Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Comment rather than a review

Customer Rating:

Dear all, I've not read this, but am slightly intrigued as to the method of reviewing Classical sources on this website. No one is debating that Plutarch was a masterful historian and writer; if he were not, his works would not have survived. What I am interested in is the quality of this translation of his works; I want a review of this book, not of Plutarch, as Plutach didn't write the Penguin's Classic version in English! Has anyone who has read this in the latin give me an idea of how accurate this version is?

Ambition is the most destructive of all powers (Euripides)

Customer Rating:

Plutarch's 6 biographies of Roman politicians/generals give a fair picture of a decadent Rome in the 1st century B.C.: mighty unequal distribution of wealth and `legal safeguards inadequate to deter the forces of law and order from murder.' `Since the whole state was rotten within itself, it was in the power of any bold man to overthrow it.' Bold were men like the generals, `who had risen to the top by violence.' Plutarch's portraits of `Gaius Marius' and `Crassus' are very superficial. On the contrary, his picture of `Sulla', the first Roman dictator, is very clear-cut: `Sulla, a butcher. (He got) immunity for all his past acts, while for the future he was to have the power of life and death, the power to confiscate property, to found new cities or to demolish existing ones.' A brave `Cicero' attacked Sulla's murky business transactions in court. `Pompey' restored the powers of the tribunes, the representatives of the plebeians, and the rights of the classes outside the Senate to serve on juries in law courts. He worked together with `Caesar' to destroy the powers of the aristocracy. After they grabbed power, they fought one another: `armies of the same kin, ranks of brothers, here the whole manhood and might of a single state was involved in self-destruction.' Why did they fight? Out of greed and personal rivalry. Caesar won and asked to be given all powers. The Romans opted for the Hobbes/Machiavelli solution: `the rule of one man would give them respite from the miseries of the civil wars, and so they appointed Caesar dictator for life. This meant an undistinguished tyranny; his power was now not only absolute, but perpetual `... until the Ides of March. Plutarch's dramatic talent produced a shocking tale, full of `putting to death', `cutting into pieces', burning to the ground, slaughtering, enslaving, looting and plundering. A must read for all those interested in the history of mankind.

Crash course of democracy

Customer Rating:

This is the collection of biographies of Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar and Cicero. Plutarch tells us how these powerful men used Roman democracy for pushing their personal agendas. The pattern kept repeating: our hero finds allies and strikes alliances, gains power, gets provinces and armies voted for himself and for his friends, eventually ambitions clash and the dictator emerges through armed conflict. Many lessons on nature of man can be learned from this book.

Plutarchs most dedicated biography

Customer Rating:

Having purchased several of Plutarch's work as companions to study courses, I must say that this is the most thorough and accurate of his compiled works. There is always a certain degree of anecdote and humour to his work but these biographies of the six men responsible for the fall of the Roman Republic seems to be a more serious affair. A must for anyone interested in Rome and the rise of Caesar.