Paul Cartledge
"The formidable duo of Romm & Mensch have pulled it off again—accomplishing with ease the tricky feat of making some of the best biographies from the best biographer of the ancient Roman world newly accessible in fresh, accurate, intelligently commented translations to a readership extending well beyond the usual Classicist suspects."
Steve Donoghuen Conservative
"A translation full of good choices."
Daniel Padilla Peralta
"This reader’s edition of Plutarch’s Lives brings to life the captivating personalities and topsy-turvy politics of the late Roman Republic. Fluid and poised, Pamela Mensch’s translation does a fine job conveying the measured power of Plutarch’s prose. The introduction—authored by one of the most distinguished ancient historians of her generation—masterfully sets the scene, and James Romm’s notes will be an invaluable resource for readers."
Ian Morris
"The Age of Caesar is a fine translation of Plutarch’s biographies of five of the most tragic figures in ancient history. This will become the new standard."
American Conservative - Steve Donoghue
"A translation full of good choices."
Steve Donoghue - American Conservative
A translation full of good choices.
Library Journal
11/15/2016
Greek intellectual Plutarch's (46–120 CE) voluminous writings have provided scholars with important records and insights into the people and events that shaped the classical world. His biographies of influential political leaders of the late Roman republic, including Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, and Antony are all compiled into this single volume, a handy source of ancient documentation regarding the rise of Caesar during the first century BCE. Readers will find many critical historical episodes within: Caesar's campaign in Gaul and famous crossing of Italy's Rubicon River ("let the die be cast"), Cicero's pointed rhetoric, Cato's principled suicide, the assassination of Pompey in Egypt, Brutus and Cassius's plot against Caesar, Antony's exploits with Cleopatra, and the rise of Octavian, who would become emperor Augustus. Veteran translator Mensch writes current, readable English prose. Romm's (classics, Bard Coll.; Ghost on the Throne) footnotes give sound context to the many names, places, and cultural rites found within Plutarch's text. VERDICT For those with a serious interest in Roman history. As this is an ancient primary source, it is helpful if readers come at this work with a general understanding of the events and people of the first century BCE Roman world (see Barry Strauss's The Death of Caesar). [See Prepub Alert, 8/1/16.]—Jeffrey Meyer, Mt. Pleasant P.L., IA
Kirkus Reviews
2016-11-15
The estimable Greek historian depicts ancient Rome's violent politics.Biographer and philosopher Plutarch (46-120 C.E.) aimed to reveal "the manifestations of a man's soul" in his Parallel Lives, portrayals of major Greek and Roman historical figures. Set beside one another, these biographies, Plutarch hoped, would edify readers who sought moral self-improvement. From that work, classicist Romm (Classics/Bard Coll.; Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero, 2014, etc.) has selected five Roman lives: military general Pompey; lawyer and orator Cicero; Caesar, central to all of these lives; his treacherous adversary Brutus; and his supporter Antony, a vainly handsome man "of princely dignity." These biographies, Romm believes, offer "an immersion in the events of the classical past and an encounter with its greatest personalities." An introduction by noted classical scholar Mary Beard and informative footnotes help to fill in that sense of the past, and a felicitous translation by Mensch makes Plutarch's prose lively and accessible. The biographies are thrillingly dramatic, as Plutarch recounts savage battles, bloody betrayals, and constant political upheaval. Central to that upheaval was the murder of Caesar, after he declared himself "Dictator for Life," by a cadre assembled by Brutus. After arrogantly reproaching petitioners, Caesar found himself surrounded by murderers. "Whichever way he turned he met with blows aimed at his face and eyes, and was driven here and there like a wild beast," Plutarch wrote, "trapped in everyone's hands." Caesar was felled with 23 stab wounds, and some of the assassins themselves were wounded in the melee. Carried out in the name of liberation from Caesar's tyrannical rule, the killing had the opposite effect, making the populace worship Caesar "as a god" and turn against the conspirators. Among other dramatically intense scenes, Cleopatra's inconsolable grief after Antony's death and her suicide by asp bite stand out. If crucifixions and ferocious street fighting no longer characterize contemporary politics, Plutarch's rivalrous, "inglorious" world in discomfiting ways echoes through our own time.
