Ben lejyonun başından geçenlerden ziyade-ki ona da son 100 sayfada yer verilmiş- gladyatörler ve Roma dönemi fahişelerinin yaşamını okudum bu kitapta.İki yıldızım anlatımın yalınlığı ve arada öğrendiğim ilginç ayrıntılar için...

I liked this. Ben Kane pays attention to the downtrodden and underprivileged in Rome, which I appreciate, and here he chooses an Etruscan and a Gaul among his mains. There were emotional moments in the arena when fellow victims of the Roman state cannot be true to one another, as they want to. My heart-strings were tugged.

I appreciated the girl's gutsy determination when consigned to a brothel, and only found unbelievable that she decided to survive and thrive before she had gone through the experience of her first customer. (PS. It was certainly more horrible for her than this. Ask a woman. -- He may not have wanted to be too confrontational.)

Crassus. I got so interested in Crassus I was diverted into reading Plutarch's life of him; which spoilt the last stages for me. Every ill he has to tell of Crassus is there in Plutarch, who had more social criticism than I'd have thought (in support of Ben Kane's) -- except, in his last test on the Parthian campaign, this unsavoury personage pulls himself together and comes quite good -- seen at his unexpected best. In the novel, he collapses into a contemptible mess, and I thought Plutarch made the better story. (Not saying it's more true, I wouldn't know; probably nobody would know). So I didn't actually finish. Hey, that's me. I came here out of interest in the Parthian campaign, but found it the least enticing part (after Plutarch).

I'll go on with the next. I enjoy Ben Kane's less-usual view of Rome, for when I'm in the mood for an easy (utterly undemanding) romp.