way described in Jackson's story.  He was also not a beautiful, golden-haired youth but gray and balding at the time of his death.  It is said that Nero would tease the remains of the ill-fated Sulla's head, as the head was kept in the palace for a time,  despite the fact that Sulla had been married to the Emperor Claudius' daughter and Sulla's grandmother was a niece of Augustus, making him officially a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

Also, at one point in the narrative, Valerius becomes aware of the torture of a patrician noblewoman thought to be conspiring with the Christus sect.  The woman is being held in the deepest recesses of the Praetorian's prison and, although such clandestine torture did occur, torture was not typically used against Roman citizens, especially the elite, in the early Imperial Period.  The protection of Roman citizens against pre-condemnation torture was essentially assured by the lex Julia de vi publica, passed into law during the Republican period.  This protection was not significantly eroded until the Severan Period.

"Whereas only slaves could be tortured as suspects about their own crimes, the basic rule remained constant, at least from Augustus to Hadrian, albeit abused in maiestas inquisitions, that no free Roman citizen should be tortured before condemnation" - Janne Pölönen, Plebians and Repression of Crime in the Roman Empire: From Torture of Convicts to Torture of Suspects 

 Finally, Nero threatens to kill Valerius and all of the Judeans in Rome if he does not capture Petras within ten days.  The taut climax is every bit as exciting and ultimately gratifying as Valerius' courageous defense of the Temple of Claudius in the first novel.

Once again I highly recommend this book, the second in the series.  Jackson's characterizations are absolutely vivid. His Nero made my skin crawl.  Likewise, Jackson's action sequences are perfectly choreographed to keep the reader in excruciating suspense until the last moment and the plot twists keep you guessing until the final pages.  I am so hooked on Jackson's "Hero of Rome" that I have already begun book three, Avenger of Rome!

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Review: Hero of Rome by Douglas Jackson

A historical fiction review by Mary Harrsch © 2015

When I first met Gaius Valerius Verrens in the opening chapters of "Hero of Rome" by Scottish author Douglas Jackson, he was leading his cohort into a Silurian hill fort bristling with Celtic spears on a hilltop in Nero's Roman Britain.  In this first novel of a new series, Jackson skillfully fleshed out his new protagonist with a backstory that included tutelage by the famous philosopher Seneca, a deep sense of honor instilled by his patrician father and a warrior's courage developed over his course of service with the XXth Legion.  It was also quickly apparent that Valerius was respected by his men because he, in turn, respected them - all except a particularly nasty centurion named Crespo, who would eventually create the flashpoint for Boudicca's famous revolt.

I had not read any summaries of the novel before I started listening to this tale (this review is based on an unabridged performance recorded for Audible.com) but I immediately knew what was going to happen to Valerius when he is sent with his cohort to winter in Colonia - Camulodunum - the scene of the first massacre of the Boudiccan Revolt.  Knowing this was a first novel in a new series, however, I just wasn't sure how Jackson would extract Valerius so he could fight another day, as the Celtic destruction of Camulodunum was quite complete according to the ancient sources and evidenced by the destruction layer found by archaeologists.

When Valerius arrives in Colonia, he finds the thriving town, then capital of Roman Britain, protected by rather aged and grizzled Roman veterans from the original invasion of the island by the emperor Claudius, equipped with rusty swords and disintegrating armor.  Falco, the veteran centurion, quickly demonstrates how tough his men can be, however, when he challenges Valerius' men to a shoving match.  Valerius also meets the local Trinovantes chieftain, Lucillus, who is trying so hard to be accepted as an equal to the other Roman residents.  Then, Valerius is instantly captivated by the chieftain's auburn-haired daughter, Mave, and begins a subtle campaign to win her heart.

Again, Jackson carefully sculpts these characters to bring them to life for the reader.  I especially liked Ciaran, an Iceni nobleman who already realized there was little hope of actually defeating the Romans so was trying his best to develop a peaceful relationship with them.

But these first attempts at reconciliation are thwarted when the greedy Roman procurator, Catus Decianus, attempts to seize all of the Iceni land when the Iceni King, Prasutagus, dies.  Leading Romans, including Seneca, had also suddenly recalled loans to the British elite resulting in brutal property seizures, just as portrayed in the novel.

Seneca by Joseph Wilton.  Photographed at the
J. Paul Getty Museum by Mary Harrsch © 2005.

Decianus, the provincial procurator of Roman Britain,  is said to have been based in Colonia at the time of the revolt but the ancient sources said he "sent" only 200 men when he received the town's plea for help, so scholars assume he must have been in Londinium at the time.  This is reflected in the novel as well. The depth of Douglas' research is obvious from the narrative's detail.

Although Decianus is villified as greedy, both in the novel and in the ancient sources, his failure to recognize any claim by Boudicca was not unusual. Both H. H. Scullard, in his 1982 work "From the Gracchi to Nero", and John Morris, in his 1982 work "Londinium: London in the Roman Empire", point out that it was normal Roman practice to allow allied kingdoms their independence only for the lifetime of their client king, who would then agree to leave his kingdom to Rome in his will. This occured in the eastern provinces of Bithynia and Galatia.  Roman law also allowed inheritance only through the male line, so Rome would not normally have allowed the ascension of a client queen.  Boudicca may have thought otherwise, however, due to the Roman support of the Brigantes queen, Cartimandua.  Of course the flogging of Boudicca and the subsequent alleged rape of her daughters was obviously over the top.

Statue of Boudicca near Westminster Pier as commissioned by Prince Albert and
executed by Thomas Thornycroft in 1905. Image by Mary Harrsch © 2006

Jackson handles this brutal event with sufficient detail to dismay the reader but does not appall the reader with excessive gore. Likewise, Jackson's battle scenes are absolutely taut with tension.  At times I felt as emotionally spent afterwards as Valerius must have been.

By the climax of the battle at Colonia where Valerius struggles shoulder to shoulder with his comrades to prevent the wildly shrieking Britons from storming the temple of Claudius, I felt such a bond with Valerius that I feared the inevitable - after all, I had read the history!

The Temple of Claudius in Camulodunum was beseiged by the Britons for
two days before it fell and defenders were massacred.

Ultimately, though, Jackson succeeds at believably extracting Valerius from the jaws of death, but at a terrible price, both physically and emotionally, leaving an imprint on his character that will obviously affect his behavior in subsequent novels.

I highly recommend this novel and have become so captivated by Valerius I have already started the second book, "Defender of Rome."

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