Agrippa by Robert Harris

Published by Doubleday on September 1, 2026

Fiction that adheres closely to history is a fun way to learn about the past. Agrippa is consistent with my sketchy understanding of ancient history, making it both a useful refresher and a source of new knowledge. The story indulges in a bit of speculation about events of the past, but even that is grounded in the educated guesswork of scholarship.

The book purports to be a memoir penned by Marcus Agrippa as he nears his death from a festering wound. Agrippa’s mother died giving birth to him. Raised by his father in Rome, Agrippa was befriended at school by a weak boy named Octavius after Agrippa protected him from bullies. Agrippa discovers that Octavius is the nephew of Julius Caeser, “the mighty conqueror of Gaul.” For the rest of his life, Agrippa will be a loyal friend to, and living in the shadow of, Octavius.

Familiar names litter the text, including Cicero, Cleopatra, and Mark Antony, but this story belongs to Agrippa. Still, I could not help but compare Caeser to a current but less successful wannabe dictator when Agrippa explains that “the Senate enacted a law declaring [Caeser] a god," a law Caeser celebrates with gold statutes, including one of Cleopatra in the Temple of Venus. I guess self-veneration and a love of gold are common to authoritarian rulers. It was nevertheless heartening to read that the failure of sycophants to warn Caeser of his declining popularity is “how power destroys itself.”

Agrippa and Octavius “grew to maturity together, the years passing to the distant drumbeat of Caesar’s victories.” Although Agrippa’s father is no fan of Caeser, he encourages Agrippa to ask Octavius for a favor. Agrippa’s brother Lucius served in the Republican Army and was taken prisoner in one of Caesar’s endless wars. Agrippa’s father wants Caesar to show mercy to Lucius, a request that Caesar unexpectedly grants. Yet Agrippa breaks with his father because of his admiration for Caesar and devotion to Octavius. Agrippa promises Caeser that he will protect Octavius, whose frailty prevents him from being the warrior that Agrippa is destined to become.

The first significant event in Agrippa’s life is the death of Julius Caeser on the Ides of March. Octavius inherits three quarters of Caeser’s estate but accepting that inheritance means Octavius can never rest. If he does not continue to acquire power, his rivals will catch up with him and put him to death — and Agrippa with him.

Octavius embarks on a plan to become a ruler to rival Julius. Octavius is a cunning politician who uses Agrippa’s military skill to help him assemble the legions he needs to conquer his rivals. The story speeds through a number of Agrippa’s military campaigns, often waged with soldiers who were loyal to Caeser, soldiers eager to avenge his death.

Marc Antony is Octavius’ most dangerous rival, particularly after he gains control of the state treasury. The novel highlights Agrippa’s role in military battles against Antony’s legions, as well as Octavius’ political machinations. I thought it was particularly interesting that soldiers often followed the leader who paid them the most money rather than the leader they thought would be best for the Roman Empire. Robert Harris also makes clear that the citizens of Rome are tired of endless wars and of the leaders who wage them — not that Octavius cares about their concerns.

Harris details the political machinations of Octavius and his advisers, the military triumphs of Agrippa, the shifting alliances that bring Marc Antony and his legions into and out of the service of Rome, the formation of the Triumvirate that will rule the Empire, and the harm caused to Antony’s reputation by his dalliance with Cleopatra. The accomplishments that give Agrippa the greatest pride are not military conquests but civic improvements, from public baths that give the public a chance to relax to aqueducts that deliver fresh water to various parts of Gaul. Octavius, on the other hand, thinks the public would benefit from more statues of Octavius. That’s apparently how authoritarian leaders think, then and now.

On a more personal note, Agrippa writes about his marriages and divorces, some dictated by Octavius to better cement political alliances between families. Over time, Agrippa becomes Octavius’ greatest general yet comes to resent the credit Octavius takes for Agrippa’s achievements. Near the end of his life, when he realizes that his wife has been serially unfaithful to him and that he will have no legacy of his own, he wonders whether it has all been worth it. The story accordingly has a bittersweet ending.

Harris’ take on ancient history is entertaining, but its greater worth may lie in the lessons Agrippa imparts. The general understands that “wars would not occur unless they were fought by men too young and reckless to understand the risks they are taking.” The populace will always tire of endless war, no matter how righteous the causes appear to be, and will eventually recognize the difference between a righteous war of defense and a war that is waged only to further the ends of the powerful.

Agrippa realizes that the notion of sharing power is nice in theory, but the concept that a leader will “hold power for a limited period, sharing it with others, and then be obliged to surrender it or face prosecution” is “no longer operative” when “force rules all.” That lesson too has relevance to modern America. Backbiters like Cicero — “brilliant and duplicitous and entirely self-interested” — have counterparts in any number of modern politicians. Even the notion of blockading a port to deprive an enemy of resources has its current parallel.

A book based on history (that is not an alternative history) holds few surprises — unless we count Agrippa’s speculation that he is the illegitimate son of Julian Caeser (Harris credits an historian for that theory while acknowledging the absence of strong evidence that it is true). While Agrippa may therefore lack the dramatic tension of strong fiction, it recreates the drama of one of history’s most eventful periods, while adding convincing characterization to one of history’s most important (but lesser known) characters.

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An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

Published in Great Britain in 2013; published by Knopf on January 28, 2014

An Officer and a Spy is a fictionalized account of the Dreyfus affair. Since the unjust conviction of Alfred Dreyfus is a matter of record, the novel holds few surprises. It nevertheless tells a compelling story and serves as a reminder that claims of national security and the need for secret trials too often mask the weakness of the evidence upon which the government relies, as well as the improper motivations that contribute to the prosecution. In the case of Dreyfus, anti-Semitism and the desire for political gain fueled the false accusation that Dreyfus passed military secrets to the Germans and encouraged investigators to discount evidence that pointed to the guilt of a less consequential suspect.

An Officer and a Spy tells the story in the first-person, from the perspective of Major Marie-Georges Picquart, who attended (and played a small part in) Dreyfus' court martial. After Picquart is promoted and placed in charge of the Statistical Section -- the French military's espionage service -- his new job brings him into contact with disturbing evidence that casts doubt upon Dreyfus' guilt. Neither Picquart's growing realization that the real traitor is still at large nor the likelihood that an innocent man has been imprisoned are of interest to the officers whose careers depend on covering up their mistakes -- even if the cover-up requires them to destroy Picquart.

The drama in An Officer and a Spy is low-key but palpable. More important than the historical facts (which are deftly handled but not really the subject of fiction) is Picquart's internal struggle, his burgeoning sense of guilt at the role he played in securing Dreyfus' conviction and the career boost he received from it. The conflict between Picquart's duty to his superiors (who just want him to shut up) and his higher duty to truth and justice provides the novel's moral focus as well as its dramatic tension. That Picquart's life is complicated by an affair he has long been having with a friend's wife adds an element of interest to his character, in part because it provides his enemies with ammunition to use against him.

Robert Harris sums up the novel's thesis in a sentence near the end: "There are occasions when losing is a victory, so long as there is a fight." Picquart seems fated to lose everything he values -- everything except his integrity and sense of honor. Through Picquart, Harris makes the case that fighting what appears to be a hopeless fight is preferable to surrendering virtue. Justice is often difficult to achieve -- sometimes it is won belatedly, sometimes only in the judgment of history, and sometimes not even then -- but the fight for justice is an end in itself. An Officer and a Spy is a stirring illustration of that lesson.

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