The Rise of Rome
In the middle of the 1st century B.C., Julius Caesar, future dictator of Rome, spent about 10 years knocking around what would become Western Europe oppressing the natives. Latin students still have the pleasure of translating "The Gallic Wars,鈥� Caesar鈥檚, ahem, vivid account of this campaign. A sample sentence: 鈥淎ll Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third.鈥�
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Such is the burden of the Roman historian 鈥� endure a blitzkrieg of dependent clauses, then convince modern readers that events two millennia old are relevant. In his new book The Rise of Rome, classicist Anthony Everitt does his best, but can鈥檛 quite carry the standard.
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His first slip comes early. 鈥淥ne of the curious features of Roman history is that it often suggests parallels between then and now, but such comparisons can be dangerous,鈥� he writes in a preface. 鈥淚 leave readers to make their own connections unaided.鈥� Everitt鈥檚 bold move 鈥� forego 21st-century politics in a discussion of Rome鈥檚 decline even as cable news pundits endlessly debate America鈥檚 decline 鈥� is good scholarship. After all, one can鈥檛 run around comparing Octavian, Caesar鈥檚 adopted son, to George W. Bush willy-nilly.
But Everitt鈥檚 neglect of current events puts a lot of faith in his audience 鈥� too much, since understanding this epic book demands more than differentiating between Cincinnatus, Cicero, Cato, and Caesar. In little more than 500 pages, Everitt tackles more than a thousand years of ancient history, from the ostensible fall of Troy (circa 1084 B.C.) to the Ides of March so memorably dramatized by Shakespeare. The cast of characters 鈥� including Romulus and Remus, Rome鈥檚 mythical founders breast-fed by a she-wolf, and Hannibal, the very real elephant-riding Carthaginian general who could have destroyed the city 鈥� is much longer than a call sheet for 鈥淭he Wire.鈥�
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Instead of zeroing in on one or two major figures, 鈥淭he Rise of Rome鈥� revels in the turgid details of battles such as Cannae, where Hannibal almost destroyed the Roman army in 216 B.C. Everitt sacrifices the big picture to recount every flanking maneuver, and his book鈥檚 maze of military detail makes it too easy to forget that this civilization was the new empire on the Mediterranean block trying 鈥� and failing 鈥� to preserve a version of Greek democracy while taking over the world.
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鈥淔rom the Republic鈥檚 earliest years, the Hellenic world had been a major influence,鈥� Everitt writes between recounting his subject鈥檚 military exploits. 鈥淭hey admired the deathless achievements of a glorious past 鈥� and knew they could not compete with them.鈥� American readers should find this game of philosophical telephone ironic: Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas fetishize the words of the Founding Fathers; the Founding Fathers fetishized Roman republicanism; Rome fetishized the older, cooler civilization across the sea.
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Its effort to reinvent Plato鈥檚 republic, of course, was doomed. Everitt leaves off around Caesar鈥檚 assassination; after about 400 more years of dictatorship perhaps best recounted in 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon鈥檚 鈥淭he History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,鈥� the city was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 A.D., and the world would wait more than 1,000 years for another representative democracy.
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鈥淎lthough more conquests were to come, the Republic was now the undisputed ruler of a vast Mediterranean empire; at the same time, it was on the verge of a final and irrevocable constitutional breakdown,鈥� Everitt writes. 鈥淭he men who governed the world were unable to govern themselves.鈥�
Still, Rome looms large. Our constitution plagiarized its government鈥檚 checks and balances; John Adams intervened when he learned son John Quincy鈥檚 school curriculum did not include Cicero; films such as "Spartacus" and HBO鈥檚 miniseries "Rome" continue to name-check our toga-ed forebears. Will anyone care in the decades to come?
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鈥淭hey are a rich poetic feast that has nourished European civilization for two thousand years,鈥� Everitt writes. 鈥淚t is only in the past few generations that our collective mind has begun to jettison them. If this book serves any purpose, it is as a reminder of what we are losing.鈥�
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The problem: Authors such as Everitt too often make these worthy reminders incomprehensible to laymen and difficult, even boring, to read. If Rome fades again, they are partly to blame.
Justin Moyer is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.
