The Tour
Translated by Alexander Teixeira De Mattos
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This novel offers a richly atmospheric journey through the ancient world, blending personal tragedy with philosophical reflection on love, loss, and resilience.
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Book Summary
A Roman nobleman, Publius Lucius Sabinus, embarks on a journey through ancient Egypt to overcome his grief over the disappearance of his beloved slave Ilia. Along the way, he faces political ruin, explores exotic lands, and finds new love and meaning.
The story follows Lucius as he sails from Rome to Alexandria, tormented by the loss of his slave Ilia, who actually ran away with a rival. He consults a sibyl, participates in the Festival of Serapis, and travels up the Nile into Ethiopia, hunting and encountering wonders. His grief transforms into a stoic resolve after he learns the truth. Meanwhile, Emperor Tiberius confiscates his wealth, leaving him penniless. He refuses to trade his devoted slave Cora to settle debts, instead selling his ship and belongings. With Cora, his tutor Thrasyllus, and slave Tarrar, he boards a merchant vessel for Babylon, embracing a simpler life and a new relationship with Cora.
Reading guide
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Character guides, themes, chapter companions — plus Character Web, narrative arc, and theme heatmap teasers that unlock fully beside the text in BetterReads.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
Publius Lucius Sabinus
Lucius is the young master whose grief over Ilia's disappearance drives him to frenzy, generosity, and cruelty in turn — he strikes his freedman tutor, then begs forgiveness. His wealth has been confiscated by Tiberius, leaving him penniless with only his ship and companions. His volatile nature and obsession with the lost Ilia shape the tour's emotional weather, making every port and merchant's ware a reminder of what he cannot recover.
Caleb
Caleb is the shrewd, oath-bound Sabaean who acquires Lucius's ship and property when the Roman is ruined, promising an equitable account in whatever place of exile awaits. He kneels to kiss the impoverished lord's foot — a thing he, a free man, has never done — while also nursing a lovesickness he hopes to forget in Arabia Felix. His dual role as faithful agent and self-interested merchant keeps the tour's finances and loyalties in precarious balance.
Cora
Cora is the gentle singer whose three months of devotion to Lucius have gone entirely unobserved, her songs offered to a man still lost in mourning for Ilia. She asks Thrasyllus whether her voice pleased, and receives only the quiet truth that Lucius hears nothing and nobody. Her patient, unrequited presence — and her eventual place beside Lucius as his wife — makes her the tour's quiet counterweight to Ilia's haunting absence.
Catullus
Uncle Catullus is the impoverished relation who knows better than to hang round the rich, yet travels at his nephew's expense and hoards gold pieces that slip through Lucius's fingers. He refuses to see Ilia as a goddess, insists her ankles were thick, and suspects she simply bolted — a heresy against the household's worship. His comic realism and his tearful farewell at the voyage's start give the tour its rueful, human undertone.
Saba
Saba is Caleb's fuller identity — the Sabaean merchant who sets free a woman he calls his wife at Mariaba, fearing his brother Ghizla's prior claim, and hopes one day to enjoy a life of bliss after making his fortune. His formal, ceremonious letter to Lucius, hand on heart and hand on lips, reports the sale of the Aphrodite and offers humble friendship. He embodies the tour's far-flung commercial world, where loyalty, profit, and longing travel together.
Thrasyllus
Thrasyllus is the scholarly pedagogue who loves Lucius with a father's heart even as he remains, in his own words, a slave still — forgiving the young man's violent rages and calling them the heat of generous blood. He consults maps of the Nile and honours Eratosthenes as a martyr of science, preparing the tour's itinerary with quiet erudition. His patient devotion and learned curiosity anchor the journey's intellectual and moral centre.
Grief and Healing
The narrative follows Lucius's journey from profound grief over the loss of Ilia to gradual emotional recovery through travel, adventure, and new relationships, culminating in his acceptance of a new life with Cora.
Wealth and Loss
Lucius experiences a dramatic reversal of fortune, losing his vast wealth due to political persecution by Tiberius, which forces him to adapt to a simpler life as a sculptor and highlights the transient nature of material riches.
Slavery and Freedom
The book explores the lives of slaves like Cora and Tarrar, their limited agency, and the complex relationships with their masters, while also showing moments of liberation, such as Caleb's freeing of his slave-wife and the temporary freedom granted to slaves during festivals.
Travel and Discovery
The journey from Rome through Alexandria, up the Nile, and into Ethiopia serves as a vehicle for cultural exploration, personal transformation, and encounters with ancient wonders, oracles, and diverse peoples.