The Centurion: A Novel

by Jan de Hartog

Martin Harinxma brings a new level of understanding to his research on the Roman Empire in Britain when he discovers that his hobby of divining water also allows him to travel back in time.

Genres: Fiction

286 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1989

About the author

Jan de Hartog (1914 – 2002) was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker. From then on he wrote in English.
At the beginning of his career he wrote five detective novels about the adventures of Commissioner Wiebe Poesiat and inspector Gregor Boyarski at the metropolitan harbor police under the pseudonym F.R. Eckmar

Johannes (Jan) de Hartog was een Nederlandse schrijver van romans, toneelstukken en filmscenario's, vooral gekend om zijn romans over de scheepvaart.
In het begin van zijn carrière schreef hij, onder het pseudoniem F.R. Eckmar, ook een vijftal detectieveromans over de avonturen van commissaris Wiebe Poesiat en inspecteur Gregor Boyarski bij de hoofdstedelijke havenpolitie.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of de Hartog's most beloved characters, Martinus Harinxma, the Dutch sea captain, returns in this book. He is an old man and has retired from the sea. Bored with retirement so far, one night he reads some T.S. Eliot poetry and is struck by one line -- "old men ought to be explorers." Harinxma and his wife attend a conference on dowsing. Besides searching for water, his pendulum can be used to trace out the past. Using his pendulum to answer "yes" and "no" questions he finds he had previously been a hard-bitten centurion in the 4th century AD in Britain. The scenes alternate from present to past to present in Britain, Holland, Belgium, and Germany. The book tells the story of the centurion and the little boy he adopts, who grows up to be a Praepositus [we would say Colonel] in a fortress. Through their life stories and relating them to his own, Harinxma now realizes that through his reaction to an experience in World War II, he has learned and practiced the lesson of compassion through the example of the Colonel's compassionate deeds, which seem so eccentric to others. While the Colonel is commanding a vexillation from the fortress, at one time the German tribes send over a dog in a Roman helmet, to insult and humiliate the Romans. The Colonel does not fight back, so neither Germans nor Romans are killed. The dog is adopted by the army as a mascot. When the dog is wounded the Colonel insists that the soldiers carry it back to base on a stretcher. Another time he protects some British children by sheltering them beneath a 'testudo' of the soldiers and their shields.
This was an amazing, most unusual book--a mix of great storytelling, humor, originality, and with a great lesson! I recommend it most highly!!! It is unforgettable!
I now would like to read de Hartog's two earlier books on Harinxma's naval career.

[Mark Archer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A long time ago I read the Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Hartog and found it quite brilliant. The Centurion is nothing like it; it's more of a diversion or a plaything for the author and the subject matter is rather curious. As an introduction to dowsing, it is interesting but somehow it falls between too many stools; not a psycho-drama, not an historical novel, but more a narrative about an old couple passing time doing something unusual, with an ancient history sub-plot - which however may all be in the author's imagination as he constantly points out.

[Serhio Anatolievich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old men ought to be explorers
Here and there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion
Through the dark cold and empty desolation,
The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters
Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.

[Andrew Borgelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time I have read this book. First time was sometime around 1992 and I loved it then. Was in the process of getting rid of some of my books and before I do I think I ought to re-read them to make sure that I am not making a mistake in letting it go. I am so glad I re-read this one. I remembered the premise of the book but none of the detail; so it was like discovering an old lost friend as I read each chapter it gradually uncovered the story I had once known and had all but forgotten. It was a pleasure to read this book once again and I am so glad that I did....it's continued place upon my bookshelf is assured for my lifetime at least!