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Title: Plutarch's Lives by Plutarch, Arthur Hugh Clough ISBN: 0-375-75676-0 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Invaluable source and historical document.
Comment: After having read McCullogh's splendid series on Rome, I turned to this fat, dense book with great expectations. I was not disappointed: the stories are endlessly fascinating, from their basic details on ancient history to the bizarre asides that reveal the pre-Christianised mind-set of the author.
Like all great books, this one can be read on innumerable levels. First, there is the moralising philosophy that is perhaps the principal purpose of the author to advance - each life holds lessons on proper conduct of great and notorious leaders alike. You get Caesar, Perikles, and Alcibiades, and scores of others who are compared and contrasted. Second, there is the content. Plutarch is an invaluable source of data for historians and the curious. Third, there is the reflection of religious and other beliefs of the 1C AD: oracles and omens are respected as are the classical gods. For example, while in Greece, Sulla is reported as having found a satyr, which he attempted unsuccesfully to question for its auguring abilities during his miltary campaign in Greece! It is a wonderful window into the mystery of life and human belief systems. That being said, Plutarch is skeptical of these occurances and both questions their relevance and shows how some shrewd leaders, like Sertorious with his white fawn in Spain, used them to great advantage.
Finally, this is a document that was used for nearly 2000 years in schools as a vital part of classical education - the well-bred person knew all these personalities and stories, which intimately informed their vocabulary and literary references until the beginning of the 20C. That in itself is a wonderful view into what was on people's minds and how they conceived things over the ages. As is well known, Plutarch is the principal source of many of Shakespeare's plays, such as Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. But it was also the source of the now obscure fascination with the rivalry of Marius and Sulla, as depicted in paintings and poetry that we still easily encounter if we are at all interested in art. Thus, this is essential reading for aspiring pedants (like me).
Of course, there are plenty of flaws in the work. It assumes an understanding of much historical detail, and the cases in which I lacked it hugely lessened my enjoyment. At over 320 years old, the translation is also dated and the prose somewhat stilted, and so it took me 300 pages to get used to it. Moreover, strictly speaking, there are many inaccuracies, of which the reader must beware.
Warmly recommended as a great and frequently entertaining historical document.
Rating: 5
Summary: A book every man should read
Comment: Plutarchs historic portrayals of the lives of the gretest men in BCE western history, is truly inspiring. From the passionate warrior kings Alexander the Great and Julius Ceasar to the Athenean states men Dion and Draco, the list goes on, each text providing an insight to lives that were lived to the fullest potential.
Rating: 5
Summary: Get this edition.
Comment: Plutarch's history isn't always the most accurate -- he clashes with Arrian and Quintus Curtius on Alexander, for example -- but it sure is a lot of fun...Plutarch weaves in lots of interesting little anecdotes and his narrative arcs are always complete without being too long. It's also great for leisurely reading; there are so many Lives, you can pick one up on any rainy afternoon, long car drive, or what have you, and don't even need to know a whole lot of context to get the gist of what's going on. For fans of history and biography, or just stories in general, this is as good as it gets.
I recommend the Modern Library edition because it's complete (with the two volumes, that is) and because the Dryden translation is very colorful even though it's old-school -- you're bound to pick up a lot of cool vocabulary. Also, don't quite know how to put it, but his translation just seems more...classic. It fits, get it.
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Title: Plutarch's Lives: The Dryden Translation by Plutarch, Arthur Hugh Clough ISBN: 0375756779 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Plutarch: Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans (Modern Library Series: Volume I of II) by A. H. Clough, John Dryden ISBN: 0679600086 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Rex Warner ISBN: 0140440399 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1954 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Histories by Herodotus, Robin Waterfield, Carolyn Dewald ISBN: 0192824252 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Fall of the Roman Republic: Six Lives : Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero by Plutarch, Rex Warner, Robin Seager ISBN: 0140440844 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1954 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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