Caesar’s General: An epic Roman adventure of civil war, love and loyalty
Alex Gough
"I can't spare this man; he fights."
As I read Alex Gough's Caesar's General (book 2 in his Mark Antony series), I was reminded of American general Ulysses S. Grant, who, by the end of the American Civil War, commanded Union forces. If you read the history of the Civil War, one thing stands out above all others about Grant: his alacrity for battle. Point Grant in the general direction of an enemy force, and he was there like a bullet from a gun, fighting.
When Grant's enemies tried to get rid of him after Shiloh, which he won, but at high cost, President Lincoln said, "I can't spare this man. He fights." History is clear (or as clear as history ever is on a question of judgment) that this was the right decision, made for the right reason.
I don't know if Julius Caesar ever said of Mark Antony, "I can't spare this man." Gough's Caesar speaks no such words. His actions do, however. suggest such thoughts in his mind. He is often exasperated by Antony, but when push comes to shove, Caesar does what he must to keep Antony on side, even to the point of publicly backing down before him, which must have been hard for a man as proud as Caesar.
Caesar's General covers that part of Mark Antony's life from shortly after Caesar's victory at Alesia until just after Caesar's assassination. (I hope that's not a spoiler. I assume that anyone reading a series of novels about Mark Antony is already aware that Caesar was assassinated.) The battles of Caesar's General are unlike those of Caesar's Soldier, in that they are almost entirely civil war: Roman armies under Caesar fighting Roman armies under Pompey.
The Mark Antony of Caesar's General is altogether a more solid man than the young Antony of Caesar's Soldier. Throughout the novel we see him dragged reluctantly towards respectability, mostly at Caesar's urging.
I enjoyed this, not just as a portrait of Antony, but also as a human portrait of Caesar. Looking forward to book 3, Caesar's Avenger.