Evening star., 1948-02-22


tells me that Rome will be saved by
overwhelming gods or is resigned to
the fact that Rome will come to ruin
because the gods are maleficent?"
AS a realist and as the recipient
Of reports from fairly efficient secret
police, Caesar we'll knew that he was
constantly in danger of assassina-
ton. But, feeling as he did about
sorcerers' brews. he hardly would
have needed such warning against
the ides of March as Shakespeare
emphasized. The ides, by the way,
are not mentioned in the Wilder
version except in the title.
Rings Like Real History.
The author of 'The Bridge of San
Luis Rey" and "Our Town" has COM
piled a pungent and Illuminating
story Of the last phase of Caesars
dictatorship. The word compiled is
used advisedly because the book
consists Of letters, diaries and other
documents, supposedly written by
various persons, most OF them lead
ing figures in Rome half a century
before the birth of Christ. 1t is
difficult to construct q novel entire
ly of documents without sacrificing
q fluid narrative for q static COM
pendium. Mr.. Wilder has not
escaped this difficulty entirely, and
yet he manages to give with these
dusty colors quite picture OF the
times. The documentary method
has the advantage of seeming more
like history than If one of our free
wheeling historical novelists had
tackled the period.
The most amusing portion con-
Germs the visit of Cleopatra to
Rome. She arrived Historians at
test in 46 BIC, and remained un-
til the conspirators, Brutus among
them, stabbed Caesar to death, aft
er an earlier attempt at assassina-
ton failed The Egyptian Queen,
viewed by the men of Rome as sur
prisingly alluring and by the wom-
en- as really quite homely when you
saw her close up, certainly enh-
vened patrician circles. Cleopatra
had her own intelligence service,
and she didn't miss much that was
going on.
The hopeless love OF the poet Ca
tullus for the sinister Clodia is de-
picted. Cicero's philosophy of mar
riage Is described In a letter to an
Athenian friend. But most Of the
philosophy stems from Caesar him
self. AS the conspirators seek re-
cruits with anonymous chain let
ters, he writes: so . . if I were not
Caesar now, I would be Caesars
assassin. Would it not be a
wonderful discovery to find that I
am hated to death by man whose
hatred is disinterested? 1t Is rare
enough to find disinterested
The Book of the Month Club is
distributing The Ides of March" as
Its March selection
TEMPER THE WIND
BY Clyde Brion Davis. (Lippin-
cott;: $2.75J
Mr.. Davis new novel has at least
one merit that many contemporary
novels lack it moves straight
ahead, swiftly, with suspense, avoid
ing the fiashbacks and parentheti-
cal chapters that often bog you
down completely. 1t has other mer-
its, but that one is outstanding in
what apparently is an era of indi-
rect writing.
The story is set in small town
in wyoming. Floyd Cowboy Shan
dy, back from four fighting years
In the Navy, decides to try the prize
ring. Between preliminary bouts
he works in garage. Finally his
manager, the local sports editor.
gets him q main event with q tough
old-timer. This fight has a sur
prising end. Shandy differs from
the usual pugilist of fiction, If not
IN fact. He lis intelligent. Not per-
haps a Gene Tunney in intellectual
thirst, but at least literate and
thoughtful. Some of the other char
acters are provocative, especially
the reformed daughter of joy and
the lunch wagon owner, who is the
most sagacious and the most sus-
pected person in town.
You may feel let down, as did,
when Cowboy Shandy surrenders to
the fate of marrying a girl who
bores him, and enduring a father
in-law who hasn't had a new idea
since 1902. Probably the cowboy
was let down, too. The book con-
tains the best unglamorous, down.
to-resin description of a prizefght
I've read In many years.
II X IL