Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Those who thought that a novel about the eruption of Vesuvius during the glory days of ancient Rome would find few takers were confounded by the success of Pompeii. Its author, Robert Harris, remains in classical mode with his latest work, Imperium. And it is excellent. A century and a half before that historic volcanic eruption, the Roman world was governed not by an emperor but as a republic. Rivals competed for power: the "Imperium" of the title. Because Rome ruled the Mediterranean at this time, the potential rewards were worth killing for. Two thousand years later, the main players in this power struggle are part of our history and imagination: Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, Cicero:

"For the actual declamatory training, Molon took his eager pupil out of the shaded courtyard and into the heat of midday, and had him recite his exercise pieces — usually a trial scene or a soliloquy from Menander — while walking up a steep hill without pausing. In this fashion, with the lizards scattering underfoot and only the scratching of the the cicadas in the olive trees for an audience, Cicero strengthned his lungs and learned how to gain the maximum output of words from a single breath."

Narrated by a slave named Tiro, who invented shorthand and served as Cicero's "confidential secretary" for 36 years, the book follows the statesman and orator from his early career as an outsider from the provinces to his election to the consulship, Rome's highest office. Despised by the aristocrats, Cicero lived by his wits and Harris makes it all fascinating and entertaining. In an interesting move, The Times is providing two chapters of the book as PDFs. Time to head out to the local Roman ruins now.