“The October Horse”, by Colleen McCullough

792 pages, William Morrow & Company, ISBN-13: 978-0684853314

The October Horse by Colleen McCullough is the sixth book in her “Masters of Rome” series and spans the years 48 to 41 BC. The series has a thesis (first introduced in 1939 by Sir Ronald Syme in his epic historical treatise “The Roman Revolution”): as Rome became more powerful within the Mediterranean world, the old ways of doing things – through the deliberation of various interests, mainly aristocratic and mercantile – became impossibly cumbersome. It became more and more difficult to govern an empire with institutions originally designed to administer a city-state. Certain powerful leaders (especially Marius, Sulla, and Caesar) tried to create a state in which they had autocratic power but also preserved the externals of the old ways. They were opposed by the conservatives (called the optimates by classical historians, though they themselves preferred the title boni or “good men”). The obtuse or simply ignorant resistance of these reactionaries, who are all (except for Cato) presented as degenerate or self-serving, made the creation of an autocracy necessary. The result was the birth of an imperial monarchy, and a radically different organization of power. Each book in the series features a detailed glossary, hand-drawn illustrations of the major characters, and notes by McCullough detailing her reasoning for portraying certain events in certain ways.

The title of the book comes from a peculiar chariot race in Rome on the Ides of October, after which the right-hand horse of the winning team was sacrificed to the Roman gods. Then two teams, one from the Subura and the other from the Via Sacra, competed for the horse’s head. Julius Caesar, figuratively the best war horse in Rome, represents the October Horse in this novel. The book begins with Gaius Julius Caesar’s Egyptian campaign in Alexandria, his final battles with the Republicans led by Metellus Scipio, Cato the Younger, Titus Labienus and the brothers Pompeius in Africa and Spain, and ultimately Caesar’s assassination on the Ides of March by Marcus Brutus, Gaius Cassius and the Liberators. The latter stages of The October Horse chronicle the death of Cicero, the emergence of Octavian and his battles with Mark Antony, and conclude with the Battle of Philippi.

Some authors have the special ability to transport you to a world of incredible detail and utter believability, and Colleen McCullough is one of them. Her Masters of Rome series is sweeping, well-written and meticulous in its research, but above all, the author has a real grasp on the themes and people of the days of the spectacular collapse of the Roman Republic. Her portrait of Julius Caesar is right on the mark, and communicates his serious civic dedication as well as the personality that ultimately led him to the pinnacle of the final days of the Republic he overthrew to save Rome from itself. McCullough also has the gift for describing the architecture, society, personages and mores of the times. Above all, her characters leap off the page and become people. The October Horse (and the series itself) really opened my eyes about the culture of Rome and how things actually worked. I got so much more from this series than any history class I could imagine. McCullough immerses you in the life of Rome itself, giving you a glimpse into this familiar, yet alien world. Although like all writers and historians you have to make guesses and fill in gaps where information is missing, but she weaves a seamless tapestry that truly ensnares you. Through the series you follow the first families of Rome for four generations, seeing their triumphs and tragedies play out, as they scramble to define what Rome will be.