Cornelius Nepos: On Great Generals. On Historians. (Loeb Classical Library No. 467) (Hardcover)

~ Cornelius Nepos (Author), J. C. Rolfe (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Cornelius Nepos was born in Cisalpine Gaul but lived in Rome and was a friend of Cicero, Atticus, and Catullus. Most of his writings, which included poems, moral examples from history, a chronological sketch of general history, a geographical work, Lives of Cato the Elder and Cicero, and other biographies, are lost. Extant is a portion of his 'De Viris Illustribus': (i) part of his parallel lives of Roman and non-Roman famous men, namely the portion containing lives of non-Roman generals (all Greeks except three) and a chapter on kings; and (ii) two lives from the class of historians. The lives are short popular biographies of various kinds, written in a usually plain readable style, of value today because of Nepos's use of many good sources.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library (January 1, 1929)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674995147
• ISBN-13: 978-0674995147
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #972,157 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A LATIN classic, September 12, 2009

By	Theophanu (Hattiesburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cornelius Nepos (Paperback)

This is a reprint of the LATIN edition of the works of Cornelius Nepos, with footnotes in German. Very useful for some light Latin reading (Cornelius Nepos is a great first Latin author to read after learning the grammar---very straightforward and clear); pity that I wanted an English translation, because that's not what you'll get with this book.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brief Biographies of Great Generals, October 2, 2001

By	George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Cornelius Nepos produced a considerable literary output: history, geography, poetry, and other works including biographies of famous men. The only surviving examples of his work are a few biographies from his work "De Viris Illustribus," which he apparently modeled after Plutarch's "Lives."

The surviving pieces consist of an introduction, several biographies of non-Roman generals, and two biographies of Roman historians. The bios are brief, anecdotal, and entertaining. They probably have little in the way of historical value, but they are nonetheless worth reading.