Fall of the Roman Republic (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Plutarch (Author), Robin Seager (Editor), Rex Warner (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0140449345 | ISBN-13: 978-0140449341 | Edition: Revised

Rome’s famed historian illuminates the twilight of the old Roman Republic from 157 to 43 BC in succinct accounts of the greatest politicians and statesmen of the classical period.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Plutarch (c. 50–c. 120 AD), dramatist, natural scientist, and philosopher, is widely regarded as the most significant historian of his era.

Robin Seager is a reader in classics and ancient history at the University of Liverpool.

Rex Warner’s translations for Penguin Classics include works by Xenophon and Thucydides.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Revised edition (April 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140449345
• ISBN-13: 978-0140449341
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Latin
  • #23 in Books > History > Europe > Greece

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dramatic "Lives" of Plutarch, February 15, 2001

By 

AntiochAndy "antiochandy" (Antioch, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fall of the Roman Republic: Six Lives (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Though he lived in the Roman Empire, Plutarch was a classical Greek scholar. He was born in Chaeronea in central Greece and spent most of his life there. He studied in Athens as a young man and later wrote on a variety of subjects, including natural science, metaphysics and morals. He also served in various civic capacities during his life, received a high government appointment in Greece from Hadrian, and traveled widely.

Plutarch's interest in writing his "Lives" is the character of the individual, the effects of education and status, the drama of successes and failures, and moral lessons that can be drawn from them. His focus on character and the moral lessons to be learned from history is much like Livy, but Plutarch chose to pursue his purpose more directly by writing biographical sketches of his subjects. These sketches were actually written in pairs, matching what Plutarch saw as a Greek and Roman whose lives were comparable. For example, he paired Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. To most modern readers, this pairing seems rather artificial, and Penguin has chosen to group the "Lives" by historical period.

Plutarch was not an eyewitness to the events he records. The six men covered in this book lived 150 to 200 years before these "Lives" were written. Plutarch is relying on tradition and other historians for his information. Being a Greek writing after 100 A.D. allows him to be more detached, but his work necessarily reflects the biases and excesses of his sources. Was Sulla, for example, as thorough a monster as portrayed?

The "Lives" make wonderful reading. Plutarch had a simple, straightforward style and an superb eye for the dramatic. The six lives included in "The Fall Of The Roman Republic" are especially well-suited to his style. If you have any interest in Roman history, or if you just enjoy fascinating stories, this is not to be missed.

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome: Great Writing and Fascinating History, December 15, 1999

By 

Judd Michael Conrad - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fall of the Roman Republic: Six Lives (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Rex Warner's translation of six fascinating Roman personalities is amazingly clear and vibrant. The biographies of Marius and Sulla at the beginning are a little depressing, but the Life of Crassus begins an amazing collection of biographical sketches that impresses you on every page.

I first read Rex Warner for a high school English class (we read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, so we read Plutarch's biography as a supplement) and I immediately noticed his crisp 1950's-1960's dignified style. I've also heard that Warner was quite a talented novelist and poet.

It seems that both Plutarch and Warner promoted concise writing on a small-scale that allowed them many options while writing. Plutarch and Warner were doing things that many were doing at the same time (there were so many Roman historians, there are so many translators in America), but it is no wonder why their collaborative material was chosen as THE ONE VOICE.

The biography of the Roman orator Cicero (the Roman version of Clarence Darrow) is probably my favorite. But Julius Caesar's is certainly the most painstaking, as Plutarch really goes all-out to capture the good points and bad points of the greatest Roman general of them all. His description of Caesar's decisive victory in Gaul is particulary harrowing and insightful.

49 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WHY THE REPUBLIC FELL?, October 7, 2002

By 

R. J Szasz "Rod Szasz" (Tokyo, Japan Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fall of the Roman Republic: Six Lives (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

I feel a bit strange writting a review about any classic. Its a bit like writing a review of the Koran or the Bible. There is a reason why all these books are classics, and the reason is that they give some glimpse at the immutable nature of mankind.

Plutarch describes a nation wracked by personal divisions during the Roman Civil War with chapters on some of the major participants in this conflict: a true fall from grace for both the people of Rome and the institution of republicanism. There is a lot here that is exciting, such as the war against the Parthians, Jugurthia and the personal rivalries between Ceasar and Pompey.

The writing moves from what I would classify as mildly interesting, usually at the beginning of each chapter as he relates the youth, familiar, and power influences on the personal development of each live, to ripping tales of combat, honour lost and found, and principled peoples meeting usually, bloody fates. Lives of particular note are Pompey and Cicero in this book, but my personal favourite was Crassus, his fight against the slave revolt of Spartacus and his eventual annihilation with his entire army against the Parthians. The other real character that keeps popping up in each chapter is Cato, a political idealist who commited suicide for his repulican ideals when there was every indication that Ceasar respected him and would have spared his life despite Cato's defection to Pompey.

There is lots here that is of course raw speculation: I think that it is unlikely that Ceasar really had dictatorship on his mind since his early youth, but Plutarch would have us believe that it was almost forordained that Ceasar wanted personal control of the State.

Plutarch is much more interesting to read than Ceasar or Livy. So if you are looking for a good place to enter the classics, this is one good read.