Book and Movie Reports by Ed

book report: Imperium, by Robert Harris “Imperium” is the Latin word for the highest official power in Rome: the power to command in the name of the republic. Those with Imperium were called Imperator, literally “commander”, from which we eventually get the word emperor. In the ancient Roman republic, the highest public office, the one with Imperium, was the one-year elected post of consul. As with the American presidency, this was the pinnacle of a political career. In this terrific historical novel, Harris traces the career of one real Roman who sought and achieved Imperium: Cicero. Many people have heard of the name Cicero, but don’t know who he was. He was a politician and attorney who lived in a time when the aristocrats – the nobility – of Rome dominated the Senate and the rest of the government. But Cicero wasn’t an aristocrat. He came from a fairly prosperous family, and got a good education, but was not wealthy or royal in any sense. Instead, he had to use his skill