Cursus Honorum and Amemus

In anticipation of the upcoming release of Cursus Honorum being published by Less Than Three Press,

I’ve decided to share my inspirations for both Cursus Honorum and Amemus, since they share genres.

I started Latin classes in High School and even managed to get a Latin minor in college. While it’s been some years since I’ve done serious translations, I’ve always been inspired by the literature that I was exposed to. Ovid is by far my favorite author, but since Cursus Honorum  and Amemus have none of him in them… whatever!

I’ll start with Catullus, who was the most romantic (and crude) poet that I’ve translated. His poem 5, written to a love interested called Lesbia, starts with the line

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus

Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love.

To me, the poem is about passionate and desperate love, despite what the world around them might think. I wanted to use a word/phrase from this poem and so I chose ‘amemus’ or ‘let us love’.

In Amemus, I wanted to explore the rolls of gladiators and slaves in ancient Rome (or around 65-70 BC). I’ve always found it interesting how varied slaves could be. They could be prisoners of war, people in debt, former criminals, etc. They could be Roman or they could be foreigners. Often, especially for those in debt, slaves could earn a small amount of money from their masters and ‘buy’ back their freedom. If a master was kind, they could free a slave and the slave might stay with the master as a paid servant. Of course, the treatment of slaves could vary greatly and many children were used as slaves (often to pay off their parent’s crimes/debts). But, as an American with our own history of slavery, it was interesting for me to explore another culture’s interpretation.

I also chose to write about gladiators for similar reasons. Gladiators were, for the most part, slaves. Yet they could rise up like superstars to the general Roman public. They had fans and supporters (if they were good enough) and could potentially free themselves. Of course, many gladiators were criminals and often were put in games as form of execution.

It was fun to play around with these ideas and to explore the city of Capua, as opposed to Rome. I just wanted my characters to walk around and interact with the scenery and culture and each other. Which is practically the reason why I have the 'Bathhouse Scene of Much Gratuity'.

For Cursus Honorum, I wanted to explore the other side of the Roman Republic (at around 146 BC). Instead of slaves and gladiators, I wanted to try out the patricians and politicians. Cursus honorum translates to ‘course of offices’ or the path a politician would take to rise in the government. It was rather strict, both by the age of the applicant as well as the path they must take. It would be like if an aspiring American politician wanted to become president, then they would have to first be a mayor, then a governor, then a congressman, than a senator, etc. It appealed to me to have a character in the middle of this progression, constantly trying to reach ever higher for the better position. They would have to be someone exciting and social, constantly having to make allies with other powerful politicians.

Politics and military exploits have always gone together since ancient times and Rome was certainly not excluded. But not every smooth talking politician is going to be a great military fighter. So it was rather common in the Republic for politicians and honored military generals to ally themselves. It is one of the reasons why I set the story in 146 BC, the end of the third Punic War and when the current pro-consul was paired with a strong general.

I just loved the idea of putting together a roughened war veteran against the softness of a pampered city politician. And, of course, I got to put them in Rome during the height of the Republic and the Roman Forum. In Amemus, I got to have my gratuitous bathhouse scene, in Cursus Honorum, I got to have gratuitous party scenes. And I got to have my characters walk around fancy Roman villas.

Also, my main inspirations for the parties were definitely from Petronius’ Satyricon. Which, if you are into crude humor, orgies, crazy dinner parties, and two men battling to woo a young male slave, then you should definitely check it out.

What’s up next for my Roman inspired romances? I’m hoping to get a little lesbian loving in there ;)