Ancient Rome in the English novel: a study in English historical fiction

by Randolph Faries

B. THE INFLUENCE OF “VATHEK” ON THE NOVEL OF ROMAN LIFE

In 1827 Thomas Moore published The Epicurean. This is to be classed as a romance, and is akin to and inspired by the work of William Beckford in Vathek, an Arabian Tale. Moore’s The Epicurean takes from Vathek its descriptions of Egyptian magic, and its use of the “labyrinth motive”;[13] these are things which appear in a modified form in Bulwer’s Last Days of Pompeii (1834). The Epicurean, however, in spite of its fantastic nature, contains realistic descriptions of the persecution of the Christians in Africa, under Diocletian, and a contrast of Christianity with a pagan system of philosophy (Epicureanism). While its story does not take the reader to Rome, The Epicurean represents life in Greece and Egypt under Roman rule, and must be considered a step in the genesis of the novel of Roman life. It represents new elements which are not found in Valerius, but appear frequently in later novels of Roman life. Vathek, which Moore says was his model, has been mentioned as an “Oriental” romance, this kind of romance being a variety of the “Gothic”; and when certain elements of the “Oriental” romance appear in novels of Roman life of this early period, it is more logical to ascribe their existence to the influence of Vathek than to say that they merely come from The Epicurean. But we have to consider at this point not only the influence of Vathek as a thing entirely separate from other literature of the period; for the hero of The Epicurean is the “Byronic hero,” already mentioned in connection with Mrs. Radcliffe and Byron. The terrible side of nature, which had appealed to these authors, appears in The Epicurean, combined with Egyptian “magic”; the hero in passing through the mysteries of initiation is surrounded by roaring winds and rushing waters. Thus it appears that The Epicurean, while it falls far below the first rank,[14] is important, because it shows the effect which the Gothic romance, with its various developments, was having on the early novel of Roman life.