Wikipedia
Wikipædia Libera Encyclopædia
handle both with care!
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
open source
Ancient Library
Classical archaeology image collection
Searching the Internet Archive to see what I could find of Cicero's writings, I discovered that Anthony Trollope (Wikipedia, handle with care) wrote a Life of Cicero in two volumes (Chapman and Hall, 1880):
Finding the time to browse through it is another thing . . .
Anthony Trollope at Britannica
Collection of portraits of Trollope at the National Portrait Gallery, London
The Trollope Society
I just stumbled over this online Loeb's copy (Internet Archive: New York Public Library)
Can be downloaded as PDF or read online as Flip Book. Apparently requires a "Library Card" (free sign-up) for multiple viewing. This is probably old hat for most of you. I wonder what other goodies I'm missing and where one can find a list.
We have two chats planned for June about the works of the poet Ovid (Wikipedia, handle with care). With the limited time we have, I think it's best to concentrate on his two major works:
| June 4 | The Metamorphoses the creation and history of the world |
| June 11 | (optional) other works* |
| June 18 | Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) plus Amores, Remedia Amoris? |
*If anyone wishes to discuss the other works, I offer another chat in between, on June 11. I'm especially interested in the poems and letters from exile (Tristia, Ex Ponto, Ibis). And there are also the Fasti.
In connection with yesterday's post on Virgil I discovered this great site:
The Theoi Classical E-Texts Library
"A collection of works from ancient Greek and Roman literature in translation. The theme of the library is classical mythology and so the selection presented consists primarily of ancient poetry (epic, lyric, bucolic, et. al.), drama and prose renditions of myth."
Explore it and enjoy! Don't miss the Gallery.
I 'm in the midth of writing a very overdue review of Mary Beard's The Roman Triumph. In the book, she mentions that Gibbon, "as a prelude" to his "Decline and Fall," wrote an essay, "Sur les Triomphes des Romains."
I did some googling, and finally it showed up, in the original French and the English translation at Google Books, in Miscellaneous works of Edward Gibbon, Esquire, Volume III, Dublin 1796
Written in Rome in 1764, it is – to me at least – a fascinating treatise. (It's not easy to read physically, but if you switch to Full Screen, you can enlarge it.)
The other two volumes:
Miscellaneous works of Edward Gibbon, Esquire, Volume I, Dublin 1796
Miscellaneous works of Edward Gibbon, Esquire, Volume II, Dublin 1796
It is only lately that I have come across Posidonius of Apamea (ca. 135 - 51 BCE), Stoic philosopher and acclaimed as the greatest polymath of his age. What an interesting personality! And what a shame that we have his work only in fragments. He lived during the final era of the Roman republic and was supposedly a friend of the exiled Rutilius Rufus, though I haven't found anything concrete yet on that issue. Cicero claims to have studied with him during his stay in Rhodes. Posidonius was the Rhodian ambassador to Rome in 87 - 86 BCE.
Wikipedia (as usual handle with care) has an extensive page on him. Jona Lendering has a brief note. The OCD, very informative, devotes several columns to Posidonius. (It also also contains the revealing tidbit that Cicero wanted Posidonius to write up his consulate, which the latter diplomatically declined.)
Ronald Syme in The Roman
Revolution (1939) writes that "Neglect of the conventions of Roman political terminology and of the reality of Roman political life has sometimes induced historians to fancy that the Principate of Caesar Augustus was genuinely Republican in spirit and in in practice – a modern and academic failing. Tacitus and Gibbon knew better." Here are Tacitus and Gibbon in their own words:
Tacitus (Annals 1.2):
[1.2] When after the destruction of Brutus and Cassius there was no longer any army of the Commonwealth, when Pompeius was crushed in Sicily, and when, with Lepidus pushed aside and Antonius slain, even the Julian faction had only Caesar left to lead it, then, dropping the title of triumvir, and giving out that he was a Consul, and was satisfied with a tribune's authority for the protection of the people, Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap corn, and all men with the sweets of repose, and so grew greater by degrees, while he concentrated in himself the functions of the Senate, the magistrates, and the laws. He was wholly unopposed, for the boldest spirits had fallen in battle, or in the proscription, while the remaining nobles, the readier they were to be slaves, were raised the higher by wealth and promotion, so that, aggrandised by revolution, they preferred the safety of the present to the dangerous past. Nor did the provinces dislike that condition of affairs, for they distrusted the government of the Senate and the people, because of the rivalries between the leading men and the rapacity of the officials, while the protection of the laws was unavailing, as they were continually deranged by violence, intrigue, and finally by corruption.
Continue reading "tacitus & gibbon on augustus' fake republicanism" »
In June, we plan to discuss a cross section of Ovid's work. In our Reading List for 2008, I promised to research good translations. I still have to check what of Ovid is in print besides Loeb Classical Library and wander down to the library to see what's out there and cull the selections and comment in a later post.
Meanwhile, if you want to look at online editions before you spend any money, there are:
Continue reading "looking ahead to june chats: ovid translations" »
This is too good to pass up: Judith Weingarten (Zenobia, Empress of the East) blogged another Zenobia: Treachery in Armenia and the Musical Drama of Johann Adolf Hasse! Don't omit listening to the aria!
Thanks to Peter Stothard for finding this.
Peregrinus Proteus immolated himself at the Olympics, AD 165. Here is Lucian of Samasota's satire:
Footnotes in Ronald Syme's The Roman
Revolution are more often than not citations in Latin and Greek, mostly of Cicero, Appian, and Dio in the book's Chapters I through XII, relating to the first of our three chats. For those who like to explore these more, especially Cicero's letters, here are those available online in the English translation:
I spent over two hours in the allergist's office today, mostly sitting around waiting for reactions to various "oral challenge" doses, long enough to read the Introduction and first chapters of The Roman
Revolution.
Of course I'd read it in the past. But like so many books I have forgotten, I had to start fresh again. WOW!
Selected pages of some of these chapters, though not the Preface, can be found at Google Books, otherwise copyrighted. The 2002 reprint.
In the Reference section of the Google book, there are various links including a Bryn Mawr Review about another book, a review which nonetheless devotes several paragraphs to Syme the person and "The Roman Revolution."
Continue reading "first impression on syme's 'roman revolution'" »
The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder will be our next read, on March 26. (Please note the deviation from our regular monthly schedule.)
Wilder called the novel "… a fantasia on certain events and persons of the last days of the Roman republic... Historical reconstruction is not among the primary aims of this work."
I found a couple of book reviews from the New York Times and Time, and JSTOR – food for thought for our upcoming book chat.
Image courtesy The Wisconsin Historical Society, "Thornton N. Wilder, head and shoulders studio portrait of Thornton Wilder, c.1949." (Roughly the time period in which he wrote "The Ides of March.")
Via The Toynbee Convector: Seneca on pity, Epictetus on kissing, and Seneca again on practical compassion.
Full translations of Seneca's "Mercy" and Epictetus' "Discourses".
Gibbon in Chapter 38: Barbarian Rule, Laws of the Barbarians, ff., cites the Salic Law.
Wikipedia (as usual handle with care) has a good article on the lex salica and it's long-time effects on Europe:
More talking points for Wednesday:
In our current read, Gibbon in chapter Chapter 38: Barbarian Rule begins with:
The revolution of Gaul
THE Gauls, (1) who impatiently supported the Roman yoke, received a memorable lesson from one of the lieutenants of
Vespasian, whose weighty sense has been refined and expressed by the genius of Tacitus. (2)
Footnote (2): "Tacitus, The Histories, iv. 73, 74. To abridge Tacitus would indeed be presumptuous; but I may select the general ideas which he applies to the present state and future revolutions of Gaul."
Here is the link to Tacitus Online in general, and Histories Book 4 in particular. [4.73] and [4.74] relate the the"speech" of the general Cerialis to an assembly of Treveri and Lingones, during the revolt of Civilis and Classicus.
In the last chapter of Volume 1 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West, which we will discuss next Wednesday (together with the preceding Chapter 38: Barbarian Rule), Gibbon looks at the Europe of his day and gives us an optimistic picture typical of the period of Enlightenment.
Volume 1 was published first in 1776. Gibbon died a very sick man in 1794 at the age of 56 . He lived in Lausanne until 1793 and "shared the common abhorrence" of the French Revolution. Had he lived longer, he would have experienced the final excesses of the revolution and the rise of Napoleon from close by. Would he have reconsidered his words
The reign of independent barbarism is now contracted to a narrow span; and the remnant of Calmucks or Uzbecks, whose forces may be almost numbered, cannot seriously excite the apprehensions of the great republic of Europe (6). Yet this apparent security should not tempt us to forget that new enemies and unknown dangers may possibly arise from some obscure people, scarcely visible in the map of the world.
and looked closer to home?
Continue reading "gibbon's "general observations" as a discussion point" »
I posted this in June 2007, and it might be timely again:
Gibbon's main source in Chapter XXXVIII is Gregory of Tours (c. 538 - 594). He was the son of a senator from Clermont (Sidonius Apollinaris' see) who seems to have died while Gregory was still quite young. Gregory was educated by his uncle Avitus, the bishop of Clermont. In 573 Gregory became bishop of Tours. Many of his predecessors were his relatives. He is best known for his "Ten Books of Histories" or as it is more commonly known these days "The History of the Franks."
Background:
Some pictures of artefacts from Gregory's time.
Map:
Gaul after the death of Clovis (from wikipedia)
In the March 5 and final installment of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire we are covering:
Chapter 38: Barbarian Rule
Reign and Conversion of Clovis. - His Victories over the Alemanni, Burgundians, and Visigoths. - Establishment of the French Monarchy in Gaul. - Laws of the Barbarians. - State of the Romans (in Gaul). - The Visigoths of Spain. - Conquest of Britain by the Saxons.This covers the period from 476 to 582 CE, with the larger portion concerning itself with the transformation of Gaul from province to kingdom.
General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West, an essay of about 3200 words.
The figures Gibbon particularly draws our attention to in the early history of monasticism are St. Anthony in Egypt and St. Martin in Gaul.
Monasticism seems to have started in Egypt, and we have accounts of some of the monks by Rufinus and Palladius. Perhaps the most famous of the monks was St. Anthony, a life of whom was written by his contemporary admirer, Athanasius. The Catholic Encylopaedia has a more modern account.
Anthony has been a popular subject for painters: Hieronymus Bosch painted a lurid picture of Anthony's temptation by demons. Another picture on the same subject was painted by Matthias Grünewald as part of the Isenheim Altarpiece, which also contains a more restful picture of Anthony's visit to St. Paul the Hermit.
In the February 20 installment of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire we are covering:
Sack of Rome by Genseric, king of the Vandals. - His Naval Depredations. - Succession of the Last Emperors of the West, - Maximus - Avitus - Majorian - Severus - Anthemius - Olybrius - Glycerius & Nepos - Augustulus. - Total Extinction of the Western Empire. - Reign of Odoacer, the First Barbarian King of Italy.
Origin, Progress, and Effects of the Monastic Life. - Conversion of the Barbarians to Christianity and Arianism. - Persecution of the Vandals in Africa. - Extinction of Arianism among the Barbarians.
Bingley has commented on Gibbon and monasticism earlier.
Gibbon in his typical moralizing mood: The Edifices of Rome
The edifices of Rome.
The spectator who casts a mournful view over the ruins of ancient Rome is tempted to accuse the memory of the Goths and Vandals for the mischief which they had neither leisure, nor power, nor perhaps inclination, to perpetrate. The tempest of war might strike some lofty turrets to the ground; but the destruction which undermined the foundations of those massy fabrics was prosecuted, slowly and silently, during a period of ten centuries; and the motives of interest, that afterwards operated without shame or control, were severely checked by the taste and spirit of the emperor Majorian. The decay of the city had gradually impaired the value of the public works. The circus and theatres might still excite, but they seldom gratified, the desires of the people: and the temples which had escaped the zeal of the Christians were no longer inhabited either by gods or men; the diminished crowds of the Romans were lost in the immense space of their baths and porticoes; and the stately libraries and halls of justice became useless to an indolent generation whose repose was seldom disturbed either by study or business.
Continue reading "the edifices of rome, c. 457 ce, as per gibbon (and ammianus)" »
A reminder that Bingley created a page named Gibbon & Bury, also to be found at the top right-hand column of this blog under "NOTES."
"Volume The Third of Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire covers much the same time span as Volume 1 of Bury's History of the Later Roman Empire. The following tables show what sections in Bury's work correspond to Gibbon's chapters."
As we come to the last of our discussions on The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon on February 20 and March 5, the Online version is of great help. Each chapter has an ancillary page listing events and dates which then link back to the actual text sections.
In our current case:
| Chapter 36 | Fall in the West |
| Chapter 37 | Monastic Life |
| Chapter 38 | Barbarian Rule |
| Observations | General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West (This is a separate unit and obviously does not require an events page.) |
Continue reading "how to get the most out of gibbon online" »
Cicero, Rome's famous advocate, acted as prosecutor in only one case, in 70 BCE, against Gaius Verres (Wikipedia, handle with care). Verres, who basically raped Sicily while governor, went into exile before the case came to a verdict. Thus Cicero, who opened the prosecution by simply presenting the witnesses and their damning stories, never got to make his speeches, but he had them published, as was his practice.
As so often, Perseus Digital Library, who has the translation, is not accessible, but there is another site, The Society for Ancient Languages:
In C. Verrem Actio I
In C. Verrem Actio II Liber I-V
The Latin Library has the Latin test, In Verrem, as has Pagina Prima.
Bingley mentions Edward Gibbon's Memoirs in this comment. The edition cited is greatly abridged and supposedly highly censured.
There is a complete facsimile print edition around titled The Autobiographies of Edward Gibbon: Printed verbatim from hitherto unpublished MSS., with an introduction by the Earl of Sheffield. Highly enjoyable for people who love to read memoirs.
Online, there is Gutenberg: Memoirs of My Life and Writings.
There doesn't seem to be a Google Book available yet.
We meet Varro as Pompey's intimate in Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough, the subject our current book chat.
Marcus Terentius Varro, "whose vast and varied erudition in almost every department of literature earned for him the title of the " most learned of the Romans" (Quintil. x. 1. § 95 ; Cic. Acad. i. 2, 3 ; Augustin. de Civ. Dei, vi. 2), was born b. c. 116, being exactly ten years senior to Cicero, with whom he lived for a long period on terms of close intimacy and warm friendship. (Cic. ad Fam. ix. 1—8.) He was trained under the superintendence of L. Aelius Stilo Praeconinus, a member of the equestrian order, a man, we are told (Cic. Brut. 56), of high character, familiarly acquainted with the Greek and Latin writers in general, and especially deeply versed in the antiquities of his own country, some of which, such as the hymns of the Salii and the Laws of the Twelve Tables, he illustrated by commentaries. Varro, having imbibed from this preceptor a taste for these pursuits, which he cultivated in after life with so much devotion and success, completed his education by attending the lectures of Antiochus (Acad. iii. 12), a philosopher of the Academy, with a leaning perhaps towards the Stoic school, and then embarked in public life ..."
Continue reading "marcus terentius varro, antiquarian, 'most learned of the romans'" »
Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius (Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology) was a scion of the prolific gens caecilia, ally of Sulla, proconsul in Spain fighting Sertorius, and Pontifex Maximus.
I have blogged him and them in the past: the gens caecilia and the metelli – metellus pius, so consider that post a refresher as we read Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough.
Cn. Pompeius Magnus (better known to the English speaking world as Pompey), the unofficial "first triumvir" and later adversary of C. Julius Caesar, is one of the more intriguing, exasperating, and tragic figures of the late republic.
Our current read, Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough, opens with a young and cocky Pompey eagerly offering his troops to Sulla to march against Rome and follows his career through March 69 BCE, when he becomes consul for the first time, side-stepping the cursus honorum in typical Pompey fashion.
Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology has a lenghty discourse on him, beginning here. N.S. Gill has a number of links at Pompey - Cn. Pompeius Magnus, such as Pompey's Wives.
In print there is Pompey the Great: A Political Biography by Robin Seager.
BBC Radio 3 is offering a series of talks in two-week blocks giving perspectives on Greek and Roman literature. Last week was Homer and this week is Horace. The subjects in January will be Thucydides and St. Augustine. The subjects in March will be Euripides and Tacitus. Promised for the future are: Sappho, Herodotus, Plato, Juvenal, Cicero, and Virgil. Each programme will be available on the internet for one week after the broadcast.
There are plenty of online resources to help with reading our next book, Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough.
Aside from ancient sources, such as Plutarch (also here and here), Divus Julius by Suetonius, and Book 1 of Appian's Civil War, there are two exhaustive sites regarding Caesar:
N.S. Gill also has Sulla - Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 B.C.) and Pompey - Cn. Pompeius Magnus.
I'm sure there is more, and I'll blog it as I come across it.
In our current read, Venus in Copper, Falco, Helena Justina, and the Senator enjoy the must cake Falco bought from a street vendor.
Must cake is known to us via Cato the Elder's On Agriculture, specifically #121:
Recipe for must cake: Moisten 1 modius of wheat flour with must; add anise, cummin, 2 pounds of lard, 1 pound of cheese, and the bark of a laurel twig. When you have made them into cakes, put bay leaves under them, and bake.
Continue reading "must cake, via cato the elder, junilla tacita, and apicius" »
Our current read, Venus in Copper, the third mystery in Lindsey Davis' Marcus Didius Falco mystery series, takes entirely place in Rome. Falco is commissioned to prove that a certain Severina Zotica has murdered her previous husbands, and asked to prevent her from marrying and murdering a fourth. Most of the characters in this drama with the usual twists and turns we've come to expect from Ms. Davis, are rich freedmen and freedwomen. Meanwhile, Falco also has to deal with palace intrigues and Vespasian's son and co-ruler Titus, who pays him back a favor by presenting him with a turbot, resulting in a hilarious feast, with none other than Titus present.
Since just prior to this upcoming chat on Wednesday we discussed Juvenal's Satires, three of them vividly come to mind:
Satire 3: The Evils of the Big City
Satire 4: The Emperor's Fish (no English version online)
Satire 6: Roman Wives – Death is better than Marriage
(See also Bingley's post: prison)
Our friend N.S. Gill has another Juvenal page on her Ancient/Classical History site at About.com:
Juvenal - Roman Satirist: Juvenal Wrote Satires on the Vices of the Roman World
The page includes "Silver Age Roman Satire":
In the literature about Juvenal, it is almost always mentioned that he wrote in the "Silver Age." This is a notch down from the "Golden Age" of the Augustan era.
N.S. Gill at About.com has a list of authors that reaches chronologically from Seneca to Apuleius. (There is also a link Satire's Roots, of interest to our current read. More here, which I missed.)
Googling for "persona", I found this definition of persona in Roman Satire in this JSTOR (limited access) article/review:
Review: Themes in Roman Satire
Author(s) of Review: S. H. Braund
Reviewed Work(s): Themes in Roman Satire by Niall Rudd
The Classical Review > New Ser., Vol. 37, No. 2 (1987), pp. 207-209
A fundamental aspect of the study of Roman verse satire [is] the concept of the persona. By persona I mean the mouthpiece created by the poet, whose voice is the voice we hear in the satires; sometimes we are invited to identify the persona with the poet, as for example in the case of Horace; sometimes the persona is given a different identity. either named (e.g. Juvenal's Umbricius in Satire 3) or left anonymous.
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