Customer Reviews

The march up country: A translation of Xenophon's Anabasis (A Mentor classic)

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Short of a Stanley Lombardo translation -- Where are you, Stanley? -- that would do Xenophon full justice, this is a fine, taughtly crafted version of the Anabasis. Rouse is all vernacular, and all business. Still, Lombardo would put more swagger in the warriors' exploits, and sharpen their tongues. Rouse sometimes erred on the side of middle-America "mass market" folksiness, but only slightly. Here is a passage from the first page that captures his nice, streamlined sense of pacing:

"But when Dareios died and Artaxerxes succeeded, Tissaphernes slandered Cyros to his brother and said he was plotting against him. The king believed him, and siezed Cyros to put him to death, but his mother begged him off and sent him back to his province. When Cyros got clear of this danger and disgrace, he determined never again to be in his brother's power, but to make himself king instead, if he could."

Now, here's a passage from the Rex Warner translation (Penguin), which takes nearly half again as long with the same ideas:

"But, after the death of Darius, when Artaxerxes was established on the throne, Tissaphernes maligned Cyrus to his brother and accused him of plotting against him. Artaxerxes believed the story and arrested Cyrus with the intention of putting him to death: but his mother by her entreaties secured his life and his recall to his province. Still, after the danger and disgrace from which he had escaped, Cyrus took measures to ensure that he should never again be in his brother's power; instead, if he could manage it, he would become king in his brother's place."