Bøger af David Warren

Fractures is a fictional study of Roman politics at multiple levels: within a family, within a clan, among a variety of politicians in Rome, and between Rome and other states. In 151 BC Servius Fulvius Flaccus has returned from a tour of duty in Hispania, been part of the Triumph of his last commander, and now wants to resume his real work: advancing through the public offices that a man of his rank should be able to hold. Still, Servius has his work cut out for him. He has to find ways to use his new money. He has to establish himself in the inner circle of his remote father and his father's most important advisor, Cousin Quintus. And he has to follow the orders of Marcus Porcius Cato, his political patron, who intends to force the senate to declare war against Carthage. Servius's father wants to give Servius a thorough understanding of the collection of estates and businesses that he may inherit. This means Servius gets another assignment: to travel throughout Italy and audit the books of all his father's villas. Luckily for Servius, his trips outside Rome are carefully timed so that he can help Cato when Cato needs him, and can at other times be kept where he can run into no political harm. Servius's father also directs him to pull together a coalition that can help elect the candidates his father favors in the elections seven or eight months away. Servius immediately begins to use the formal suppers his slave, Telamon, prepares to lure to his house the men he wants to use politically. And, in the process of getting ready for the coming elections, Servius collects information and political support that his father needs. Meanwhile, Cato gives Servius the task of bringing Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus into an alliance that will break the logjam in the senate blocking war with Carthage. Servius carries out his responsibilities. In other years, he would have been rewarded with an appointment in the legions sent to Carthage. However, Cato decides he is indispensible and excludes him from the most lucrative war in Rome's recent history. Cato has found another enemy whom Servius must help destroy. Galba, of the generals still fighting to in Hispania, made a treaty with the invading Lusitani. In this treaty he agreed to give the marauders a whole tract of land on the highlands of the peninsula in return for the Lusitani turning over their weapons to him. When the barbarians disarmed, Galba's legions slaughtered all the men and then sold all the women and children as slaves. Cato has resolved to punish Galba for this treacherous act. Both of Cato's campaigns require the election of compliant magistrates. Servius and the elders of his clan are active players in Cato's political success. Servius's relatives do not believe Cato can successful in prosecute Galba. But Servius has to work on that prosecution. He also has to do it so that, somehow, his family is not damaged by Cato's failure. Servius has other problems within the family. While auditing the books of his father's properties, Servius discovers a cleverly disguised fraud. He finds that his father's lifelong, trusted, business manager has been skimming the profits and buying land of his own with them. When Servius brings this to his father's attention, his father is not grateful. He punishes Servius and the two became estranged. None of this matters to Cato who finally manages to bring Galba before an assembly with the power to condemn him. Although no one thinks Galba is in real danger, Cato makes the speech of his long life and Galba's defense falls apart. Meanwhile, the legions in Africa do not have the quick success they expected against Carthage. One misstep after another gives Carthage time to become an increasingly dangerous opponent. Cato, exhausted by his attack on Galba and 87 years old, is too weak, to carry out his final campaign. To no one's surprise, the old man dies, leaving Servius feeling abandoned, and Rome in dee

This is the story of Rome's final destruction of Carthage after almost 150 years of on again, off again warfare. Although Rome committed more soldiers to this war than any other outside of Italy, the ultimate victory (inevitable though it seems now, and seemed then) was far more difficult than expected. And the consequences of the victory were not as good as expected. The victory elevated some Roman politicians over others for fifteen or twenty years. The victory gave Romans opportunities in other arenas for twenty-five or thirty years. But neither of these circumstances saved Rome from surprising wars and unexpected economic hardships. Even during Rome's victorious last campaign, a sceptical but intelligent observer could have begun to home in on why even total annihilation was not going to produce an era of peace and prosperity.

In 153 BC, after three generations of Roman government and misgovernment, both the eastern, "nearer," province of Roman Spain: "Citerior," and the distant western province: "Ulterior," flame with violent insurrections, revolts further fueled by invaders from from unconquered Lusitania. Alarmed by these uprisings the Roman senate has ordered two newly elected magistrates, the Consul, Quintus Fulvius Nobilior and the Praetor, Lucius Mummius, to put out the fires in Hispania. Servius Fulvius Flaccus joins the army of his "half-uncle" Nobilior as a Military Tribune commanding a cohort of legionaries. Although the senate expects the Consul to quickly bring order to Citerior, Servius recognizes that Nobilior's two legions of new recruits are as unseasoned as most of their politically appointed officers. They are in no shape to fight lethal barbarians who have a string of victories to their credit over previous Roman armies. He believes that Nobilior has not given enough attention to bringing his soldiers up to a professional level. So Servius goes to work to whip his assigned cohort into shape. It is his duty, he reasons, and it is also the only way he and they will get out of Hispania alive. Servius's actions gather a group of like-minded officers around him. Although Servius and his cohort become conspicuously valuable in a series of clashes, Nobilior seizes an unexpected opportunity to rid himself of his maverick half-nephew by loaning Servius to the Praetor, Mummius - shifting Servius to Ulterior, away from his friends. Servius makes a name for himself serving under Mummius by taking on new challenges. In Mummus's army he learns more than he expected about the nature of the subjects Rome is attempting to discipline, about failures even good leaders can suffer on the road to success, and about the prices a leader and his men must pay to secure victory and respect. Servius also learns surprising political lessons. These insights range from how to handle his divided personal staff to the consequences of changes of leadership at the very top of the Roman political system. Servius establishes his value to Nobilior, Mummius, and to several of their highest ranking subordinates. He discreetly whispers political information from Rome into appropriate ears. He has the his first confrontation with Scipio, his patron, and the Cornelian set. Through one transition after another Servius makes useful friends, assembles political denendents, builds alliances, and establishes his credibility as a man other citizens must respect in public affairs. Escaping disease, death in battle, and ambushes both miltary and poltical, Servius Fulvius Flaccus eventually returns to Rome in 151 BC - to celebrate the Triumph of his final commander, and to apply his new understanding and his hard-earned reputation to the problem of personal advancement along the tricky paths of Roman politics. A Man of Weight is a story of conflict: between the Roman Republic and its subject populations and among members of the Roman governing class. It explores the nature of the Roman army and the ways in which Roman leaders raised and used it. Readers of novels about Rome's eventual transformation into an autocracy, such as the books of Robert Harris, Colleen McCullough, and Steven Saylor, may also enjoy the back story behind events in those books.

Servius Fulvius Flaccus returns from the war at Carthage expecting that he now has the opportunity to make political moves. However, his earliest realization is that Scipio Africanus, his patron and recent commander, has not chosen Servius as one of the men he intends to advance. Swallowing his resentment, Servius begins to maneuver, intending to act so shrewdly that he will be impossible to ignore. As he works on behalf of his cousins, Quintus and Gaius Fulvius, he learns of past scandals in their branch of the family, of which he was not conscious. His efforts to surface the unfavorable incidents and dilute the damage they might do contributes to political schisms between major families that were already heating up. When Rome learns that instability in both provinces of Hispania has gone from bad to worse, and Rome, once again, needs to put armies in harm's way, Servius works ingeniously to make that effort possible. Servius congratulates himself on his small successes, but he still has a distance to travel before he can occupy major magistracies of the City. Not only must he become known as a sound political force, he must find a source of continuing revenue that will finance his career. Working through where he might find money, he realizes that his only real opportunity is to return to territory where the residents know him and may recognize that doing business through him may be profitable. He puts together an expedition to travel back through Illyricum and Macedonia - the region where he had success before going to Africa to join in destroying Carthage. The journey is not as easy as Servius had hoped. His companions, chosen so that Servius could educate and impress them, watch him struggle to deal with the Illyrians and the Roman provincial government. He and they risk their lives repeatedly, eventually being reduced to rowing the ships that bring them to Corinth. Corinth is in the throes of demolition. Lucius Mummius, the victorious general, disagrees with the senate's "advice" to totally obliterate the defeated city. He grasps at Servius as his last hope to change that policy and rushes him back to Rome with petitions to the men who run things there. Servius accepts the task and re-enters the complicated tangle of interclan contention. He has learned more than he expected since returning from Africa, (especially on his journey), about topics he had never considered. And he has managed, despite his difficulties, to set up some future moves.

Distraction is a story about difficulties the Romans had in preserving an empire. In 149 BC they took on a major war. While fighting that war, they found themselves trying to preserve their control over other territory and people (previously pacified) not entirely satisfied at being semi-dependent. In late 149 BC the largest Roman army to take the field in two generations is muddling around, at Carthage, its leaders apparently confused or intimidated. The consuls in Africa had successfully demanded that the Carthaginians turn over all weapons. But the Carthaginians had refused the Roman demand that they leave their city and go anywhere else in the world, as long as they did not build another city within ten miles of the sea. When Carthage locked the gates in its world famous walls, the consuls could not find a successful next step. The senate had entered this war after a decade or more of whipping by Marcus Porcius Cato. Cato's death has opened opportunities for factions and disagreements to begin again. The majority of the senate wants to focus all Rome's resources on the war in Africa. The lack of progress in Africa, however, is almost universally criticized. Senators who opposed the war for years are beginning to attack the entire enterprise. Meanwhile, an unwelcome and improbable sideshow begins in Macedon. Rome put an end to the kingdom of Macedonia in 167 BC. In place of a single monarchy, the Romans divided the area into four client republics with four capitals and four sets of officials with in practically all domestic affairs. Now, word comes to Rome that an imposter claiming to be the heir of the last Macedonian king is attempting to restore the monarchy. The senate assigns one of its most important and well known members, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, the task of going to Macedon and putting down the rebellion. The senators want Nasica to do this quickly and cheaply. They do not give him an army, soldiers are needed in Africa. They do give him money to use at his discretion. And they give him a small staff to use however he sees fit. Servius Fulvius Flaccus, in deep trouble with his father, is lucky enough to be handed to Nasica as his chief subordinate. Servius is glad to escape Rome and travel across the Adriatic in midwinter. His first assignment is to establish diplomatic relations with the Illyrians along the Adriatic coast. The Illyrians have always been crazily independent, piratical, savages. Servius has his eyes opened almost daily as he tries to persuade them to support the Romans opposing the mysterious pretender in nearby Macedon. And, as it turns out, the Romans need all the help they can get. The only roman military force in the area eventually catches the imposter and this army - and is shattered. Nasica and Servius have to find political and diplomatic ways to obstruct the pretender until the senate allocates a real army under a competent commander to restore order. When Nasica and Servius return to Rome, they find that the big war in Africa goes from bad to worse. Citizens are so disgruntled at the failure at Carthage that they want to put an entire new regime in power. They do not care that there is no legal way to do this. The City and its long standing practices evolved through centuries of conflict and resolution face a political crisis. Romans want the heir of the last man to defeat the Carthaginians to take on the current war. Servius takes part in the complex maneuvers that result in a barely legal coup by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus. Servius's father died while Servius was away among the Illyrians and Macedonians. Now, Servius runs the Fulvii Flacci, and he manages to earn credits from all sides as he struggles to maintain the institutions to which he and his family are dedicated.

SERVIUS FULVIUS FLACCUS RETURNS TO ROME AFTER almost two years of war in Hispania. He soon learns that all of Italy is short of food and that the Roman population is in an uproar over the behavior of its newly elected censors. THE ELECTION OF THE CENSORS EARLIER IN THE YEAR was politically shattering. NOT BECAUSE of the plebeian selection. Lucius Mummius, famous and popular because he had quickly defeated and dismantled Corinth during the war with the Achaean League two years before, had easily outpaced his inferior opponents. The election of a patrician censor was entirely different. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS AEMILIANUS, the eventual choice, WAS challenged by Appius Claudius Pulcher. Africanus had conquered the Carthaginians and razed their terrifying city three years earlier. Many citizens, however, were inclined toward Claudius, a master politician who put together a bone-crushing campaign that almost defeated Africanus. NOW THE TWO CENSORS ARE AT ODDS. AFRICANUS, still angry that he had such a struggle to reach his office and further insulted because Mummius is by age and the first candidate chosen the senior censor, insists on standards almost impossible for the censors' assistants to reach. Mummius threatens to veto Africanus's extreme proposals. The census appears to be on the verge of an unprecedented collapse. SERVIUS FULVIUS, LONG A CLIENT OF AFRICANUS and a loyal friend OF Mummius, arrives to act as a buffer between the two pre-eminent politicians in the City. He sets to work hoping that the next year's struggles will not ruin his future career.

In the previous year, Rome finally defeated and demolished Carthage. At the same time, a war in the Peloponnese gave Rome the excuse to take complete, direct control of most of the Greek cities. The question the senate faces is whether to demolish Corinth, the richest city in Greece, or use it as a source of continuing profits. Servius Fulvius Flaccus returns to Rome with an assignment, make the senate rethink its plan to tear Corinth down and sell its inhabitants as slaves. The victorious general, Lucius Mummius, has decided the best course is to restore and control the city. The senate thinks otherwise. And the senate is soon confronted with other suggestions, about other issues, that threaten to disrupt orderly practices centuries in the making. Servius Fulvius involves himself in political fights that he is not sure are worth the full attention of Rome. What Rome really needs to do is settle its richest provinces, Citerior and Ulterior, in Hispania - both threatened by revolt and invasion headed by a very effective enemy general. Working behind the scenes, Servius addresses this real issue, meanwhile setting up his own election as an officer in the army that will extinguish the struggles in Hispania. But other crises intervene and Servius Fulvius finds himself dedicated to tasks that he believes are distractions.

In 155 BC, Servius Fulvius Flaccus is handed a big farm near Salernum and travels south from Rome to manage it. Servius knows he is inexperienced. Although Servius is 23 years old and a veteran of a campaign against the Gauls, his father has kept him from taking any independent action. He understands that he must learn his job while maintaining a mask of authority and decisiveness. From the first day, he uncovers surprises - most of them bad. Most unexpectedly, a slave insurrection reaches Servius's farm just after his arrival. Fighting the renegades introduces Servius to Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus. Scipio is the headman of a dominant political faction in Rome: famous, competent, and quirky. Servius decides that his connection with Scipio is as lucky as the slave revolt was unlucky. Servius knows about politics. He is already working to further his march through the offices that ratify importance in Rome. Scipio's influence is something he can use. But Scipio is not Servius's only political asset. Servius is also a favorite of Marcus Porcius Cato, the former Censor, and probably the most famous man of his era. Of course, Cato is extremely old and he cannot live forever. But he has agreed to visit Servius's farm and give him some advice - including political advice. When Cato arrives he brings startling news. After almost fifty years or Roman rule, natives of the Iberian Peninsula are mutinous. Cato advises Servius to prepare for a lifetime trying to pacify Hispania. He also enlists Servius in a campaign that will reform the processes that have placed venal governors over the Hispanic provinces. Young Master is a story of incipient transformations: detailing the pace and currents of everyday life during the Roman Republic, dramatizing the normal expectations of men who run things, and tracing the roots of crises that will fracture the consensus which is the bedrock of Rome's safety, stability, and wealth. Readers of novels about Rome's eventual transformation into an autocracy, such as those by Robert Harris, Colleen McCullough, and Steven Saylor, may also enjoy the back story behind the events in those books.

Romans had tried to impose order on the Iberian Peninsula for three generations. The native populations there have finally found a leader who can go toe to toe with their foreign governors, a man named Viriathus. This novel is about the Roman efforts to defeat Viriathus and his ingenious attempts to turn the tables on the invaders.

David Warren has been writing when time permits for the past forty years, just because he enjoys writing, mainly short stories in the fantasy genre. Over the years, he has developed a taste for mystery novels. It was Arthur C. Clark that said to aspiring writers, "Dream it, think it and write it." When the thought came to Warren for this story, he had to put it down on paper, and that's how this story came to be. About the AuthorDavid Warren was born and raised in Manchester, Connecticut. He lived with his grandparents on their small farm, was a member of 4H, and attended Eastern Connecticut State University. He traveled about before settling back in Connecticut with his wife, stepchildren, and grandchildren. Warren is an avid small aircraft pilot and sailboat enthusiast. The Mansion is his first of hopefully many published works.