Caesar’s Soldier
Alex Gough
Introducing Mark Antony
In Author’s comments, Alex Gough, after listing a bunch of popular works in which Mark Antony has a supporting role, comments
But it is rare for Antony to be given his own voice, and to be presented as a fully rounded character, a human being capable of great heroism, great kindness, great cruelty and great folly. He is often defined by his flaws rather than his virtues.
That is an accurate description of my own familiarity with Antony. Gough‘s Mark Antony series is an opportunity to see Antony more fully.
Caesar’s Soldier, the first book, covers Antony’s life from adolescence through the Battle of Alesia, in which Caesar defeated the Gallic forces led by Vercingetorix. Antony was one of Caesar’s officers in that fight and served with distinction. Antony is in his thirties when Caesar’s Soldier ends, so still a relatively young man.
I think what surprised me most about this novel is that Antony comes across as a lightweight: a big handsome lady’s man who drinks and parties too much and spends money he doesn’t have. This is unfair to Antony -- he has great physical courage. Also, he’s not stupid. I wouldn’t use the words ‘wise’ or ‘intelligent,’ but he is cunning, clever in devising strategies that work.
In fact, I can’t help comparing Antony to Silus, the hero of Gough‘s Imperial Assassin series. Silus appears to me a far more impressive person than the Antony portrayed in Caesar’s Soldier. This judgment is obviously unfair -- I have read six of Gough‘s books about Silus and only one about Antony. Antony, like Silus, will grow as the series proceeds. (It is also my personal misfortune to have read Caesar’s Soldier when the news is full of a soldier who shares most of Antony’s faults and none of his virtues. It is certainly unfair to see Antony in Hegseth -- unfair to the disadvantage of the former and the advantage of the latter, but, alas, human brains don’t work the way they ought to.)
Still, although I acknowledge that my perception of young Antony as a lightweight is unfair, I don’t think it’s entirely wrong. He is depicted as such because at this point he still was, compared to what he would later become. He still has ahead of him the influence of Julius Caesar, living and dead, the love of Cleopatra, and the struggle with Octavian.
Thanks for the review. I agree, he wasn't a particularly impressive young man, either in my novel or the contemporary sources, but he has an amazing arc, more so than even the fictional Silus. It's always difficult to know where to start a novel of someone's life, and perhaps Alesia, where this first book ends, would have been a nice dramatic beginning. But his early life is rich, even if he himself has not yet developed into the hero he will become, and I also wanted to show the years leading up to the fall of the Roman Republic in order that readers can understand how Mark Antony rose so high. I hope you read on in the series, would love to hear your thoughts on his character development. Spoiler - he is at his very best when everything is going horrible wrong!