THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book review
SOURCE: BY EDITH R. WHITE
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
``I WANT TO BE remembered,'' proclaimed Gaius Julius Caesar and many of his fellow Roman citizens, according to classics scholar Colleen McCullough.
By citing the names and accomplishments or crimes of countless citizens of the Roman Republic between 68 B.C. and 58 B.C.McCullough makes sure they are remembered in her latest novel. In ``Caesar's Women,'' she not only gives the names by which they are known but also their full Roman cognomens.
Marcus Porcius Cato, Marcus Tullius Cicero and Marcus Junius Brutus are all part of the action in this novelization of history. What adds challenge to the task of keeping track of the characters is that, in one family, the sisters are named Claudia, Clodia and Clodilla. Makes you feel you are back in Latin class doing your declensions.
McCullough, who has written three previous books in her series on Ancient Rome, is a formidable scholar. Born and educated in Australia, she has studied Ancient Rome for over 15 years and owns the largest private library on the Roman Republic in the world. She now lives on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific, 1,200 miles off the coast of Australia. Her husband is a native of the island and a descendant of a mutineer from the Bounty.
McCullough has shaped a solid block of history into a monumental work of fiction. Once you have chipped your way through the meticulous historical details, you may discover that some of the ancients you know only as busts in a museum are actually full-bodied men molded of ambition, jealousy, passion and deceit. To assist you in fleshing out the characters, McCullough has included portraits drawn from coins and busts to ensure accurate likenesses. She used her husband as a model for the cover drawing of Julius Caesar because ``he bears such a striking resemblance to this immortal figure.''
A 55-page glossary follows the six divisions of the book. The story recounts the rise of Caesar as he returns from success in battle to enter the bloody fray of politics. The women in his life include Aurelia, his elegantly slim and aristocratic mother; Julia, his beautiful little daughter; and Servilla, a Roman matron.
Servilla is a harpy capable of murder to acquire an inheritance for her weakling son, Brutus. But she is also an extremely sensuous woman. Servilla bears Caesar's child while her husband still lives. Although she and Caesar continue as lovers when her ailing husband dies, he refuses to marry her. He has the gall to say ``Caesar's wife must be above suspicion. You are not, for you have been a faithless wife.'' For politicial reasons, he takes for his second wife a delectable nincompoop.
Later, also for political reasons, he divorces her. Wives could be easily shed in ancient Rome, although their dowries and children remained with the husband.
Caesar is depicted as a man of boundless ambition and energy, a talented orator, a fearless military leader and a clever schemer willing to buy public office by going into debt to provide lavish games and pageants. He is tall, lusty, sinewy and dynamic. He does not drink wine; hot water with a little vinegar is more his style. He has a charming way of dealing with his enemies - he cuckolds them.
There are enough plots and shenanigans, served up with bribery, blackmail and insurrection, in ``Caesar's Women'' to make a maxi-series that would run for a month of Sundays. As author of ``The Thorn Birds,'' McCullough is well aware of the ingredients needed to cook up a gourmet TV drama. Some of her quotes would lend a humorous flavor to the dish, such as when Cicero states, ``Incest is a game the whole family can play.'' Pompey sums up the theme when he says, ``A man in politics has no real friends. He cultivates what's expedient.''
There is much to learn from this excruciatingly well-informed scholar.
But one caveat: If you are sometimes afflicted with heavy eyelids, do not read this massive volume in bed. When you drop off, so does the book. And it resounds like the fall of Rome. MEMO: Edith R. White is a Norfolk storyteller, artist and librarian.
ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
BOOK REVIEW
``Caesar's Women''
Author: Colleen McCullough
Publisher: William Morrow and Co. 696 pp.
Price: $25
by CNB