The Big Read II: I, Claudius -- Robert GravesChapters 1-3

Chapter One -- In which Claudius tells us of his previous autobiography and about the two prophecies that led him to write this one.

• On his previous life history, and what I assume I, Claudius will not be:

I let it be a dull book, recording merely such uncontroversial facts as, for example, that So-and-so married So-and-so, the daughter of Such-and-such who had this or that number of public honours to his credit, but not mentioning the political reasons for the marriage nor the behind-the-scene bargaining between the families.  Or I would write that So-and-so died suddenly, after eating a dish of African figs, but say nothing of the poison, or to whose advantage the death proved to be, unless the facts were supported by a verdict of the Criminal Courts.  I told no lies, but neither did I tell the truth in the sense that I mean to tell it here.

• He's got a habit of digressing, of giving out little nuggets of other stories, and it's making me crazy because they're all interesting!  I want to know more about everything, everything, everything.  He's a huge tease, even if it's inadvertent -- the hints he's given of what's to come have made me eager to read more.  He seems self-deprecating and humble (not many characters would have told a story like his about the visit to the Sibyl without editing it to be a bit more flattering) and snarkily funny, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it way:

The verses were copied out in Augustus's own beautiful script, with the characteristic mis-spellings which, originally made from ignorance, he ever afterwards adhered to as a point of pride.

Chapter Two -- In which we learn more about Claudius' family history, and a whole lot about his terrifying-with-a-capital-T grandmother.

• More digressions here, and they continue to entertain.  My favorites were the bit about the popular ballad that lists different members of the Claudian family, including Claudius the Fair, "who, when the sacred chickens would not feed, threw them into the sea, crying "Then let them drink", and so lost an important sea battle" and the bit about Claudia, sister of Claudius the Fair.

• "It is my belief that she put all these scandals about herself in order to have something to reproach him with."  Nice.  Livia = Queen of Manipulation.

• "About this time Julia went quite bald."  The matter-of-factness of this sentence threw me.  I had to read it three times before continuing.  I'm going to stick with Claudius and hope that the wig made of a "whole scalp of a German chieftain's daughter shrunk to the exact size of Julia's head and kept alive and pliant by occasional rubbing with a special ointment" was not for real.

• Again with the build-up and back-up:

Most women are inclined to set a modest limit to their ambitions; a few rare ones set a bold limit.  But Livia was unique in setting no limit at all to hers, and yet remaining perfectly level-headed and cool in what would be judged in any other woman to be raving madness.  It was only little by little that even I, with such excellent opportunities for observing her, came to guess generally what her intentions were.  But even so, when the final disclosure came, it came as a shock of surprise.  Perhaps I had better record her various acts in historical sequence, without dwelling on her hidden motives.

Auuuugh!  Just tell me!  Sigh.  I've never dealt well with suspense.

• Wow.  The Roman Senate could just create new Divinities?  For real?

• Livia is terrifying, yes.  But she's also impressive and fascinating. 

Chapter Three -- In which it is implied that Livia is responsible for at least one divorce, two deaths and the threat of a third.

• "The name "Livia" is connected with the Latin word which means Malignity."  Seems like you'd be kind of asking for it to give that name to your child, huh?

• "And from this moment Augustus began mysteriously to recover..."  HAH!

• Phew.  CC wasn't kidding when she said this was the Granddaddy of All Political Intrigue Novels -- I thought about making a chart to make the Livia/Augustus/Agrippa/Marcellus/Julia/Tiberius story more visual and easy to remember, but I didn't.  Let's just hope that my brain is big enough to hold on to all of it.

• Part of the reason this book has me so hooked (and it does, in a big way) is that Claudius isn't only talking about the political motivations behind the actions -- he's also talking about the emotional motivations.  Marcellus' death had a whole lot to do with Livia's jealousy of Octavia, and Agrippa's reasons for coming back to support Augustus were pretty much purely emotional.  (Actually, so were his reasons for his self-imposed exile.)  And I love it that Claudius says, "Claudius, Claudius, you said that you would not mention Livia's motives but only record her acts", but then continues to speculate on everyone's motivations.  Hooray!  I'm enjoying this so much.

Previous posts:

Reading schedule

Other reader/bloggers:

Becky's Online Reading Group
There's Always Time for a Book
Adventures in Multiplicity
garish & tweed

Comments

[Sally]

So I have to say that so far I am liking it. It took me a little while to get used the massive amount of names and information he is giving us but I find it very interesting and I had to stop myself from just contituing and reading chapter 4. We seem to be having the same reactiond to it so far - I too was impressed by the fact that the Senate could create new Gods just like that. Am looking forward to the next three chapters.

[Leila]

Yeah, I've found myself going back and re-reading paragraphs again and again -- as in, "Wait, wait, who said what?" -- but as I read, that seems to be happening less and less. I must be getting used to his style. Yay me.

[cc]

The names do settle down; it doesn't help that these are kind of the "whirlwind tour of backstory" chapters and once you get into the real story everyone is drawn so well that it's easy to keep them apart (I think--I've also read this 80 hundred times and teach Roman history for a living so. . .)

One of the things I'm noticing (and admiring in the writing) this time around is the casual, pervasive brutality of the world Claudius lives in. Julia's wig is a case in point: I don't think C. is horrified by it--he just doesn't think it's true. Or compare the story of Tiberius killing a friend (!) in a boxing match--no pity, no horror, just the note that he wasn't even wearing metal gloves. Shudder.

I adore Claudius' voice--spacy, discursive, a little pedantic, but occassionally and surprisingly vulgar. I find him very endearing. And Livia. Well. She's awesome beyond words. The bit you quoted about "womanly" ambition is so killer.

Re: the Senate creating new gods. A historian of Roman religion (can't remember which) said that if the Romans had had bicycles they would also have had a goddess Punctura. They had several different gods for doors. As in: one for the hinges, one for the latch. Emperor worship came in from the East where there was a tradition of god-kings (e.g. in Egypt).

[Leila]

Yeah, you're right, I didn't get a horror vibe from him about the wig -- he just didn't think it was true, while I actively hoped it wasn't true. I thought the whole section about Tiberius was especially interesting -- that he was one of the Bad Apple Claudians, but that until he lost Claudius' father due to different military posts, Vispania due to the forced divorce and his relationship with Augustus changed, he had somewhat of a handle on it (even if he did, you know, kill his friend in a boxing match with his bare hands (oops)).

Maecenus was a real bastard to Agrippa.

And I wouldn't have blamed Octavia if she'd gone all Medea on Mark Antony's ass.

[Tom]

I read it years ago when the series with Derek Jacobi was on PBS. The book (and the series) is brilliant. Graves turns Rome into a soap opera. Do you plan on reading "Claudius the King" as well?

[Becky]

Here are my thoughts on the first few chapters.

[Julie Carter]

I picked up the book and, well, I'm glad I didn't say that I would be joining in the Big Read II because I'm almost done with the book after only a day.

Sucked. In.

[Emmaco]

I'm enjoying it so far! Claudius' voice is great, it's much funnier than I was expecting. I'm with Tom on the soap opera feel of it all.

I'm not feeling the suspense that you are, though, Leila. I'm just happy to go with the ride and enjoy the snarky commentary.

I've put up my first thoughts on the book at my blog.

[Leila]

Yep, even just after three chapters, I'm feeling the soap opera vibe as well.

Julie, I hope you continue commenting even though you already zoomed through the book!

That's actually the kind of suspense I was talking about -- that I'm crazy to read more, but I'm using my vast reserves (HAH!) of will power to prevent myself from reading ahead. I want to know everything and more, and I want to know it now! I need to do what you're doing, Emmaco, and just enjoy the ride. I'm working on it.

I'm trying to decide if I should watch the miniseries as I read it, or if I should wait until I'm done. Does the miniseries cover the second book, too? (I do have a copy of the second book waiting for me, by the way. I suspect I'll read it right after this one.)

[Emmaco]

I think it would be hard to watch the miniseries and stay with the chapter breaks. And as our fearless leader you need to set a good example and stay on schedule! (says the person who dutifully put in a bookmark to stop reading at the right spot but put the bookmark in the wrong place...woops!).

[Tom]

The series covers both books. And I agree with Emmaco... read the book first.

[Leila]

RATS! Oh, well. I suspected that would be the case.

[Julie Carter]

I'm astonished at the willpower and fortitude of all of you. Though I have only 20 pages to go and I'm sitting here in front of the computer instead of reading them, so maybe I have willpower, too.

One thing I didn't expect before reading was the style. I guess I expected it to have more dialogue--be more like a traditional novel. Instead, it's more like a witty history.

And the flashbacks I'm having to high school latin classes and university ancient history courses! That makes it even more fun, those "Ooh, I remember that!" moments.

[Erin A]

I almost created a family tree, too! I still may, actually. I'm totally loving this book, it's a complete soap opera but certainly for the erudite -- the prose is so packed I find myself re-reading passages to be sure I've picked every morsel from the bone.

Last week I had plenty of time to read, but needed to discipline myself to stay on the group's sked. This week I'm much tighter for time...will do the best I can. Looking forward to a nice long read tonight!

Thanks again for getting me to read this. My older brother made me suffer through the PBS mini-series back in the 70s. He needed to watch it for his AP European History class, I tortured him in return by doing gymnastics all around the living room! He'd pass out if he knew I was participating in this...

[Heidi]

I'm two days behind, maybe will only be one day behind for the next batch.

I almost had more fun writing about it than reading it...this is certainly changing the way I read the book. I'm not likely to forget it.

I keep seeing Monty Python sketches in my head.

[jessmonster]

I'm a little late but joining in - I've got my chapters 1-3 up here:
http://jessmonster.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/clau-clau-claudius/

I agree that it's much funnier than expected, and although I've never had a real interest in Roman history, I might have one now! Now off to catch up on the next section...

[cellphonebookz]

interesting... But I found cell phone book info of cell phone.

It was all at [url=http://clamhut.info/reverse/wp-content/cell-phone.html]http://clamhut.info/reverse/wp-content/cell-phone.html[/url].