G6

Michael W. Higgins

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The third emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty was a nasty piece of goods. Called "little boots" or Caligula by the legions of his noble father, Germanicus, he began his brief reign loved by the populace and by the Senate. He was the hope of Rome after the long and increasingly insular and dissolute leadership of the Emperor Tiberius.

But within a very short period of time, he initiated a rule of terror and brutality that has few equals. His capacity for inventive cruelty has few matches. His name has become a byword for pathological cruelty.

Caligula has been the subject of plays - think Albert Camus's Caligula (19380 - of films - think the Brass/Guccione Caligula (1980) with a primary script by Gore Vidal - and with bit parts in various television series - think the Granada TV 1970s mini-series I, Claudius based on the novels of Robert Graves.

He even plays a significant and haunting role in such films as The Robe and Demetrius and the Gladiators, with a performance by Jay Robinson as the cackling and maniacal ruler that is unforgettable.

Yes, Caligula continues to fascinate and appall.

And now we have historical fiction - seriously misrepresented as a "Roman thriller-" in Douglas Jackson's Caligula. This story of the madman in purple adheres generally to the known historical facts, although Jackson still has significant openings for authorial invention. And he takes advantage of the liberties fiction permits.

We have an animal trainer of humble origins, a German gladiator of uncommon skill, a conniving Imperial secretary, a Senator of singular astuteness. And, naturally, a score of beautiful women, a legion of handsome men and a cohort of villains well trained in the arts of inflicting maximum pain.

Caligula trusts no one. He finds himself increasingly isolated, driven by an insatiable desire to please at the same time as he finds himself propelled by a perverse need to terrorize. A complicated and broken figure, he flails about assaulting with impunity all that is sacred, reasonable and human. He is a monster. But not without human qualities that make him, if not endearing, certainly interesting and even - although rarely - worthy of our sympathy.

The Rome of Caligula's misrule is carefully constructed by the author, and his attention to detail, although not overly meticulous or scholarly, has the ring of verisimilitude about it. However, the characters are not intricately conceived or realized; there is a derivative quality to the plot; the language is heavily repetitive; and the dialogue is often unconvincing.

But Jackson's plot does engage the reader as you begin your slow descent into the inferno that is the Emperor's natural habitat. The author is never more successful than in those instances when he recounts with exacting detail the mauling, muscle-ripping, flesh-devouring behaviour of the wild animals prodded to do their worst with the hapless victims of Caesar's amusement.

Nor does he spare you the finer details of mutilation, dismemberment, decapitation, impaling or disemboweling that define the torture chambers of Rome's newest god, the battles among conflicted Praetorians, the desperate struggles of the doomed gladiators, or the regular slaughter of the innocents.

It is Rome, after all. Caligula's Rome.

Caligula is not a thriller; there is no mystery or mysticism here.

This is an old-fashioned sword-and-sandal epic in the Roman manner.

Light entertainment for the stout of heart and stable of stomach.

Michael W. Higgins is president of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, and an author and broadcaster.