The Horse Changer
Set over the course of Rome’s Civil Wars (1st century BC) and with its jumping off point Horace’s Ode to Dellius, Smith imagines the life of the real Quintus Dellius, a tribune of cavalry in Julius Caesar’s army. A young Tuscan warrior, he begins under the patronage of Caesar’s general Cornelius Dolabella, a dissolute young warrior who introduces his country boy relative to the fleshpots of Rome. And to the man who becomes his hero: Julius Caesar. Once Caesar and his general are assassinated, Dellius jockeys in and out of the shifting allegiances of succession.
As he fights for position and survival, Dellius mixes in the company, and at the pleasure of historical personages including Octavian, Mark Antony, Horace, Cassius, and Cleopatra. His most fated encounter is a love affair with Livia Drusilla, who will go on to become Empress of the Roman Empire.
The tumultuous times provide The Horse Changer with many tense battle and intrigue scenes that are well-drawn and page-turning. But the character of Dellius himself seems often more acted upon than acting in historical events. Sometimes this provides good reading, as when he is saved by his friend Horace’s glib tongue when about to be executed by Antony and Octavian. But his character is so lacking in introspection that illumination of the time and its actors was not fully achieved for this reader.
