A Noise of War: Caesar, Pompey, Octavian & the Struggle for Rome

Thru civil wars & world conflicts, the Roman Republic had survived 400 years, it stretching from Spain to Syria & beyond. But at the millennium, it seemed about to buckle. An entrenched Senate wouldn't & couldn't respond to the nation's precipitous decline; its leaders, locked in the status quo & fighting for privilege, were talking reform to death. As the Republic careened to the brink of ruin, the battlelines were drawn by three figures, all larger than life: Caesar, the bold, rash general; Cicero, the greatest orator of his time; & Pompey, a brilliantly successful campaigner, were locked in a fierce struggle for Rome's future. The contest began with debate in the Forum but led soon to violent riots, then armed revolt on the battlefield & bloodshed on the Senate steps. In the end, it was Octavian, Caesar's clever nephew & unmerciful political heir, who would claim victory. Rome was poised at the dawn of the Augustan Age. In a rich, scrupulously researched narrative history, Langguth captures this epic drama & brings to life the towering figures of the time. Capitalizing on a wealth of primary materials—from Caesar's war stories to Cicero's most intimate letters—he's gone to the heart of the political intrigues, calculated alliances & mortal rivalries that now seem especially vibrant & contemporary. We see Caesar, the aristocrat who championed the people's causes but was accused of wanting to be king, as he contends with Cicero, a newcomer to Rome with a sharp tongue but also a fatal eagerness to please patricians. Drawn into their struggle were Brutus, Pompey, Cassius, Mark Antony & the eventual victor, Octavian—lobbying causes, brokering deals, leading armies & grabbing at power. A Noise of War goes from Caesar's battlefields in Britannia to Cleopatra's Alexandrian bedroom.