Caesar is losing the support of the Roman Senate, who refuse to fund his campaigns if he can't maintain order in the territories he has already conquered. While consulting with his inner circle about how to deal with The Indomitable Village, someone suggests enlisting the aid of Tortuos Convolvulus, a Machiavellian civil servant with the power to cause arguments and fights with his mere presence. After establishing himself in the fortified camp of Aquarium, Convolvulus starts sewing paranoia and distrust amongst the villagers by presenting a valuable vase to Asterix as "the most important man of the village" during the run-up to Vitalstatistix's birthday.
The best part of this album is Convolvulus. His powers are established early on, when he's mentioned to have escaped execution at the Circus Maximus by causing the lions to eat each other. Even when he is brought before Caesar, he's already got the two guards escorting him to argue, and triggers a fight amongst Caesar's friends. That's enough to convince Caesar that he's the man for the job. There's a genuine sense of tension within the village when he carries out his strategy of psychological warfare (which burly legionary Magnuopus takes to mean "hit on the head with a club"), with Fulliautomatix and Geriatrix suspecting that Asterix may have been a traitor. When this triggers a fish fight, they promptly stop and "act natural" as Asterix walks past.
If the eponymous Roman agent's plan isn't enough, then there's also the plan Asterix devises with Obelix and Getafix to beat him at his own game, culminating in a mass battle which has to be illustrated with its own map.
This is one of the albums that's definitely worth checking out.
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