Review - The Venus Throw, by Steven Saylor
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Belbo, the brawny doorkeeper and bodyguard, sees through the disguises of the toga-clad gallus (eunuch priest of Cybele), and the femininely rouged and dressed Alexandrian philosopher, before he introduces them to his less perceptive master, Gordianus the Finder, in the opening of Steven Saylor's The Venus Throw. While Gordianus is astute enough to deduce his guests' identities within a few words, he fails to take seriously his former philosophy teacher's fears for his personal safety at the hands of the minions of Pompey the Great. Guilt sets in later, when Gordianus learns that while he was away visiting his son in Caesar's army, the corpse of the philosopher was found with multiple stab wounds.
Gordianus resolves to bring the murderer to justice.Similarly motivated, Trygonium, the little gallus, before whom "giants give way... and soldiers flee in panic," dressed in his more customary, garish, priestly robes with bleached hair and manicured hands, drags Gordianus the Finder to the most (in)famous woman in Roman poetry, Lesbia (Clodia). She wants to hire Gordianus to prove one of her myriad former lovers, Caelius -- noteworthy as the only man to desert her -- responsible for the murder.
Gordianus, leaving Clodia's intoxicating perfume, confronts another little man, Catullus, who has been doggedly pursuing him on each trip from his house to his employer's. The morose, jealous, and drunken poet insists his presumed rival, "Gratidianus," accompany him to a disreputable tavern where the gamblers' cast of four sheep's ankle bone dice, each displaying a different number, provides the title, the Venus Throw. Catullus rains scurrilous invective on most of those he encounters, and harmless, metrically suitable nicknames on others.
Gratidianus thinks he's clever, and he must be, because Lesbia loves him, far better than CatullusHe also provides Cicero with salacious lines for his defense of the accused murderer (Pro Caelio).
Saylor interweaves the cult of Cybele, Roman politics, and the historical trial of Caelius, with the Finder's imaginery family. Many years earlier, Gordianus had bought a fiery Egyptian as a slave, but freed her before the birth of their daughter. His humane treatment of slaves contrasts with Clodia's privileged treatment, ordinary Roman treatment witnessed at the homes where the Egyptian embassy stayed, and brutal treatment by the Alexandrian philosopher. The philosopher himself is real, but probably not his sadistic treatment of female slaves.
The mystery of the philosopher's murder and its solution are almost as intriguing as Saylor's characterization of the familiar, colorful, historical figures of the former lovers, Clodia and Catullus. Catullus, moping about his lost love, is funny, sympathetic, and, of course, witty. Saylor interprets how Catullus would have been able to lambast everyone as soundly as he does, but with impunity. Rumors about Clodia's unnaturally close relationship with her brother, Clodius Pulcher, rampant in the literature of the day, form another sub-theme of this mystery. Other notorious celebrities of the time, Crassus, and Cicero, who will be more important in other books in the sub rosa series, put in guest appearances.
In the end of this thoroughly delightful mystery -- where every appearance is deceiving -- all masks are lifted, and everyone gets exactly what he or she deserves. The plot is gripping, the ending unexpected. The only area where there is anything less than complete attention to detail is in the characterization of the women, but there's a legitimate excuse: since the book is written from the perspective of Gordianus, and Gordianus doesn't understand women. Quiz.
The Venus Throw]
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Review - Steven Saylor - The Venus Throw
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