It took a little while into this second volume of Robert Graves’s historical novel about the life and reign of emperor Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), who becomes emperor at the very end of the first volume, much to his chagrin. It’s clear at the end when we get some source material added in the kinds of sources Graves used for his novel, in which sections are partially lifted. One example is a speech Claudius gives in which in the middle of his argument, he breaks into a fit of emotion and tells his audience that he’s too caught up and has lost his words, before changing tack. This, in the hands of Graves, is purely a rhetorical move in order to move past a knotty part of one’s argument not working.
The novel spends a lot of time with Claudius explaining his rationale for various decisions and his leadership style, which I would describe as a kind of rope-a-dope where he pretends to be dumb in order to come off as humble or weak, only to come back stronger in his retort. This even works against him in one part where in trying to explain his reasons for maybe accepting a demand that he step down, his explanation convinces even some of his detractors that he should stay. And he kind of wanted to step down! (Well, except that they’d probably execute him).
The latter half of the book, just like the latter half of the title of the book, spends a lot of time discussing the crimes and actions of his wife Messalini, who simply put, was not a nice lady at all.
The book is weird and funny, and it’s not different or better than the first volume, but instead an essential next step in getting the full picture. Sometimes it’s dry, and like I said, it took some time to find my rhythm with it, but it’s still great.