The Makers of Rome: Nine Lives (Penguin Classics)

Have you ever read an old historical book written centuries, or in some cases millennia, in the past & just marveled at how advanced the ancients were ? That's how I felt after reading Ian Scott-Kilvert's unbelievable translation of Plutarch's 'Makers Of Rome'. Being very much an amateur classicist with no formal collegiate credentials, I learn new Latin terms & concepts with each new literary work I dive into as opposed to learning about them formally in a classroom setting. I was reading a book about an Italian 'condottiero' from the Late Middle Age of history & I learned that there are two main methods of translation, 'ad verbum' & 'ad sensum'. 'Ad verbum' was popular during the Middle Ages & it's a literal, word-for-word translation of a manuscript, the second is a more liberal way of doing the same thing. 'Ad sensum' means you uphold the core concepts of the MSS (MSS is a historiographical form of shorthand which means 'ManuScriptS', but if you think maybe there's a more eloquent manner to convey what the writer was trying to communicate, then doing something 'ad sensum' allows you that freedom. I first encountered Ian Scott-Kilvert's work when I read Cassius Dio's 'The Reign Of Augustus' which was just wonderful all the way through. Scott-Kilvert's accessible vernacular makes Dio's history feel more like an epic adventure as the narrative chronicles the deeds of the Divine Augustus, Gaius Maecenas & Marcus Agrippa. It's just a lot of fun to read through & I highly recommend it if you're interested. Ian Scott-Kilvert was a Director Of English Literature at the British Council & an editor for a publication called 'Writers & Their Works'. He left us in 1989, I wish I could have met him so I could have expressed my admiration. The compilation's introduction is short & direct, giving the reader an idea of Plutarch's era in history & basic writing style as well as some background on specific Roman lives in this selection. There's also an interesting appendix & afterward at the end which summarizes specific people & events related to Marc Antony's life such as Cleopatra & the Battle Of Actium & the aftermath. It was engaging to read through & I've not yet encountered a similar feature included in any Penguin Classics book.Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus was a Greek philosopher who lived from 46 - 119 A.D. Originally born with the Greek name 'Ploútarchos', he was given a formal Roman 'praenomen' & 'cognomen' upon becoming a full citizen of the empire. He is most famous for his literary work entitled 'Parallel Lives' which is a series of 48 Greek & Roman biographies written in the style of Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus' 'De Vita Caesarum', & another collection, the 'Moralia', which is a group of 78 speeches, essays, & assorted written rhetoric.This selection of Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives' contains nine Roman biographies which are presented in chronological order to the reader. Unlike Suetonius' writing, the atmosphere, pacing, & narrative elements found in Plutarch's biographies varies greatly. Some of these men's stories are full of humorous & also unexpected amusing anecdotes & sarcastic remarks while others are quite melancholy & tragic. And still others are almost exclusively focused on meticulous recapitulations of military operations which I suppose you have to have an acquired taste for Plutarch's level of detail. As I ran across it one passage in VIII of Cato The Elder's biography came off to me as just sad, because of the way it's written you can clearly see that Cato wasn't very well-liked by his compeers in government; Plutarch is trying to encapsulate how Cato went about his duties as a senator & public servant. 'His enemies, he used to say, hated him because he got up early every day & devoted himself to public affairs but neglected his own. Another saying of his was that he would rather do what was right & go unrewarded than do wrong & go unpunished, & that he was prepared to forgive everybody's mistakes except his own.'Later in the book, Plutarch speaks of the Sabine Quintus Sertorius, who was so loved by the natives of Lusitania they stood with him against the might of the Roman empire & the armies of Pompey Magnus. When Sertorius took the Valencian city of Lauron in a calculated coup, Pompey's troops were close behind him expecting to encounter an occupied town full of unhappy citizens hoping for liberation. What Pompey found was a city pliant & acquiescent to Sertorius' probably-generous terms of rule. When Pompey approached Lauron's walls he failed to notice the six thousand infantry Sertorius shrewdly had ordered to lay back in the event Pompey approached & left his flank unguarded, which he did in fact do. It cost him the battle. At the end of Sertorius' biography we also learn of how he was betrayed by one of his vicegerents, Perpenna, who worked with the traitors Manlius & Aufidius to undermine the Iberian's high regard for Quintus' leadership by exacting ruthless punishments & unreasonable taxes in Sertorius' name. Afterward, a banquet was organized where Sertorius was invited to attend, & after the conspirators' prearranged signal of letting a goblet of wine fall, so too did fall the blade of the assassin Antonius as it pierced Sertorius' vulnerable breast. A sad way for such a courageous man to lose his life.We also read of the tearful reunion of the tragic hero Coriolanus with his wife Vergilia, their two children, & his loving mother Volumina when the Roman republic was still in its fledgling years. And of the sad circle of bloodshed & vengeance Marc Antony & Brutus begin when the latter orders his lieutenant Hortensius to execute Marc Antony's brother Gaius Antonius in retribution for killing the senator Cicero. Later in Macedonia when the grief-stricken Antony wins the bloody battle of Philippi, in a flash of spiteful rage he orders Hortensius executed over his brother's tomb. At the end of his biography, when faced with certain defeat Antony contemplates the recent defection to Octavian of his dear friend Domitius Ahenobarbus. In a rare benevolent action he allows Ahenobarbus' possessions, retainers & servants to follow their lord in joining the enemy army of the future Divine Augustus. Days after betraying Antony, the duplicitous Ahenobarbus dies from a virulent fever. I think Marc Antony's downfall & subsequent death by suicide to be among the most tragic in all of our world's history.There's so much about Ian Scott-Kilvert's beautiful translation of Ploútarchos' 'Makers Of Rome' to adore, I could go on for quite a while speaking of moments throughout the book which touched my heart. I think compared to Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus' 'The Twelve Caesars', Plutarch's biographical writing has more sentimental, emotional undertones which thankfully lack the somber notes of Renaissance & Late Middle Age humanist authors such as Pier Candido Decembrio has in his 'Lives Of The Milanese Tyrants'. If you would like some titles which I personally feel complement the content of this selection of Plutarch's work, I would recommend the Penguin Classics Robert Graves' translation of 'De Vita Caesarum' (that's just a fancy Latin title for Suetonius' 'The Twelve Caesars') & the I Tatti Renaissance Library edition of 'Lives Of The Milanese Tyrants' translated by Gary Ianziti, & edited by Massimo Zaggia. While I'm quite sure there's a multitude of wonderful translations out there, the two aforementioned titles are what I have firsthand experience with & they're just spectacular. I'd also recommend the Penguin Classics Anthony Birley translation of 'Lives Of The Later Caesars'. Finally I would suggest Andrew Brown's wonderful translation of Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli's 'La Vita Di Castruccio Castracani Da Lucca' because it's written & translated in what I consider to be a stylized epic Suetonian manner, & just a stirring good tale that touches your heart when you read it. Finally, I strongly recommend Allesandro Campi's 'Machiavelli & Political Conspiracies : The Struggle For Power In The Italian Renaissance' for its astute political analysis & wonderful translation of Book III:VI of Niccolò's 'Discoursi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio', entitled 'On Conspiracies' because of the relevent subject matter in relation to Plutarch's writing.I very much hope you learned a bit about Plutarch & Roman history, thanks so much for taking the time to read my review, it means so much to me !

Plutarch lives up to his reputation and is very readable. The two star review is for the Penguin Classics Kindle version which had MANY easily avoidable typographical errors. It appears the eBook version is a scan and Penguin couldn't be bothered to review and correct the typos. The multitude of errors detracted from the narrative and made reading the Penguin version painful. I'm angry I spent money for this. Penguin, you can do better.

Despite knowing very little about the Roman republic before reading this book I found it very easy to understand roughly the various positions and terms, and it's all very easy to read and both interesting and entertaining. It's pretty clear that Plutarch didn't let facts get in the way of a good story (especially in the case of Mark Antony) but there are plenty of footnotes throughout the book and an appendix specifically related to the historical facts of the life of Mark Antony. It's left me keen to read more of Plutarch's Lives.One warning though, the Kindle edition of this book is just appallingly edited. It's full of OCR and formatting errors and doesn't appear to have been so much as proofread, so I'd recommend a print version. Also, I don't know why it's called "Makers of Rome", the title doesn't fit at all.

Few ancient biographers and historians have had the impact on our understanding of the ancient world that Plutarch has had. The scope and breadth of his work was astounding. His works spanned almost all of Classical history and provide a great deal of what we know about both ancient Greece and Rome.This book is a collection of biographies of important figures in Roman history, such as Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, and the like. The work provides a great deal of insight into the general structure of Roman society and politics, as well as a number of other cultural matters. Furthermore I found the translation to be readable and accessible, though not exactly lively.Compared to some of his works on Greek history, however, this work provides a lot less insight into the sort of resources Plutarch had at his disposal as a biographer and historian.This book should be read by anyone studying Roman history.

As it often seems is the case in Kindle editions, there are a lot of spelling mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are minor and only require a brief pause from the reader to determine what the correct word is. At other times there are only one or two letters in the word that actually belong there and the reader will need to source the passage elsewhere for it to make sense. When writing this review I opened to page 135 and within the 4 preceding pages, I was easily able to find 3 examples. They were 'coidd' instead of 'could' on page 135, 'hps' instead of 'lips' on page 133, and 'prompdy' instead of 'promptly' on page 131. Spelling mistakes amongst a text that already has so many scarcely used words only succeeds to compound the difficulties a reader may have during study.I have since found a store to buy the print edition, new, for a dollar less. The apparent lack of effort given to proof reading Kindle editions of books before publication is certainly giving me cause to consider print editions in future. This is despite the convenience of digital downloads.I expect more from a publisher who has, what I would expect, are reduced costs in production. Penguin Classics will most likely not be on my digital downloads list in the near future.

It is Plutarch. What more is there to say. A jolly good read.

Very useful book for somebody studying Plutarch for the first time. Clear and concise and not to academic and therefore not likely to put one off of further Greek history studies.

Good review

The Plutarch is fine. The Kindle edition badly needs the attention of a proof reader.

Excellent history of Rome