Augustus: The Golden Age of Rome

The story of Octavian is, as a matter of pure political history, one of the most intriguing of all time: the physically unimpressive, inexperienced teenager who survives his uncle's assassination to navigate his way to the supreme leadership of the world's greatest military empire. The story of Octavian necessitates the telling of the stories of Brutus, Cicero and Marcus Antonius, the saga of Cleopatra and Aggripa's triumph at Actium. Baker does this very well indeed, but his narrative of this tale lacks the sharpness of his Sulla bio. Three quarters of the book is pre-Augustan, leaving relatively little consideration to the years as imperator. (For this, I recommend the chapter in Grant's Twelve Caesars.) Still, a literate and well paced narrative.