Book Review: Defender of Rome, by Douglas Jackson

Defender of Rome

by Douglas Jackson

Bantam Press, 330pp, £12.99

Review by Erikka Askeland

From the Greek, a “hero” is literally a defender or a protector, and there is very little doubt that author Douglas Jackson likes to play with the linguistic concepts of classical antiquity in his latest swashbuckling Roman adventure, Defender of Rome.

In this second in a trilogy, we again meet Gaius Valerius Verrens, the warrior and Roman legionnaire of the first book who has returned to Rome from the edges of the empire, having waged campaigns against fierce British tribes led by Boudicca. The second book casts back to events of the first so that readers can dip into Defender without having missed something essential. Because what becomes clear is that while Valerius was a victor in Britain, sufficient to be lauded on his return with the Emperor’s Gold Crown of Valour, he did not walk away unscathed – and neither was his victory reducible to the simple equation that the winners were good and the losers bad.

For Valerius is both a bloodthirsty warrior and a student of the stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who is a neighbour of the main character’s father and who plays a key role in the story. Both brainy and brawny, the hero is aware that the cost of his loyalty to Empire is great, morally and emotionally. And as the story unfolds, this will cause him to question his loyalties.

For the Rome that he defends is a cesspit ruled by Nero, whom common folklore has fiddling while the city burns. Jackson portrays the Emperor as weak, vain, paranoid and quite a dirty boy who is hard to love – particulary for Valerius. But while our hero accepts the task of seeking out the followers of a cult which threatens the power of the office of the Emperor, he is revolted by the debauchery of the man who happens to be Emperor.

If there is a quibble to be made about Defender, it is the opposition between the forces of evil – which in addition to being gruesomely sadistic are homosexual and transvestite – while the good guys, the early Christians, have desires which are chaste and much less complicated.

Thankfully, there is still scope for shade between the black and white morality of Romans versus Christians – the courtesan Fabia, for one, manages to encompass both vice and virtue. And between these two sides, there is Valerius, who due to his role as a battle-hardened killer cuts a more amoral figure. If the book seems rather more comfortable with depictions of violence than with sex, I suppose that the opposite would likely produce a novel of a different genre altogether.

For those who love nothing more than reading about a good fight, there is much here to enjoy. Combat is depicted exuberantly. But for lovers of history, there is plenty too. Immediately, the dust and smells of the great city of Rome and its outposts are made palpable. Jackson draws on and wraps into the narrative an extensive knowledge of classical geography, architecture and engineering, as well as political and social history of the era. If, as a tourist, the reader has ever marvelled at the complexity and challenge of the Roman aqueducts, he or she will be handsomely rewarded by Defender. And even if not, these wonders of Classical technology provide a compelling location for some harrowing adventures.

And for historians of the rise of the early Christian church, Defender provides a plausible and imaginative take on the story, albeit the author’s note at the end suggests that he was at pains to be sensitive about trampling on potential sensitivities in this regard. But the story provides some irresistible episodes – Christians being fed to lions, the martyrdom of the man who became St Paul – as well as a clever use of the debate which dominated early Christian theology, such as to dunk or not to dunk in the rite of baptism.

Jackson began writing his Roman stories on the train home from his job as an assistant editor of The Scotsman. His relish of the subject matter, plus that rarer thing, the knack for telling a good story, is clear in the four books that the empire has inspired, and there is much scope yet for more to come