History Literature / SPQR

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Referenced InUniverse by Decius in ''The King's Gambit''. He reflects that Roman propaganda has an annoying, though understandable, tendency to make a superman out of any foreign general or potentate who is even moderately successful at contesting Rome on the battlefield, whether it's [[UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca Hannibal]], Jugurtha, or (as is the case in that year) Mithridates VI, under whose rule Pontus has stubbornly resisted conquest for long enough that he is painted to Roman audiences as a Herculean strongman who could ''"outdrink, outfight, and out-fornicate"'' any ten Roman men half his age - which at that time is pushing seventy.

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Referenced InUniverse by Decius in ''The King's Gambit''. He reflects that Roman propaganda has an annoying, though understandable, tendency to make a superman out of any foreign general or potentate who is even moderately successful at contesting Rome on the battlefield, whether it's Hannibal, Jugurtha, or (as is the case in that year) Mithridates VI, under whose rule Pontus has stubbornly resisted conquest for long enough that he is painted to Roman audiences as a Herculean strongman who could ''"outdrink, outfight, and out-fornicate"'' any ten Roman men half his age - which at that time is pushing seventy.

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Referenced InUniverse by Decius in ''The King's Gambit''. He reflects that Roman propaganda has an annoying, though understandable, tendency to make a superman out of any foreign general or potentate who is even moderately successful at contesting Rome on the battlefield, whether its UsefulNotes/{{Hannibal}}, Jugurtha, or (as is the case in that year) Mithridates VI, under whose rule Pontus has stubbornly resisted conquest for long enough that he is painted to Roman audiences as a Herculean strongman who could ''"outdrink, outfight, and out-fornicate"'' any ten Roman men half his age - which at that time is pushing seventy.

* Hidden Depths: Decius is outwardly your prototypical HardBoiledDetective, doing what he has to do to please his family but paying little more than lip service to their notions of tradition, family honor, or service to the state, largely because he knows firsthand what {{Hypocrite}}s they and the rest of the Senate are. But inside he has moments of spirituality, and cares deeply about the future of the Republic, and men who treat either subject lightly trigger his BerserkButton.

** UsefulNotes/Cleopatra VII is a charming 13-year-old when Decius meets her in Alexandria.

* Overzealous Underling: [[spoiler:Calpurnius Bestia]] in ''Saturnalia'', who admits to poisoning Decius's Uncle Celer because of his political opposition to Pompey. When Decius asks if Pompey actually ordered Celer killed, the smiling reply is:
-->''You know how one serves great men, Decius. Try to do what they want, without them having to tell you. That way their hands stay clean, but they are conscious of how much they owe you.''
* TheQuisling: In ''The Temple of the Muses'', Decius warns one of his fellows in the Roman embassy in Alexandria that someone in Ptolemy Auletes's court is conspiring against Rome. The friend, a senior diplomat, brushes this off, explaining that whenever such a plot forms, inevitably one of the conspirators realizes how much better he can do by betraying the plot to Rome and setting himself up to reap the rewards. TruthInTelevision, as this was a cornerstone of Rome's foreign policy, and usually worked astonishingly well. Decius remembers these words later, when he is in Egypt with Caesar and encounters Antipater and his son UsefulNotes/{{Herod}}.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Referenced InUniverse as happening to Caesar after his death. In ''The Sacrilege'', when Caesar's pompous pronouncement that his wife must be ''"above suspicion"'' provokes gales of riotous laughter from the entire Senate, Decius - writing during Augustus's rule - hastens to explain to his reader that the now-deified Julius Caesar was, at this time in his life, a complete nonentity, undistinguished either politically or militarily, and famous for only two things: the size of his debts, and having played "the bitch" to King Nicomedes during a "diplomatic mission" to Bithynia. Therefore, the notion held by later generations of Romans that Caesar's contemporaries always saw him as a god among men is pure hogwash.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade:

** Inverted in ''The Temple of the Muses'': while touring Alexandria, Julia marvels that the Egyptian civilization lasted for almost a thousand years, and asks if the Roman Republic will last as long. Decius snorts and says of course it will.

%%Overzealous Underling:
%%TheQuisling

* BigBadDuumvirate: Pompey and Crassus.

%%Hidden Depths:

%%HistoricalVillainUpgrade:

** [[UsefulNotes/{{Cleopatra}} Cleopatra VII]] is a charming 13-year-old when Decius meets her in Alexandria.

* CutHimselfShaving: Corbulo in ''A Point of Law''.

* TheCoroner: Decius's friend, the Greek physician Asklepiades.

* BlingOfWar: In ''Nobody Loves A Centurion'', before arriving at Caesar's camp in Gaul, Decius dresses up in his military tunic and breastplate, which he thinks he will cut a fine figure in. After giving Decius his assignment, Caesar tells him to lose the bling, for gods' sakes, they're fighting a war, not on a parade.

* ForegoneConclusion: EveryoneKnows what happened to the Republic, and to Caesar.

* ForegoneConclusion: EverybodyKnows what happened to the Republic, and to Caesar.

The ''SPQR'' series is a series of historical novels by Creator/JohnMaddoxRoberts that take place in the last years of the UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic (prior to the civil war and the rise of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire). Its main character is the fictional Senator Decius Metellus, who becomes an amateur sleuth and is now writing his memoirs as a bitter old man in the early days of UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}'s reign.

* NobleBigot: Downplayed with Decius. He knows that Rome is the most advanced civilization and will endure for millennia, but he also concedes that it adapted (read: stole) many of its designs and innovations from other cultures, usually by conquering them.
* YoungFutureFamousPeople:
** [[UsefulNotes/Cleopatra Cleopatra VII]] is a charming 13-year-old when Decius meets her in Alexandria.
** While visiting the home of the Lady Octavia, Decius meets her precocious 10-year-old brother, Octavianus, whom Decius predicts will never amount to much of anything.
* BlingOfWar: In ''Nobody Loves A Centurion'', before arriving at Caesar's camp in Gaul, Decius dresses up in his military tunic and breastplate, which he thinks he will cut a fine figure in. After giving Decius his assignment, Caesar tells him to lose the bling, for gods' sakes, they're fighting a war, not on a parade.
* TheCoroner: Decius's friend, the Greek physician Asklepiades.
* CutHimselfShaving: Corbulo in ''A Point of Law''.

%%VillainousIncest

* AmateurSleuth: Since UsefulNotes/AncientRome has no regular police force, let alone a detective force, Decius’s friends and family regard his penchant for “finding out” things as some kind of oddball hobby. His friend, the scholar Callista, even suggests defining it as a new branch of philosophy.

* BattleInTheRain: Decius and [[spoiler:Calpurnius Bestia]], at the conclusion of ''Saturnalia.

The ''SPQR'' series is a series of historical novels by Creator/JohnMaddoxRoberts that take place in the last years of the UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic (prior to the civil war and the rise of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire). Its main character is the fictional Senator Decius Metellus, who becomes an amateur sleuth and is now writing his memoirs as a bitter old man in the early days of UsefulNotes/Augustus's reign.

The ''SPQR'' series'' is a series of historical novels by Creator/JohnMaddoxRoberts that take place in the last years of the UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic (prior to the civil war and the rise of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire). Its main character is the fictional Senator Decius Metellus, who becomes an amateur sleuth and is now writing his memoirs as a bitter old man in the early days of UsefulNotes/Augustus's reign.