Reddit mentions of I, Claudius From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius Born 10 B.C. Murdered and Deified A.D. 54 (Vintage International)

To say nothing about whether it, as a scene, should or shouldn't have been cut:

This is a scene full of fun, real-world historical allusion. When Pycelle talks about not wanting to be the tallest in the garden, it's an allusion to what's actually called Tall Poppy Syndrome. The most famous instance of which is from Herodotus, about Periander, the tyrant of Corinth:

> [Periander] had sent a herald to Thrasybulus and inquired in what way he would best and most safely govern his city. Thrasybulus led the man who had come from Periander outside the town, and entered into a sown field. As he walked through the wheat, continually asking why the messenger had come to him from Cypselus, he kept cutting off all the tallest ears of wheat which he could see, and throwing them away, until he had destroyed the best and richest part of the crop. Then, after passing through the place and speaking no word of counsel, he sent the herald away. When the herald returned to Cypselus, Periander desired to hear what counsel he brought, but the man said that Thrasybulus had given him none. The herald added that it was a strange man to whom he had been sent, a madman and a destroyer of his own possessions, telling Periander what he had seen Thrasybulus do. Periander, however, understood what had been done, and perceived that Thrasybulus had counselled him to slay those of his townsmen who were outstanding in influence or ability; with that he began to deal with his citizens in an evil manner.

Additionally, the idea of feigning or exaggerating stupidity in order to survive at court also has a lot of fun precedent. L. Junius Brutus, a member of the Junii in service to the last Roman king, Tarquin the Proud, earned the cognomen "Brutus" (literally: "brute, dumb person") by feigning what amounted to mental retardation. Tradition had him ending that act by driving the king into exile and establishing the Republic.

Later on, the Roman Emperor Claudius benefits from the same kind of phenomenon, perhaps having survived the terror of nephew Caligua's reign because his deafness, slurred speech, and limp caused him to be seen as a weakling and not a threat. Robert Graves has his character Claudius actually deliberately exaggurating that a bit to save his own skin.

EDIT: Good catch for /u/Moosey_Doom: L.J. Brutus, traditionally, didn't kill Tarquin, but rather drove him into exile in Etruria. Somebody upvote that error-findin' asshole.

I wanted to add a kind of offbeat recommendation for Roman history: I, Claudius by Robert Graves. It's (IMHO) a fun and readable but still educational story about the beginning of the Roman Empire, and a good way to ease into the topic.

If Roman history interests you, I, Claudius is a must read (if you haven't already). This is Robert Graves we're talking about here so the prose is exquisite.

You know The Winds of War was only half the story, right? War and Remembrance is the second half.

And you might check out [Leon Uris] (http://www.amazon.com/Leon-Uris/e/B000APTIWQ) and [Ken Follett] (http://www.amazon.com/Ken-Follett/e/B000APHCPQ) - and [I, Claudius] (http://www.amazon.com/Claudius-Autobiography-Tiberius-Murdered-International/dp/067972477X) by Robert Graves. Some well-researched, great storytelling there -

Bernard Cornwell is well regarded and quite good at "action scenes." He's also very very prolific.

For Roman settings Steven Saylor is pretty good; excellent on Roman society and civilian life. You could also check out Lindsey Davis or Ruth Downie. All three of these write Roman historical "crime" novels.

Allan Massie has also published some excellent "historical fiction biographies."

And please read I, Cladius. You may also like Gore Vidal's Creation (actually set in ancient Greece, India & China - a quite simply astounding book) and Julian, a fictionalized account of Julian the Apostate's life.

If you want more recommendations, just ask. :)

If Ancient Rome is more your thing (I'm assuming that if you're reading about the Aztecs than your interest is in the slow degeneration of Ancient Civilizations) then make sure to read the Claudius Novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God. I would also recommend The First Man in Rome or any of Colleen Mccullough's work. This stuff is probably the best that the genre has to offer in my opinion.

-- edit, actually now that I think about it I'm probably completely wrong in that assumption because I was thinking of the Mel Gibson movie Apocalypto which was about the Aztecs and not the Inca. The former being a pretty degenerate society where a comparison with the Romans is pretty apt IMHO, while that later were actually quite a noble people. Sorry, about that.

I, Claudius