Book Review: THE MASK OF APOLLO by Mary Renault

The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"And yet had not the very hand of God gripped and crushed this city deep in the ground we should have disappeared in darkness, and not given a theme for music, and the songs of men to come." ~Euripedes

Once upon a time, a great city-state existed, so vast and powerful as to rival Athens herself. But what happens when it is ruled by a despot, its citizens' souls made small and mean through decades of dictatorship? What happens when the dictator dies, and his weak son takes over to rule in his stead?

The city-state is Syracuse in Sicily, the dictators Dionysius the Elder (I) and Dionysius the Younger (II). Enter our hero, Dion, educated at Plato's school in Athens, who seeks to undo the maleducation of Junior by inviting Plato himself to try to teach the boy to be a real man. But can a mere teacher of a prince, no matter how good, undo the damage wrought by the parent tyrant?

"Fighting the base with base weapons had shrunk their souls; before one can make the good life, one must remember what it is... So we dream. Of what? Some man sent by the gods, first to make us believe in something, if only in him, and then to lead us... We have dreamed a king."

But can one man be the solution?

Renault also writes, "A city is only a crowd of citizens. If each of them has renounced his private virtue, how can they build a public good?" She quotes Plato when she says: "A state can be redeemed only by good men spreading goodness round them till the lump is leavened, and there are enough just men to govern."

Mary Renault once more brings Ancient Greece to life in what, I think, is her best book ever (and when I reread my past raves about her trilogy on Alexander the Great, this is saying A LOT!). All the fiery polish of her passionate, scholarly pen is seen here in condensed form, giving off a more brilliant and focused light.

THE MASK OF APOLLO, on the surface, is a novel about a great actor, during the 4th century BCE when these artists were seen not as mere entertainers, but as servants of the gods, whose religious rites were so important they were exempt from military service. It is a time of great open air theaters with astounding acoustics, seating 14,000-18,000 people, with echo chambers and thunder drums that can reproduce even earthquakes, as the man bearing the face of a deity shows himself high above on the god-walk.

If the book was merely about the theater at that time, I would have been fascinated enough already.

But then Renault expands her lens and shows how the theater, education, and political philosophy react in the cauldron of experimentation as polis after polis sought to try one form of government after another, much like an actor changing masks (most of them wearing several over the course of one play!).

It is no accident that Socrates/Plato wrote about the theater, and what kind of plays ought to be seen by citizens in the quest to forge nobler men's souls. It is part of education, after all, for a play is never just a show. Done right, it can transform hearts and minds of thousands at a time.

"The theater, after all, can only teach one how; men as they live must show one why."

Some of the most enjoyable scenes in the book were set up like the dialogues of Plato, which made me realize how they are best appreciated when PERFORMED out loud like a staged reading! As when men debate about the ideal form of government, or censorship in the arts. "Men could be more than what they are. Why show them only how to be less?"

Like the best of Greek theatre, as befits a retelling of true history, Renault's novels tend to end in tragedy. But the postscript offers hope as she introduces a young Macedonian prince, who in turn will be educated by Aristotle, himself a student of Plato. Where one hero falls, perhaps another shall rise. And thus the wheel of education and human progress turns.

As one whose life has been changed by watching plays (literally impacting how I made major life decisions), and has seen firsthand its transformative effect on formerly shy young men and women, I read this book with reverence and awe. And now hold it to be among the best ever written. Rich in themes, written with godlike virtuosity, one can easily believe Renault to be possessed by a daimon! If you could only read one Renault, let it be this one!





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