A History of Rome Down to the Reign of Constantine, Third Edition, by Max Cary and H.H. Scullard. Hardcover; 694 double-columned, small font pages (557p body + 81pp of endnotes + 56pp of appendices and index.) This third edition was originally published in 1975 and reprinted in 1983. Handpicked by Cary's widow to make a much-needed update to the 1954 second-edition, Scullard was a post-graduate student and eventual colleague of Professor Cary. (See the comments of this review for more detail on what the differences are among the three editions - they are not minor).
This riveting survey of Roman History is one of those big, thick books that feels like it's reading quickly but consumes - very enjoyably - large chunks of clock; you may find yourself pausing after what you perceived to be 15 minutes and 3 pages of reading to find you've spent an hour to move a page and half (I exaggerate but slightly). The authors apply a precise vocabulary and a very economic language style; they not unexpectedly make wide use of Latin terms and phrases (which will drive the typical modern reader to internet search engines), and they make very good decisions regarding when and how much detail is needed to explain a topic. All of these elements conspire to create densely-packed paragraphs that seem to expand in the reader's mind like a dry sponge sopping up water; there are very few wasted words.
Cary and Scullard approach the material chronologically, though there are many places where they do follow a subject thread to its natural conclusion before jumping back to the main narrative; but this is done appropriately and does not interrupt the historical flow. The authors segment the story into 6 parts spread across 44 named chapters:
1. Pre-Roman Italy
2. The Roman Conquest of Italy
3. The Conquest of the Mediterranean
4. The Fall of the Republic
5. Consolidation of the Roman Empire
6. The Decline of the Roman Empire
The 44 chapters are broken down according to the dominant chronological subject matter, usually a war or other event ("The Conflict of the Orders: The First Stage", Ch. 7; "The Second Punic War", Ch. 13), or a personage ("The Rise of Caesar to Supreme Power", Ch. 27). A pattern is followed of placing a summation chapter ("The Roman State in the Third Century B.C.", Ch. 11) at the end of each of the 6 major parts that comments on the state of Roman agriculture, economy, society, architecture, art, literature, science, philosophy, and religion - a very nice way to tie all the events of the era together and put them in perspective.
Each of the 44 chapters is further segmented into named section topics (Ch. 23 section 3, "The Homecoming of Sulla"); then, each section has margin notes to highlight the paragraph contents (p 233 "Sulla recaptures Rome and corners Carbo"). I mention this book's organizational detail in length because it was helpful on two fronts: it greatly facilitated comprehension when moving cover to cover in a linear fashion, but it also provided for drilling-down from 30-thousand foot views to specific detail when back-tracking to re-read certain sections. To the extent that human events can be logically chronicled and arranged, this book greatly succeeds; that it is able to wrap these events in a remarkably compelling story is a triumph.
The final chapter is a short but poignant retrospect and prospect of Roman history. Two lines in particular stood out to this reader. The first can only be appreciated by marching breathlessly with the legions for 500pp (and more than half a millennia) across the width and breadth of the ancient world: after going through a detailed examination of the possible causes of the decline of the empire - and treating all of them evenly - the authors write the following line (end of topic 4) "The Roman army both made and unmade the Empire."
The second line that stands out is a quote the authors use from Horace (Odes iii.30.6) in describing the continuation of Roman civilization in Western culture: "non omnis moriar" - "I shall not altogether die." Indeed. After reading this work, you may come to agree that in one sense it is not wholly incorrect to repeat today the words of The Apostle: "civis romanus sum" - "I am a citizen of Rome."
Lastly, please don't skip the endnotes (though it is cumbersome to continually flip to the back of the book); not only are they a trove of source material and further reading, but they also contain very good critical analysis and elaboration. I highly recommend this History of Rome; it is not a dumbed-down mass consumption type of effort; it expects the reader to work a bit, but the effort is very rewarding, and your knowledge and appreciation for Western civilization's Roman roots will deepen.
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