A MAN AT ARMS
by Steven Pressfield
A warrior and an unlikely cohort face the might of the Roman Empire in this vivid tale of tribulation.
In Anno Domini 55, a 14-year-old Jewish boy named David witnesses a group of brigands launch a failed ambush upon a wagon train. They are scant match against the mercenary Telamon of Arcadia, who bears a tattoo of his former Roman Tenth Legion. After rescuing the wagon train from the bandits, the fearsome warrior assists a mute and “feral girl-child” named Ruth and her caretaker, Michael. Star-struck, David declares himself Telamon’s apprentice. Meanwhile, the Romans are chasing Michael, whom they consider "the most dangerous man in Palestine." They fear that he's carrying a lengthy and seditious letter written by Paul the Apostle or that he knows where it is. Said letter is destined for delivery to the Christian underground in Corinth, Greece. Meanwhile, Marcus Severus Pertinax, the Roman commander in Jerusalem, knows Telamon well and directs him to find the messianic “Jewish subversive calling himself Paul the Apostle,” a man who “cannot be suborned, coerced or reasoned with.” And Severus urgently wants Paul’s letter. Although Telamon claims to believe in nothing but money, he travels across the desert with Michael, Ruth, and David, who don’t have two coins to rub together. And Michael and Ruth won’t say if the letter even exists. They endure unrelenting trouble: bloody skirmishes, parching thirst, terrible torments, threatened crucifixion, and a treacherous witch (is there any other kind?) who wants to rip Michael’s guts out to look for the missive. Throughout their arduous journey are hundreds of colorful details, such as the balloon trousers of the Sadducees and the underground city called The Anthill. The writing style feels at times like that of an old storyteller of the day: “David could not see the lead sling bullet, so swiftly did it fly.” Though the foursome do not share a common faith, they show each other unflagging fealty.
Action, loyalty, bravery, and blood make for fine historical fiction, and it’s all here.