Customer Reviews

Julian, Volume I. Orations 1-5 (Loeb Classical Library No. 13)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The three volumes of Julian's extant writings in the Loeb series are must have books for anyone interested in the politics and religion of the Fourth Century. Volume One contains his Panagyricus to Constantius, the Heroic Deeds of Constantius and a Panygyricus to the empress Eusebia. These are interesting political documents that give us the 'official' version of events during the reign of Constantius, Julian's cousin. Eusebia was responsible for preserving Julian's life when he was imprisoned on trumped up charges of treason. The other volumes give us Julian's religious and philosophical writings along with letters and his satire "The Caesars" and the remarkable "Bear-Hater".

Sometimes Julian is long-winded in what he is talking about and not everything will necessarily appeal to the casual reader, but these writings remain highly important.

Since there are so many of these darn things the review shall be divided into three sections. First, a brief description of the Loeb series of books and their advantages/disadvantages. Second shall be my thoughts on the author himself, his accuracy, as well as his style and the style of his translator. This is of course only my opinion and should be treated as such. The final part shall review what this particular book actually covers.

The Loeb series date back to the turn of the last century. They are designed for people with at least some knowledge of Greek or Latin. They are a sort of compromise between a straight English translation and an annotated copy of the original text. On the left page is printed the text in Greek or Latin depending on the language of the writer and on the right side is the text in English. For somebody who knows even a little Greek or Latin these texts are invaluable. You can try to read the text in the original language knowing that you can correct yourself by looking on the next page or you can read the text in translation and check the translation with the original for more detail. While some of the translations are excellent mostly they are merely serviceable since they are designed more as an aid to translation rather than a translation in themselves. Most of them follow the Greek or Latin very closely. These books are also very small, maybe just over a quarter the size of your average hardcover book. This means that you'll need to buy more than just one book to read a complete work. They are also somewhat pricey considering their size. The Loeb Collection is very large but most of the more famous works can be found in better (and cheaper) translations elsewhere. If you want to read a rarer book or read one in the original language then you can't do better than the Loeb Editions.

There are 3 volumes of Julian in the Loeb series which includes all his known works. Julian the Apostate was Emperor of Rome in the middle of the 4th Century. He was a member of Constantine's family but he abandoned Constantine's new faith and tried to return Rome to paganism. He was also a philosopher which explain the quantity of his writing which has survived. Ever since a child he had been locked away in a villa by his cousin Constantius who also had his father killed. His life before becoming Emperor was filled with danger since any hint that he could be a threat to his cousin would be met with deadly consequences. In the end through lucky chance he ended up as Emperor only to be killed in just over a year when his Persian campaign failed disastrously. He is easily the best documented Emperor in Roman history since we have more of his writings than of any other Emperor's as well as an excellent history by Ammianus Marcellinus (the last great Latin historian), panegyrics and letters by the orator Libanius, and violent denouncements from Christian writers like Gregory of Nazianzus all of whom knew him personally. He wrote letters, orations, philosophical treatises, satires, and hymns. He also wrote a Commentary of his wars in Gaul which was based off of Caesar's Commentaries and which is unfortunately lost. Also missing is his denunciation of Christianity called Against the Galileans. Only fragments survive. His works are (mostly) easy to read and engaging and the translation is solid if a little formal. It was translated in 1913 after all. This is one of those cases where this material is unavailable outside of the Loeb series.

This volume includes most of Julian's Orations. These were panegyrics delivered (mostly) to his cousin Constantius and designed to serve as an indication of his loyalty and subservience to his touchy cousin. There is much useful information in these but rarely does the facade slip and reveal the depths of Julian's feelings towards his cousin.