Posts: 5399
Threads: 256
Joined: December 1, 2013
Reputation:
60
Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 25, 2014 at 4:08 pm
(This post was last modified: December 25, 2014 at 4:09 pm by Mudhammam.)
So, for a while now I have wanted to go through some of the monumental voices of ancient Western civilization. I just ordered Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (translated by Robert Fagles) and I own Virgil's Aeneid (trans. by W.F. Jackson), which I haven't yet read, and Lucretius' The Nature of Things (trans. by Alicia Stallings), which I have read. I'm looking for the following (please recommend translation if you have preference):
1 pre-Socratic philosopher and 1 historian.
1 book by Plato, not including the Republic (which I plan on buying already).
2 books by Aristotle
1 or 2 other Greek philosophers and/or historians
2 or 3 Roman philosophers and/or historians
1 book by Cicero.
I think that should be a good entry collection. Thanks for your help.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
Posts: 69247
Threads: 3759
Joined: August 2, 2009
Reputation:
259
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 25, 2014 at 4:20 pm
IIRC most of the books Cicero that survive are about rhetoric.
His letters are fascinating glimpses into life in the first century. As an enemy of Caesar's they give a whole other line of refutation to the jesus freak morons who insist that we have more evidence for their godboy than we do for Caesar. Even Caesar's enemies tell us he was real.
Otherwise, among other writers, Titus Livy is one of the foremost historians. Much of his work survives and we have brief sketches of many of the missing books. Pliny the Elder's Natural History is another famed one.
Then there is Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus) who is the earliest Roman historian whose work has survived. This site may help.
http://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/sallust/
Posts: 18510
Threads: 129
Joined: January 19, 2014
Reputation:
91
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 25, 2014 at 4:27 pm
(This post was last modified: December 25, 2014 at 5:52 pm by Alex K.)
I worked my way through translations of the illiad and the republic. Have fun! So many people dying in such detailed fashion, good stuff. Usually you even learn what kind of crops the victim's in-laws plant alongside the description of the killings.
lI must admit that I kind of lost stamina towards the second half of the republic 
Does plato have further works in as long a form as the republic? The other dialogues I know are a relatively quick read, euthyphro is a must I guess, and symposion is a classic(*), and sometimes funny, I remember being amused .
(*) duh.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Posts: 18510
Threads: 129
Joined: January 19, 2014
Reputation:
91
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 30, 2014 at 4:17 pm
It would be fun (to me) if you'd occasionally let us know your thoughts while you tackle some of these works, btw.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Posts: 591
Threads: 13
Joined: July 7, 2014
Reputation:
14
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 30, 2014 at 4:20 pm
Oh god not sallust. I hate him, so damn much.
If you got time for some fun, Catullus is your guy. He's a poet I like quite a bit. Ovid too, for some raunchy poems and some rumors that says he was a bit too intimate with Augustus' daughter.
Posts: 18510
Threads: 129
Joined: January 19, 2014
Reputation:
91
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 30, 2014 at 4:30 pm
His name really is Crispus? 
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Posts: 69247
Threads: 3759
Joined: August 2, 2009
Reputation:
259
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 30, 2014 at 4:38 pm
(December 30, 2014 at 4:20 pm)Natachan Wrote: Oh god not sallust. I hate him, so damn much.
If you got time for some fun, Catullus is your guy. He's a poet I like quite a bit. Ovid too, for some raunchy poems and some rumors that says he was a bit too intimate with Augustus' daughter.
Sallust has one of the greatest quotes ever.
Quote:Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
And the Roman cognomen "Crispus" means, basically "curly."
Posts: 46085
Threads: 538
Joined: July 24, 2013
Reputation:
109
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 30, 2014 at 4:38 pm
For your historian, I strongly recommend Caesar's 'The Gallic Wars'. It is virtually unique among histories as it was written 'on the fly'. It is almost a news account running to seven volumes.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
Posts: 18510
Threads: 129
Joined: January 19, 2014
Reputation:
91
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 30, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Oh jees I completely forgot about that one from 12th grade. Gallia est omnia divisa in partes tres... and that's about all I remember.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Posts: 591
Threads: 13
Joined: July 7, 2014
Reputation:
14
RE: Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors
December 30, 2014 at 4:49 pm
Sallust might be a great historian, I just hate him because I had to translate it. He had this passage about an uprising against the senate where everyone just went home after they realized that not enough people had showed up. He went the whole damn page without verbs. I happen to like verbs.
|
