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Article: FICTION Harry Mount enjoys Robert Harris's story of the modern politics of ancient Rome
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- October 4, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Lustrum
By Robert Harris
HUTCHINSON, pounds 18.99, 464 pp
What a delicious tease by Robert Harris to dedicate the second
volume of
his trilogy about Cicero, that most wily and silver-tongued of
Roman politicians,
to his old friend from political journalism days, Peter
Mandelson.
Mandy will splutter a little over his bedtime tisane when he
reads of the calculating, ultra-savvy Cicero that he 'was not the
first politician, and I am sure he will not be the last, to covet a
house beyond his means'. And Harris knows exactly what he's doing
when he writes about a Roman law that restricted the right of
senators to claim expenses for unofficial trips to the provinces.
Harris never makes his ...