Rogue Roman

by Lance Horner

Book Overview

fiction This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449139689
• ISBN13: 9780449139684
• Release Date: February 1980
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Rogue Roman, by Lance Horner

Published in 1965 and in print for several years thereafter, Lance Horner's Rogue Roman is now long out of circulation and mostly forgotten. It is worth seeking out - a sterling example of the exploitative historical fiction churned out for the popular market in the sixties and seventies. Books that tread the line between pulp fiction and genuine literature, filled with sex and carnage, but which also took the time to plumb the depths of their characters' psychology. The novel spans the years 55 - 62 CE, during the reign of Nero. Cleon is our hero, a blonde-haired youth who has grown up in Syria, surrounded by a ragamuffin family of mixed races; seems his actual parentage is questionable, and he certainly does not consider his Syrian father to be his true parent. (Later it turns out Cleon is right.) Cleon escapes his miserly roots to become a mime for a travelling group of artists from Antioch; here he is introduced to the slave Mannax, a gay youth who once served men as a temple slave in the Grove of Daphne in Antioch. Cleon grows accustomed to his more exciting life, entertaining audiences in Antioch, when disaster strikes and he and Mannax become slaves. The pair are trained as gladiators, both growing more solid and well-built during their years of training. Eventually Cleon, Mannax, and the rest of their new friends in the gladiator school are taken to Rome, where Cleon's spotted by the Chief Vestal Julia Livilla, who happens to be the sister of Agrippina the Younger - the mother of Nero. Cleon turns out to be a dead ringer for a man both Julia and Agrippina loved, long ago; in fact, they are certain he is the man's son. This seems true to Cleon; his mother often mentioned to him that his true father was a Roman dignitary. But there's more to it: Agrippina reveals that this same blonde-haired Roman dignitary was the true father of Nero. This means that Cleon and Nero are half-brothers. And the two look so similar that Cleon could easily pass for Nero, using his mime skills to complete the picture. Nero has gone mad with power, and Agrippina and Julia conspire to oust him. Their plan: Cleon will step in and "become" Nero, and no one will be the wiser. This intrigue guides the final half of the novel, with many double-crosses and reversals and surprises - the most significant being for Cleon that he falls in love with Nero's ignored and virginal wife Octavia. So that's the plot. Horner complements it by bringing the ancient world into full Technicolor life. There are set pieces aplenty here, especially a fantastic scene set in the Grove of Daphne where Cleon attempts to satiate his rampaging desires. The prerequisite gladiator material isn't as prevalent as one would inspect; indeed, Cleon is mostly kept from harm due to Julia's protection. Cleon is, at least: there is a long setpiece in the arena in which Horner piles on the graphic descriptions of death, rape, and torture which took place before the eager eyes of on

Life , Death, romance

This book has many ups and downs in the story but it is a pretty sweet book. There are bloody parts and there are romantic parts that paint mental pictures in your head. When I first started the book I didn't think it would be so mind grabbing but I really enjoyed it. There art these four slave friend who get sent to a gladiator camp. They battle in the coliseum and make it out and this lady that loved one of their fathers seduces him and she has him rape the empress of rome when her husband is out. The husband comes home early finds them together and she is sent to an island wating to be crucified and all four of the friends get sent to a prison and tortured until they confess then they were to be crucified. But the day they wereto be killed the Vestal Virgin saved them and they became her slaves. One of them came up with a plot to save her from the island and they exicuted the plan but were slow and two of the friends and the empress almost killed themself but the other two came to rescue them just before. This is a must read book for anyone.

Rogue Roman

This book took my love for mythology and gave slavery a new twist! The setting is during Julius Ceasar times with Cleon the victor of this book having numerous brushes with death, captivity, and love (lust). A great book!