I haven't been making any entries lately, and probably won't for a while, because I'm deeply entrenched in the odyssey that is Plutarch's Lives. I actually started reading Lives almost two years ago, but just picked it up in earnest a few weeks back and am determined to see it through to the end.
It's a fabulous book, describing in detail the lives of famous men of ancient Greece and Rome. It's really helping fill in a lot of historical gaps in my knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean world. But it is a tough read, due to the translation into an old-world style of English, filled with lengthy run-on sentences. At less than 900 pages it feels like a book of twice that length.
Interestingly, Plutarch actually plays a major role in my love of the ancient world. Years ago when I first set out to read biographies of all of the U.S. Presidents (I've only made it through Andrew Jackson so far), I noticed that a lot of our Presidents had an intimate knowledge of Plutarch's writings, as well as many other ancient writers. In particular I remembe reading of how John Adams used to spend cold winter nights reading Lives with his children.
I just finished a comparison of the Greek general Cimon with the Roman general Lucullus, two figures of which I had almost no knowledge before this weekend.
Great stuff, this Plutarch!
It's a fabulous book, describing in detail the lives of famous men of ancient Greece and Rome. It's really helping fill in a lot of historical gaps in my knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean world. But it is a tough read, due to the translation into an old-world style of English, filled with lengthy run-on sentences. At less than 900 pages it feels like a book of twice that length.
Interestingly, Plutarch actually plays a major role in my love of the ancient world. Years ago when I first set out to read biographies of all of the U.S. Presidents (I've only made it through Andrew Jackson so far), I noticed that a lot of our Presidents had an intimate knowledge of Plutarch's writings, as well as many other ancient writers. In particular I remembe reading of how John Adams used to spend cold winter nights reading Lives with his children.
I just finished a comparison of the Greek general Cimon with the Roman general Lucullus, two figures of which I had almost no knowledge before this weekend.
Great stuff, this Plutarch!
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