What happens when a republic doesn't fall all at once—but gives away its power piece by piece?
More than 2,000 years ago, Rome faced a political crisis that would transform the Western world. Civil war, political violence, concentrated power, exhausted citizens, and ambitious leaders created the conditions for a republic to become an empire.
And at the center of that transformation was a man most of us know far less about than the dictator he helped create.
His name was Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.
Agrippa was the brilliant general, strategist, builder, and indispensable right-hand man of Octavius—the man who would become Augustus, Rome's first emperor.
Now internationally bestselling author Robert Harris brings Agrippa's story to life in his new historical thriller, Agrippa. Told through the eyes of the man closest to Augustus, the novel explores not only how Rome descended into dictatorship, but what it meant to stand beside the person responsible for that transformation.
Robert Harris is the author of sixteen bestselling novels, including the celebrated Cicero trilogy and Conclave, which became an Oscar-winning film.
Today, we're talking about Ancient Rome, political power, loyalty, ambition, dictatorship—and why a story that happened two millennia ago can feel remarkably contemporary.
Robert Harris, welcome to the podcast.
Cold Open
A republic rarely dies with a single dramatic blow.
Sometimes it happens when citizens become exhausted by chaos.
Sometimes when political violence becomes normal.
Sometimes when a legislature slowly surrenders its authority to a powerful leader.
And sometimes it happens because the right person—the brilliant general, strategist, and loyal friend—is willing to make that leader's ambitions possible.
Two thousand years ago, that man was Agrippa.
He helped turn Octavius into Augustus—and helped turn Rome's Republic into an empire.
But here's the question:
What does it feel like to be standing beside a dictator as he takes power?
That's the question Robert Harris explores in Agrippa.
