Customer Reviews

Polybius: The Histories, Volume VI, Books 28-29 (Loeb Classical Library, No. 161)

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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 six volumes of Polybius in the Loeb series. This includes all of his surviving works. Polybius was a Greek soldier who was captured by the Romans during the Roman conquest of Greece. He was a prisoner in Rome for several years where he became the personal friend of Scipio Aemilianus, the grandson of Scipio Africanus who defeated Hannibal and the future conqueror of Carthage. His work was meant to explain to the Greek world how Rome was able to conquer everyone within such a short period of time. He is about as accurate as ancient historians get. He wrote forty books of which only the first five are intact. Fortunately there are very good epitomes for most of the remaining books. There is a newer Loeb edition which should come out in a couple of years. These are supposed to be better translations but I'm sticking with the old ones since I already have them and all. The translations are fine and the printing is nicer on the older copies. The Penguin edition is horribly incomplete. The Loeb editions, whether old or new, are the way to go.

All of these books are in fragments. They deal with Greek affairs and little more than a summary of the Third Punic War, to which Polybius was a witness.