The Course Of Honour

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A Novel no seu Kindle em menos de um minuto. Detalhes do produto Capa comum: Arrow 28 de fevereiro de Idioma: Seja o primeiro a avaliar este item. Compartilhe seus pensamentos com outros clientes. I have been reading the "Falco" Roman informer series and have enjoyed each book thus far read for various reasons.

It is truly wonderful to then find out much more about characters that appear in some of the books of a series. Since Vespasian is a very prominent part of the"Falco" books, this story enhanced knowing more not only about him but also about those who's' influence mattered the most to him. Getting his love story in this book helped to enhance the man the Emperor who had not much of a background history in the "Falco" series. It answered a lot of the questions that I had about him and Caenis. Reading a love story that had such a rich history to it, made it hard to put down.

I either read longer than I had planned or stayed up reading well after midnight. It was not sappy nor too expressive with the couple's physical love sessions. They we written like a great old classic movie couple.


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Passion and devotion very apparent but coming across with a certain class and style. If you are a fan of the "Falco" Roman informer series, this is a must read. It is also a book that can be read and enjoyed without even having read any of the "Falco" books. Of course, I haven't read that many romances, being an old guy, but still I've read quite a few. I'm a lifelong reader of novels and I've read many of just about every kind and genre. I majored in English in college and there I read a bunch of classic novels, very carefully,for credit! The prime criterion for a good novel I've developed over the years is this: None of that is done here.

The novel is historically accurate, and culturally accurate as well. Ancient Rome was a rough place, and the main focus of its men seems to have been winning battles and accruing high status among other men, not pleasing their women. Accordingly, we don't have here a male love hero who is an exquisitely sensitive lover, or any of a number of other things such as fabulously rich that a woman reader of today might enjoy hearing about.

Instead, what he is is a man of good character something of prime importance to Romans who is destined to do great things. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The Course of Honor by Lindsey Davis. The Course of Honor 4. Rome in the first century A. It also saw the rise of Vespasian, the destitute son of a provincial senator who brought peace to the empire after years of strife, court intrigue, and murder.

Written from the perspective of Caenis, a female slave who was Ve Rome in the first century A. Written from the perspective of Caenis, a female slave who was Vespasian's forbidden love, the future emperor advances in his climactic struggle for power.

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But as Vespasian brings hope to the people of Rome Paperback , pages. Published February 1st by Mysterious Press first published February 25th To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Course of Honor , please sign up.


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Lists with This Book. Lindsey Davis likes Vespasian. She likes him a great deal as even a cursory reading of her M Didius Falco series proves.

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From what little we know of her, she appears to have enjoyed an unprecedented relationship with Vespasian. One extraordinary enough to warrant at least passing mention in the histories that have come down to us. One which, given our lack of sources, is ripe for exploration. Davis focuses on the personal relationship between Caenis and Vespasian and does a good job of making both of them real people, Caenis particularly. This is Davis' retelling of the lifelong love between Vespasian and Antonia Caenis. He was proceeding through the cursus honorum [Course of honour], a graduated series of political positions which Roman patrician or equestrian young men would follow, from aedile to senator with possibility to rise to Consul.

Caenis' personality and actions are purely from Davis's imagination. Caenis is mentioned only briefly in This is Davis' retelling of the lifelong love between Vespasian and Antonia Caenis. Caenis is mentioned only briefly in Suetonius and there also remains a funerary stone with her name and inscription on it erected by her freedman. Vespasian, his actions, and the main events surrounding him are based on an extensive passage in Suetonius.

The couple maintains their love over decades; she becomes his mistress before his marriage. When he marries, she breaks off their affair. After his wife dies, he seeks out Caenis after many years. They becomes lovers again and she his concubine when he becomes emperor: Roman marriage law forbade marriage between people of their respective classes.

This is a beautiful story with no graphic descriptions. I usually don't read love stories, but this was an marvellous exception, the story of two strong, decent people. I only wonder why the historical Emperor Vespasian never changed that law Nov 04, Linda rated it really liked it Shelves: This is the story of two young people who meet for the first time over the comforting scent of food.

A sausage in particular. Vespasian and his brother are soldiers wandering through Rome when they smell something delicious. They are humbled when they meet Caenis, a young slave, who shares the meager portion of her meal with them. Vespasian will remember this special woman. Caenis belonged to Antonia, a high-ranking woman. Both intelligent and cautious, her job was to write letters for her mistress.

Eventually she would become Antonia's favorite. This allowed her luxuries that few slaves had such as companionship. When Vespasian returned to Rome two years later, he sought her out. The strange part was there was an antiquated law issued by a now-dead emperor that forbade soldiers from having relationships with slaves and freed-people. Given permission to meet with him, Caenis is both leery and happy while in Vespasian's presence.

She knows that any suspicious act is justification to be put to death. Vespasian is turned away on several occasions by Caenis but it is for his own good. She is as much concerned about him as she is for herself. Each time they see each other their relationship matures. They were talking like two outsiders from society. They talked for months they had already missed and the period of Vespasian's coming tour; openly and easily, sharing rudeness and laughter, discovery and surprise; until lunchtime, and into the afternoon.

They talked until they were tired. My biggest complaint was getting use to the author's clipped form of speech that her characters use periodically.

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Also, some might be turned off by Caenis's form of arrogance when she dealt with others. But caution comes to mind, she never took anything for granted; she was raised as a slave after all. Other than that, Ms. Davis did a good job letting me take a glimpse into an era that few people write about.

Her description of everyday life felt spot-on. Several times she managed to make me lose track that I was reading a book. Be aware that this is first and foremost a book on historical fiction. It covered a horrifying time if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time: Financial difficulties would haunt the soldier most of his life. Because of who they were these two would never be allowed to marry. The last decade of her life was spent separated from Vespasian on many occasions and it made for an underwhelming conclusion in The Course of Honor but it fit the storyline. This is about the course of honor or cursus honorum, Latin for course of offices, and how it influenced men who aspired to hold public office during Roman times.

Davis wrote an entertaining narrative. It contains flawed main characters; neither of them was beautiful or perfect. The setting is unusual and there is some delicious word-play.

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Take yourself out of your comfort zone, like I did, and give this book a try. Davis's style of writing, she has written a mystery series with a witty detective named Marcus Didius Falco that works on cases during Vespasian's reign as emperor. Jun 23, Jeanette rated it really liked it. My favorite Lindsey Davis and now I read it was her early work left in a drawer for 20 years. Excellent detail and all the quirks of human psychological attitudes- always both, bring stories of years ago in the past- fresh to this very day.

Oct 25, Sarah rated it it was ok. Something about Lindsey Davis' writing style really bugs me. Large chunks of this novel consisted of her abandoning her lacklustre plot to retell Roman history in her own words, which to me misses the point of historical fiction.

The Course of Honour

Plus, the hero and heroine were always spouting the cheesiest one-liners at each other and I kept coming across entire sentences in italics for no reason at all. View all 9 comments. Sep 13, M. One of the things I enjoyed about this novel was that it was thoroughly grounded in actual history and that this added rather than detracted from the love story because it gave the tale perspective.

Moreover, both characters accepted that Vespasian had to follow the cursus honorum if he was ever to make anything of himself. Here are two intelligent people drawn to each other but knowing they can never marry if one or both are to succeed and be self-supporting; yet later in life, they manage to r One of the things I enjoyed about this novel was that it was thoroughly grounded in actual history and that this added rather than detracted from the love story because it gave the tale perspective.

Here are two intelligent people drawn to each other but knowing they can never marry if one or both are to succeed and be self-supporting; yet later in life, they manage to reunite when he is widowed and can do as he likes because he has become the ultimate power, which has not corrupted him as it did previous others. A remarkable story, really, and all the more fascinating because it was true, for the most part. Not to mention that Davis is one hell of a good storyteller in addition to a deft writer who incorporates history without being heavy handed about it.

Jan 21, Minni Mouse added it Shelves: Whereas Kate Quinn can write her historical fictions with passion and cruelty -- all the while staying close to true events and true history -- Course of Honor felt like regular history. The writing was detached and unbiased -- which worked effectively in Mistress of Rome -- but in this book it read as dry and factual as a textbook. Rich in historical accuracy, sure, but if I wanted non-fiction I would have grabbed non-fiction.

Aug 20, Malacima rated it liked it Shelves: Sep 25, Kendra rated it really liked it. When I picked this book up from the library and saw its hand-drawn, almost cartoonish cover, I figured I was in for just another random historical fiction novel. One I would finish reading, shrug, and say, Meh. Yes, I totally judged a book by the cover. The amount of books that have made me cry are relatively small in number maybe six or seven , so imagine my surprise when this assumed to be meh book had me leaking from the eyes like nobody's business!

When Caenis and Vespa When I picked this book up from the library and saw its hand-drawn, almost cartoonish cover, I figured I was in for just another random historical fiction novel. When Caenis and Vespasian first got together, I thought, "They are perfect together! This will be such a cute book. Just the way it was written, I guess, tugged at my heartstrings a whole lot. It's hard, at first, learning to live without the one you love, and Caenis does it for twenty frigging years! So fast forward those twenty years. Reading it, even when Caenis wasn't doing anything in particular, I was very melancholy on her behalf.

Cue the tears of happiness! I really enjoyed Veronica, her best friend since they were ten, who also buys her freedom and sets up a very exclusive brothel. Is it weird that that seemed like an awesome idea? She is a delightfully comedic constant throughout Caenis's life and just thinking about her passing away with her oldest friend beside her makes me want to cry. When Vespasian is declared Emperor, Caenis doesn't want to cause him any scandal so she writes him a letter saying that they can't be together anymore and moves back into her old house.

Pretty much from that letter until the end of the book, I was in tears, sad ones and then very happy. It didn't matter that these were characters of real people, which makes it that much more of a happy ending from thousands of years ago; the author was able to create characters that I really liked and could empathize with, and I would read it all over again, uncontrollable eye leaking and all. Dec 11, Gaile rated it it was ok Shelves: Titus Flavius Vespanianus meets Caenis, a slave girl in their youth. Caenis knows she is not beautiful but she is clever and she had been plucked from other slave girls to be educated.

Now secretary to Antonia, the widow of the son of the Empress Livia, Caenis is without illusions.


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    4. She knows she is not beautiful. She knows she is a worthless slave. Vespanianus has ambitions in politics. Never once does Caenis hold him back but never does she go against her principles. Caenis lives through nine emp Titus Flavius Vespanianus meets Caenis, a slave girl in their youth. Caenis lives through nine emperors. She achieves the status of freed woman and is at last able to purchase her own home. Meanwhile Vespanius is posted to distant regions, marries another and has children.

    During this time they remain in love. The story meanders between politics, the antics of each succeeding emperor, one of whom is Nero and the love between Caenis and Vespasian. Somewhat dryly written and often showing rather than telling, only the desire to know the fate of Caenis kept me reading. Caenis actually lived and if you know Roman history, you know what happened to Vespanius. I do not really care for the writing style of Ms Davis. Unlike her series this book does have the background and feel of ancient Rome except when Vespanius calls Caenis, "lass," when I abruptly think of Scotland which is still far in the future.

    The word, "lass'" is incongruous to the time in which this novel is set. May 11, Nicky Moxey rated it it was amazing. I find it unbelievable but very heartening, for my own literary efforts that this, Ms Davis' first novel, struggled to find a publisher. I much prefer it to her Falco books, for instance. I love the delicacy with which the relationship's distances are played out; and I'm planning on stealing her handling of time passing for my next novel.

    A lovely, intricate, sensitive read. Very interesting character portrait of the freedwoman who became the Roman Emperor Vespasian's concubine. Makes me want to read a biography about her. For one, I'm an avid fan of anything ancient Rome, and two, I'm fascinated with the Emperor Vespasian; there was such a piece of melodrama in his death, with him going out saying "Oh dear, I think I'm becoming a god! And I was sorely let down.