Pompeii: A Novel

Ampliatus is the principal antagonist of Pompeii. He is a somewhat unique figure, as he is the only character who has transcended his class origins. Ampliatus is a former slave. Previously, he was the property of Popidius, but he secured his freedom. After becoming free, Ampliatus immediately devoted himself to making money.

Following the earthquake in Pompeii, Ampliatus acquired a great deal of property, likely through immoral means. He then sold this property for a massive profit, which he then reinvested into more money-making schemes. Now, he is the richest man in Pompeii, and he dines with the aristocratic magistrates, who seem to be completely in his thrall. Rather than a man who has succeeded through hard work, however, Ampliatus has only been able to rise through the social classes through trickery and criminality. He is a corrupt man, whose profits are only possible because he bribed Exomnius and paid much less than expected on his water taxes. Similarly, he cheats and tricks his former owner, bullying him into debt through inscrutable contracts and sleight-of-hand. Rather than a success story for a former slave, Ampliatus's rise to power is a parody of a corrupt society: that he is the only man to elevate his social standing suggests that the only way to become powerful in a corrupt society is to become the most corrupt person possible.

Ampliatus has internalized the corruption he learned while in Popidius's service. Like the rich people he once observed, he sentences his slaves to death in the eel pond. He has no empathy for slaves, nor any empathy for anyone at all. He is the embodiment of corruption and deceit, able to rise up through the ranks of society because he perfectly encapsulates its immoral but defining qualities.

Ampliatus's relationship with Attilius quickly becomes antagonistic. When they first talk, Ampliatus probes Attilius in an attempt to determine whether he is corruptible. Attilius refuses this request. His refusal aggravates Ampliatus because it clashes with his view of the world. According to Ampliatus, the world is inherently corrupt, and he has succeeded by mastering this corruption. Attilius's refusal shows Ampliatus that not everyone is as corrupt as he is. If an incorruptible man exists, then Ampliatus can no longer think of himself as simply a clever man. Attilius's incorruptibly reveals the hypocrisy and lies at the heart of Ampliatus's character and Ampliatus hates him for it. Right then, Ampliatus knows that he must kill Attilius.

Ampliatus's rapid rise fills him with a tragic, misplaced confidence. Suitably for the classical world, he is marked by “hubris.” In Greek literature, hubris was a literary device in which a character's excessive pride or willingness to defy the gods would bring about their downfall. Ampliatus is proud of his property investments, and he is particularly proud of his baths. He tries to bribe Attilius, believing that everyone can be corrupted by the promise of money. During their conversation, he assures Attilius that the wisest possible investment is property in Pompeii. The investment which made Ampliatus a very rich man will surely work, he reasons, for everyone else. Ampliatus attempts to dictate the narrative of his rise to power, arrogantly assuring the world that he became rich through canny investments rather than rank corruption and crime.

At the end of the novel, Mount Vesuvius explodes and all the property in Pompeii is destroyed. Ampliatus and most of his family are also killed in the eruption, as he demanded that they return to the baths and prepare them for the return of the citizens. He became drunk on his own arrogant, mythical origin story, believing that he could outsmart the world once again. Instead, the world punished Ampliatus for his arrogance.

Corelia is the daughter of Ampliatus and the moral counterpoint to her father's behavior. She defines herself in opposition to him, even at her young age. As such, her behavior is more than just that of a rebellious daughter. She is not rebelling against Ampliatus because she is a teenager, but because she has grown to recognize the legitimate immorality of his behavior and, as a result, she resents the wealth and privilege of her family's existence. The emergence of her disapproval of her father's behavior contrasts with their previously close relationship. As Ampliatus remembers, they were once very close. When Corelia was a young girl, he showered her with presents and loved to play with her. Now, she cannot abide to be in the same room as him. This suggests that Corelia's rebellion is built on a solid foundation of moral authority. She has come to understand her father and his lifestyle, and she cannot approve of it. She is rebelling against him, she is rebelling against her wealth, and she is rebelling against the naivety of her youth, in which she was placated by trinkets and toys.

Corelia's rebellion has weight. She recognizes that she has lacked agency for most of her life, so she has a desire to assert control over her future. She begins by trying to save a slave. Notably, she does so through the authority of another person. Believing that she cannot take on her father, she recruits the authority of Attilius to save the life of the slave. She fails and the slave is executed, though Attilius's discovery of the sulfur in the water justifies her rebellion: she was right to rebel against her father's judgement, she simply failed to act in time.

Later in the novel, she rebels again, but this time when she goes to Attilius, she has already acted. She has stolen the documents which prove her father's corruption, and she hopes that these can be used to expose his immorality to the world. Unfortunately for Corelia, she runs into the inherent patriarchal attitudes of her society. As Attilius explains to her, she cannot simply run away from her father in a society which will accept his authority and dominion over her. Ampliatus is too wealthy, too powerful, and too male to be taken down by something as simple as evidence. As such, Corelia's rebellion is placed into a societal context. For all her desire to assert her agency and moral authority over her father's corruption, she cannot fight alone against the inherently patriarchal and corrupt institutions of society.

Pliny the Elder is an important character in Pompeii as he is based on a real historical person. The novel invents a character for Pliny the Elder but many of the key facts about his life are based on reality. For instance, his military history is very real, as is his status as an important author of scientific works. From these core historical facts, the character of Pliny emerges.

Pliny is not just a detached observer of the natural world. Rather, he is absolutely fascinated by everything around him. When the volcano begins to erupt, his first desire is to ensure that everything is recorded for posterity. This leads to him risking (and ultimately losing) his life for the sake of science. While many characters in the novel are duplicitous or self-interested, Pliny is utterly sincere. He and Attilius form an important bond because Pliny recognizes in Attilius a fellow devotee of science. As in real life, Pliny is killed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In the novel, this death is made more noble by his desire to ensure that he gave his life over to record as much as possible for future generations, likely saving lives by documenting the exact way in which a volcano erupts.

Pliny also plays a key role in the novel in terms of establishing the substance of idealized Roman identity. This theme recurs throughout the novel, in which characters who were born in the Roman Empire choose their actions based on the extent to which they conform to some idealized version of Roman culture. Pliny's death is a key example of this, in which he is pleased that he is able to die like a Roman. He faces down the volcano and shows no fear; in doing so, Pliny believes that this is a death suitable for a Roman citizen. However, this idea is proved to be hollow and meaningless. For every Pliny, a thousand other Romans ran in the other direction. The Hollowness of Roman Identity is made clear as the behavior of actual Roman citizens often bears no relation to this idealized abstract idea of Roman identity that pervades the minds of many of the characters. Through his death, Pliny helps to define this identity and also show that it is vapid.