The
Institutio
Oratoria of Quintilian.
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome_nodrm
"
Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE; full Roman name: Gaius Julius Caesar). Caesar is much more often remembered as a general and a politician than as a man of letters, but he wrote endur- ing commentaries about his military experiences in the Gallic Wars (58-50) and the civil war (49-45). Legions of Latin students will recognize the famous opening words of his Gallic commentary: Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres: "All Gaul is divided into three parts. "
Juvenal (ca. 60-130 CE; full Roman name: Decimus Junius Juvenalis). The Roman poet Juvenal wrote 16 satirical poems, many of them bitter comments on the perils of life in Rome, the difficulties of making a living, and a social system that seemed to favor the rich and influential. He is the source of several famous phrases, including mens sana in sano corpora ("a sound mind in a sound body"), and his acerbic comment that the average person in Rome cared only for panem et circenses, "bread and circuses," or in other words, food and entertainment.
Livy (59 BCE-17 CE; full Roman name: Titus Livius). One of the most celebrated Roman historians, Livy set out, around the age of 30, to write a comprehensive history of Rome, from its founding up to his own time. Forty years later, he completed the massive project: Ab Urbe Condita (From the Founding of the City). Unfortunately, only about 25 percent of his manuscript is still extant; however, even the surviving portions provide a good deal of information, especially about the earliest days of the monarchy and the Republic, as well as a detailed account of the Second Punic War, including the famous story of Hannibal and the Carthaginians crossing the Alps Mountains with elephants in tow.
Lucian (fl. second century CE, perhaps 120-200). Lucian was a Greek satirist and essayist. A prolific writer, he authored works on rhetoric, literature, and philosophy. His wide variety of satirical dialogues focused on topics such as philosophy, religion, and human pretentious- ness. He traveled widely, working as a rhetorician and lecturer, before eventually making a home for himself in Athens, where he perfected his satirical writing style.
Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BCE), a scholarly antiquarian called by Quintilian "the most learned of Romans," reputedly wrote over 70 books. Of these, substantial portions remain of only two of them: On the Latin Language and On Farming.
Martial (ca. 40-104 BCE; full Roman name: Marcus Valerius Martialis). The poet Martial wrote over 1,500 epigrammatic poems, most of them in a satirical or social commentary mode mocking the flaws, foibles, and inconsistencies of Roman society; mooches, gold- diggers, and legacy hunters are the lowlife types often skewered by Martial. Additionally, he authored a collection of poems called Liber Spectaculorum (Book of Spectacles), commemo- rating the dedication of the famous Roman amphitheater the Coliseum, in 80 CE.
Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE; full Roman name: Publius Ovidius Naso). Ovid was a versatile Roman poet whose works range from Amores and Ars Amatoria (love poems) to Fasti, a poem devoted to the Roman calendar and the important historical events and religious observances connected with specific days. Metamorphoses, perhaps his most famous work, contains a
Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
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Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
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series of mythological stories, all of which involve some sort of change or transformation. Ovid spent the last nine years of his life in exile from Rome, at a place called Tomi, on the Black Sea (the ancient Roman equivalent of Siberia). He had somehow gravely offended the emperor Augustus, but to this day, the specific nature of his offense is unknown.
Pausanias (fl. second century CE). Pausanias traveled widely throughout ancient Greece and viewed many famous architectural monuments, works of art, historical sites, and cities. During his travels, he often spoke to the "locals" in order to gather information and better understand the places he visited. The result of all this activity was one of antiquity's most notable travelogues, Description of Greece. The work is divided into 10 books, each describ- ing a specific region of Greece. In Books 5 and 6, Pausanias focuses on Elis, the area in which Olympia was located; in these two books, he cites the names of over 200 Olympic athletes, sometimes with biographical data.
Petronius (fl. first century CE; full Roman name: Gaius Petronius Arbiter). Petronius is most famously credited with authoring the Satyricon, a ribald tale of the adventures of a cer- tain roguish character named Encolpius. The best-known incident in the extant portion of the work is Cena Trimalchionis (Trimalchio's Dinner), a description of an elaborate Roman dinner party hosted by the utterly buffoonish, nouveau-riche Trimalchio. At one time, Petronius was in the good graces of the emperor Nero, but they had some sort of serious fall- ing out, and Petronius was forced to commit suicide, probably in the year 65 CE.
Pindar (518-438 BCE). Pindar could be dubbed one of history's first sportswriters, since he made his living by writing epinicean poetry: poems in honor of victorious athletes at the great athletic competitions of ancient Greece, including the Olympic Games. Pindar's poetic skill was widely known; if a triumphant athlete wanted a victory ode in his honor, he could hire Pindar to write it, who likely commanded a hefty fee for his services. Pindar had a healthy respect for his abilities; he once claimed that his poetry soared like an eagle in flight, whereas that of his rival epinicean poets resembled the meanderings of low-flying crows.
Plato (427-347 BCE). Over the course of some 50 years, the philosopher Plato wrote 25 (mostly book-length) philosophical dialogues; among the most famous of these are his Republic, about an ideal society, and his Apologia, a transcript of the speech his mentor Socrates delivered in his own defense at his trial in 399. Plato, a skilled teacher like Socrates, often conducted classes and gave lectures in a grove of olive trees near Athens; the name of the grove was Academia, a word that thus became associated with Plato's school and, in later times, with higher learning in general.
Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE; full Roman name: Gaius Plinius Secundus). He is called "the Elder" to distinguish him from his nephew Pliny the Younger (see just below). Pliny the Elder was the consummate man of learning and knowledge. His Natural History, which-- according to him--contains 20,000 facts gleaned from 2,000 writings of 473 authors, covers every conceivable topic pertinent to the natural world: astronomy; topography; hydrology; human physiology and psychology; land animals; sea animals; birds; insects; forest trees; fruit trees; shrubs and flowers; agricultural crops; noncultivated plants; drugs and medicines; metals, gems, and rocks. He was a victim of the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79.
Pliny the Younger (62-114 CE; full Roman name: Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus). Pliny the Younger enjoyed a distinguished career as an orator, statesman, diplomat, and
litterateur. He is primarily remembered today as an epistler; 247 of the letters he wrote to friends still survive, while an additional 121--written to, and received from, the emperor Trajan--are also extant. He wrote two of his most famous letters to the historian Cornelius Tacitus, describing the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79; hence, his birth year (62) is pretty well established, because he states in one of those letters that he was 17 years of age when the eruption occurred.
Plutarch (ca. 46-120 CE). Plutarch is most noted as a biographer--he wrote 50 biographies of famous Greeks and Romans--but he also authored a massive collection of short essays entitled Moralia (Moral Essays). Plutarch was an erudite, intelligent writer, one of our best and most reliable sources of information about the ancient world. Ironically, both he and the poet Pindar hailed from Boeotia, a district not far from Athens and a place proverbial for the backwardness of its inhabitants; and yet two of the most accomplished and sophisti- cated writers in the history of Greek literature came from there.
Quintilian (ca. 35-95 CE; full Roman name: Marcus Fabius Quintilianus). Quintilian was a lawyer, teacher, and orator, and the author of a book on oratory called Institutio Oratoria (Institutes of Oratory). In this book, he meticulously describes the many aspects of the profession, including proofs, kinds of evidence, methods of influencing judges, appropri- ate use of humor, style and word usage, figures of speech, gestures, and dress. Perhaps most interesting, however, are the early chapters in his book, in which he discusses educational principles and the proper training of an orator.
Seneca the Younger (4 BCE-65 CE; full Roman name: Lucius Annaeus Seneca). Seneca produced a lengthy corpus of written works during his lifetime: 10 dialogues; three moral essays; a book on natural phenomena; nine tragic plays; and an interestingly amusing satire on the deification of the emperor Claudius, the Apocolocyntosis, or Pumpkinification. In 65, he was accused of complicity in a plot to assassinate the emperor Nero, and was forced to commit suicide.
His father, Seneca the Elder (55 BCE-41 CE), was also a noted author.
Suetonius (ca. 70-140 CE; full Roman name: Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus). Suetonius wrote biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 Roman emperors. He also authored biog- raphies of other noted individuals, including grammarians, rhetoricians, and poets.
Tacitus (ca. 55-117 CE; full Roman name: Cornelius Tacitus). The highly respected Roman historian Tacitus authored Annals, covering the years 14 to 68 CE, and Histories, covering 69 and 70. He also wrote a biography of his father-in-law, Agricola, a description of Germany (Germania), and a treatise on oratory (Dialogue on Oratory). He claimed in the Annals that his approach to historical writing was sine ira et studio, "without anger and prejudice. "
Terence (195-159 BCE; full Roman name: Publius Terentius Afer). A native of Carthage in North Africa, the Roman playwright Terence was born a slave; fortunately, he had an enlight- ened owner who brought him to Rome, educated him, and eventually freed him. Terence went on to write six comedies, all extant. His cognomen, Afer ("African"), reflects his birthplace.
Tertullian (ca. 160-225 CE; full Roman name: Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus). Like Terence (above), Tertullian was a native of North Africa. At some point, he converted to Christianity, and became the earliest Christian patristic writer. Among his many works
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Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
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(some written in Greek, others in Latin), the most notable is perhaps the Apology, a defense of Christianity.
Virgil; sometimes spelled Vergil (70-19 BCE; full Roman name: Publius Vergilius Maro). Virgil is generally regarded as the finest ancient Roman poet. He wrote several collec- tions of poetry, including Georgics (on farming) and Eclogues (pastoral poems), but his best- known work is the epic poem about the founding of the Roman race, Aeneid. He worked on the Aeneid for the last 10 years of his life, finally completing it shortly before his death. He had intended to spend an additional three years editing and polishing it; unfortunately, his death cut short those plans. Although he had specified in his will that the entire manuscript was to be destroyed if he died before completing his revisions, the emperor Augustus inter- vened and ordered it to be published as it was.
Vitruvius (fl. ca. early first century CE; full Roman name: Vitruvius Pollio). Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer whose manual on architecture, De Architectura, is the only text of its kind surviving from antiquity. The manual covers topics such as city planning, construction materials and methods, public and private buildings, house decoration, water quality and testing, aqueduct and pipe construction, and civil and military machines.
Xenophon (430-355 BCE). Xenophon was a Greek historian and essayist, and a student of the philosopher Socrates. His most famous work is probably Anabasis, a firsthand account of the battles and adventures of King Cyrus the Younger of Persia and the Ten Thousand, an army composed of Greek mercenaries who assisted Cyrus in warfare against his brother, Artaxerxes. A versatile author, he also produced works on hunting; on the trial of Socrates; on household management; on the Athenian economy; and an account of conversations at a dinner party, as well as treatises on military matters, history, and philosophy.
GLOSSARY
Definitions and explanations of most terms, place names, archaeological remains, etc. , appear within the text, especially in footnotes to specific documents or in sidebars. For infor- mation about individual ancient authors, please consult the Author Bio section; no authors' names will appear in the glossary.
Acropolis: the large elevation in Athens and location of many famous buildings, notably the Parthenon; literal meaning of the word: "top [of the] city. "
agora: the downtown area of a Greek city; agora is often translated by the misleadingly lim- ited word "marketplace. "
Athens: the premier polis of ancient Greece, particularly in the fifth century BCE. Pericles praised his city's eminence in his famous School of Greece speech in 430 BCE.
consul: the highest elected official in the Roman government, during the period of the Republic (509-27 BCE). Two were chosen annually.
drachma: the basic unit of exchange in the Greek monetary system, approximately the aver- age daily wage paid to a middle-class worker.
forum: the downtown area of a Roman city.
Gracchus: full Roman name: Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. Tribune in 133 BCE; champ- ioned a fairer distribution of farmland between wealthy landholders and homeless, impoverished citizens.
Olympic Games: a quadrennial athletic festival, first held in 776 BCE, at Olympia, in the southwestern area of the Peloponnesus.
ostracism: a method of expelling from Athens an unscrupulous or power-hungry politician for a period of 10 years.
251
Glossary
252
Parthenon: the magnificent and expensive temple dedicated to the goddess Athena and located on the Acropolis in Athens.
Peloponnesian War: the devastating conflict between Athens and Sparta, and their allies: 431-404 BCE.
Peloponnesus: the large southern peninsula of Greece.
Pericles: ca. 495-429 BCE. An outstanding orator and politician, and driving force behind
the Athenian Golden Age of the mid- to late fifth century.
polis: Greek word meaning "city-state. " Polises were independent countries--hundreds of
them--dotting the Greek peninsula and elsewhere in the Greek world.
Punic Wars: a series of three wars between Rome and Carthage: 264-241 BCE. ; 218-201;
and 149-146.
Roman Republic: a time period (509-27 BCE) when the chief officials of the Roman
government were chosen in elections. The Republic replaced the monarchy (753-509).
sestertium: a basic unit of exchange in the Roman monetary system; pl. sesterces.
Socrates: 470-399 BCE; the Athenian philosopher, tried and condemned in 399. His teach- ings and ideas are preserved exclusively in the writings of others, notably Plato.
Solon: ca. 640-560 BCE; noted Athenian legislator, businessman, poet, philosopher, and world traveler. Given sole authority in 594 to reform the Athenian law code.
Sparta: one of the most influential of the Greek polises and a major rival of Athens, espe- cially in the fifth century BCE.
Thebes: a famous and powerful polis north of Athens, once ruled by the star-crossed King Oedipus.
tribune: an elected official of the Roman government whose primary responsibility was to protect the interests of the plebeians. Ten were chosen annually.
Trojan War: fought ca. 1200-1190 BCE, between the Trojans (and their allies), and the Greek polises. Homer writes that over 1,000 Greek ships sailed to Troy to carry on this war.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
A sourcebook such as Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome could never be compiled without the assistance of countless translations, commentaries, dictionaries, and reference works. To provide each of these resources with the appropriate recognition would be a daunting task; however, several of them can be singled out.
First and foremost are the translations of the works of Greek and Roman authors to be found in the Loeb Classical Library series (LCL). These translations are highly readable, well annotated and indexed, invariably feature useful and interesting introductions to the transla- tions, and offer the additional advantage of providing the Greek or Latin text on the page facing the English translation. All the major ancient authors are represented in the series, and these volumes collectively form a true sine qua non for anyone wishing to seriously study and research any aspect of life in antiquity.
Also indispensible are major reference works such as The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) and Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities. These and similar resources save the day again and again for the author who cannot quite remember details like Suetonius's birth year, or the length of time required for the construction of the Parthenon, or the number and titles of the surviving plays of Aristophanes, or hundreds of other factoids that are critically important for a sourcebook like Voices.
Many of the definitions or explanations of Greek and Latin words and phrases appearing in Voices have been provided by the premier lexicons of the two ancient languages: Liddell and Scott's A Greek-English Lexicon and Glare's Oxford Latin Dictionary. Older, but still serviceable, is Lewis and Short's A Latin Dictionary. The LCL editors and translators also offer perceptive comments on some of the trickier or more obscure Greek and Latin words that occur in the original sources.
For quick and concise information about mythological characters or places, it would be difficult to imagine a more useful reference work than J. E. Zimmerman's Dictionary of Classical Mythology. All major gods, heroes, and legendary notables are represented within its pages, as well as brief citations of the ancient literature in which they appear.
Special mention ought to be made of Lillian Feder's Apollo Handbook of Classical Literature. This very readable reference contains biographical information for all major ancient authors, as well as informative synopses of their works. "Synopsis," indeed, may not be the operative word, because many of the entries pertaining to these works are
? ? 253
Bibliography
quite detailed, and this feature is perhaps what constitutes the greatest utility in Feder's book.
Naphtali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold have collected a wide assortment of source material in their two-volume set Roman Civilization Sourcebook I: The Republic and Roman Civilization Sourcebook II: The Empire. Both volumes are well stocked with pertinent selec- tions from ancient sources, as well as introductions and commentaries.
Few websites are mentioned in the bibliographies, partially because of their imperma- nence and partially because of their potential for purveying inaccurate information. However, relevant Internet sites, including translations of ancient works, can be quickly accessed via search engines by readers who prefer electronic media to hard copy.
TRANSLATIONS AND EDITIONS OF ANCIENT AUTHORS
Babbitt, Frank Cole (tr. ). Plutarch's Moralia. Volume III. [LCL. ] London and New York, 1931.
Barker, Ernest (tr. ). The Politics of Aristotle. Oxford, 1958.
Blanco, Walter (tr. ). Herodotus: The Histories. New York, 1992.
Brownson, Carleton L. (tr. ). Xenophon: Anabasis. Volume III. [LCL. ] London and
Cambridge, 1922.
Bury, The Rev. R. G. (tr. ). Plato: Timaeus; Critias; Cleitophon; Menexenus; Epistles. [LCL. ]
London and Cambridge, 1929.
Butler, H. E. (tr. ).
The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1920.
Clement, Paul A. (tr. ) Plutarch's Moralia. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1969.
Cornford, Francis MacDonald (tr. ). The Republic of Plato. New York and London, 1941. Creekmore, Hubert (tr. ). The Satires of Juvenal. New York, 1963.
de Selincourt, Aubrey (tr. ), revised by A. R. Burn. Herodotus: The Histories. Baltimore, 1954. de Selincourt, Aubrey (tr. ). Livy: The War with Hannibal, Books XXI-XXX. Baltimore, 1965. Dover, Kenneth (ed. ). Aristophanes: Clouds. Oxford, 1968.
Fagles, Robert (tr. ). Homer: The Iliad. New York, 1990.
Fairclough, H. Rushton (tr. ). Virgil: Eclogues; Georgics; Aeneid. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge
and London, 1916.
Fowler, Harold N. Plato: Cratylus; Parmenides; Greater Hippias; Lesser Hippias. [LCL. ]
London and New York, 1926.
Fuller, Edmund (tr. ). Plutarch: Lives of the Noble Greeks. New York, 1968.
Glover, T. R. (tr. ). Tertullian: Apology; De Spectaculis. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London,
1931.
Godley, A. D. (tr. ). Herodotus. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1920.
Granger, Frank (tr. ). Vitruvius on Architecture. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London,
1934.
Grant, Michael (tr. ). Selected Political Speeches of Cicero. New York, 1969.
Gulick, Charles Burton (tr. ). Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists. Volume I. [LCL. ] London and
New York, 1927.
Gummere, Richard M. (tr. ). Seneca: Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales. Volume II. [LCL. ]
London and Cambridge, 1920.
Harmon, A. M. (tr. ). Lucian. Volume V. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1936.
? ? 254
Henderson, Jeffrey (tr. ). Aristophanes: Clouds; Wasps; Peace. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1998.
Hubbell, H. M. (tr. ). Cicero: De Inventione; De Optimo Genere Oratorum; Topica. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1949.
Humphries, Rolfe (tr. ). Ovid: Metamorphoses. Bloomington, IN, 1955.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Hippocrates. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1923. Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pausanias: Description of Greece. Volume III. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1933.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pliny: Natural History. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1963.
Lamb, W. R. M. (tr. ). Plato: Laches; Protagoras; Meno; Euthydemus. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1924.
Marchant, E. C. (tr. ). Xenophon: Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. Volume IV. [LCL. ]
Cambridge and London, 1923.
Miller, Walter (tr. ). Cicero: De Officiis. [LCL. ] London and New York, 1913.
Moore, Clifford H. (tr. ). Tacitus: The Histories, Books I-III. Volume II. [LCL. ] Cambridge
and London, 1925.
More, Otis. Ovid: Metamorphoses. http://www. theoi. com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses15
. html
Murray, A. T. (tr. ). Demosthenes: Private Orations. Volume VI. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1939.
Palmer, George Herbert (tr. ). The Odyssey: Homer. New York, 1962.
Perrin, Bernadotte (tr. ). Plutarch's Lives. Volume I. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1914. Perrin, Bernadotte (tr. ). Plutarch's Lives. Volume V. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1917. Peterson, Sir William (tr. ).
Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE; full Roman name: Gaius Julius Caesar). Caesar is much more often remembered as a general and a politician than as a man of letters, but he wrote endur- ing commentaries about his military experiences in the Gallic Wars (58-50) and the civil war (49-45). Legions of Latin students will recognize the famous opening words of his Gallic commentary: Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres: "All Gaul is divided into three parts. "
Juvenal (ca. 60-130 CE; full Roman name: Decimus Junius Juvenalis). The Roman poet Juvenal wrote 16 satirical poems, many of them bitter comments on the perils of life in Rome, the difficulties of making a living, and a social system that seemed to favor the rich and influential. He is the source of several famous phrases, including mens sana in sano corpora ("a sound mind in a sound body"), and his acerbic comment that the average person in Rome cared only for panem et circenses, "bread and circuses," or in other words, food and entertainment.
Livy (59 BCE-17 CE; full Roman name: Titus Livius). One of the most celebrated Roman historians, Livy set out, around the age of 30, to write a comprehensive history of Rome, from its founding up to his own time. Forty years later, he completed the massive project: Ab Urbe Condita (From the Founding of the City). Unfortunately, only about 25 percent of his manuscript is still extant; however, even the surviving portions provide a good deal of information, especially about the earliest days of the monarchy and the Republic, as well as a detailed account of the Second Punic War, including the famous story of Hannibal and the Carthaginians crossing the Alps Mountains with elephants in tow.
Lucian (fl. second century CE, perhaps 120-200). Lucian was a Greek satirist and essayist. A prolific writer, he authored works on rhetoric, literature, and philosophy. His wide variety of satirical dialogues focused on topics such as philosophy, religion, and human pretentious- ness. He traveled widely, working as a rhetorician and lecturer, before eventually making a home for himself in Athens, where he perfected his satirical writing style.
Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BCE), a scholarly antiquarian called by Quintilian "the most learned of Romans," reputedly wrote over 70 books. Of these, substantial portions remain of only two of them: On the Latin Language and On Farming.
Martial (ca. 40-104 BCE; full Roman name: Marcus Valerius Martialis). The poet Martial wrote over 1,500 epigrammatic poems, most of them in a satirical or social commentary mode mocking the flaws, foibles, and inconsistencies of Roman society; mooches, gold- diggers, and legacy hunters are the lowlife types often skewered by Martial. Additionally, he authored a collection of poems called Liber Spectaculorum (Book of Spectacles), commemo- rating the dedication of the famous Roman amphitheater the Coliseum, in 80 CE.
Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE; full Roman name: Publius Ovidius Naso). Ovid was a versatile Roman poet whose works range from Amores and Ars Amatoria (love poems) to Fasti, a poem devoted to the Roman calendar and the important historical events and religious observances connected with specific days. Metamorphoses, perhaps his most famous work, contains a
Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
247
Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
248
series of mythological stories, all of which involve some sort of change or transformation. Ovid spent the last nine years of his life in exile from Rome, at a place called Tomi, on the Black Sea (the ancient Roman equivalent of Siberia). He had somehow gravely offended the emperor Augustus, but to this day, the specific nature of his offense is unknown.
Pausanias (fl. second century CE). Pausanias traveled widely throughout ancient Greece and viewed many famous architectural monuments, works of art, historical sites, and cities. During his travels, he often spoke to the "locals" in order to gather information and better understand the places he visited. The result of all this activity was one of antiquity's most notable travelogues, Description of Greece. The work is divided into 10 books, each describ- ing a specific region of Greece. In Books 5 and 6, Pausanias focuses on Elis, the area in which Olympia was located; in these two books, he cites the names of over 200 Olympic athletes, sometimes with biographical data.
Petronius (fl. first century CE; full Roman name: Gaius Petronius Arbiter). Petronius is most famously credited with authoring the Satyricon, a ribald tale of the adventures of a cer- tain roguish character named Encolpius. The best-known incident in the extant portion of the work is Cena Trimalchionis (Trimalchio's Dinner), a description of an elaborate Roman dinner party hosted by the utterly buffoonish, nouveau-riche Trimalchio. At one time, Petronius was in the good graces of the emperor Nero, but they had some sort of serious fall- ing out, and Petronius was forced to commit suicide, probably in the year 65 CE.
Pindar (518-438 BCE). Pindar could be dubbed one of history's first sportswriters, since he made his living by writing epinicean poetry: poems in honor of victorious athletes at the great athletic competitions of ancient Greece, including the Olympic Games. Pindar's poetic skill was widely known; if a triumphant athlete wanted a victory ode in his honor, he could hire Pindar to write it, who likely commanded a hefty fee for his services. Pindar had a healthy respect for his abilities; he once claimed that his poetry soared like an eagle in flight, whereas that of his rival epinicean poets resembled the meanderings of low-flying crows.
Plato (427-347 BCE). Over the course of some 50 years, the philosopher Plato wrote 25 (mostly book-length) philosophical dialogues; among the most famous of these are his Republic, about an ideal society, and his Apologia, a transcript of the speech his mentor Socrates delivered in his own defense at his trial in 399. Plato, a skilled teacher like Socrates, often conducted classes and gave lectures in a grove of olive trees near Athens; the name of the grove was Academia, a word that thus became associated with Plato's school and, in later times, with higher learning in general.
Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE; full Roman name: Gaius Plinius Secundus). He is called "the Elder" to distinguish him from his nephew Pliny the Younger (see just below). Pliny the Elder was the consummate man of learning and knowledge. His Natural History, which-- according to him--contains 20,000 facts gleaned from 2,000 writings of 473 authors, covers every conceivable topic pertinent to the natural world: astronomy; topography; hydrology; human physiology and psychology; land animals; sea animals; birds; insects; forest trees; fruit trees; shrubs and flowers; agricultural crops; noncultivated plants; drugs and medicines; metals, gems, and rocks. He was a victim of the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79.
Pliny the Younger (62-114 CE; full Roman name: Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus). Pliny the Younger enjoyed a distinguished career as an orator, statesman, diplomat, and
litterateur. He is primarily remembered today as an epistler; 247 of the letters he wrote to friends still survive, while an additional 121--written to, and received from, the emperor Trajan--are also extant. He wrote two of his most famous letters to the historian Cornelius Tacitus, describing the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79; hence, his birth year (62) is pretty well established, because he states in one of those letters that he was 17 years of age when the eruption occurred.
Plutarch (ca. 46-120 CE). Plutarch is most noted as a biographer--he wrote 50 biographies of famous Greeks and Romans--but he also authored a massive collection of short essays entitled Moralia (Moral Essays). Plutarch was an erudite, intelligent writer, one of our best and most reliable sources of information about the ancient world. Ironically, both he and the poet Pindar hailed from Boeotia, a district not far from Athens and a place proverbial for the backwardness of its inhabitants; and yet two of the most accomplished and sophisti- cated writers in the history of Greek literature came from there.
Quintilian (ca. 35-95 CE; full Roman name: Marcus Fabius Quintilianus). Quintilian was a lawyer, teacher, and orator, and the author of a book on oratory called Institutio Oratoria (Institutes of Oratory). In this book, he meticulously describes the many aspects of the profession, including proofs, kinds of evidence, methods of influencing judges, appropri- ate use of humor, style and word usage, figures of speech, gestures, and dress. Perhaps most interesting, however, are the early chapters in his book, in which he discusses educational principles and the proper training of an orator.
Seneca the Younger (4 BCE-65 CE; full Roman name: Lucius Annaeus Seneca). Seneca produced a lengthy corpus of written works during his lifetime: 10 dialogues; three moral essays; a book on natural phenomena; nine tragic plays; and an interestingly amusing satire on the deification of the emperor Claudius, the Apocolocyntosis, or Pumpkinification. In 65, he was accused of complicity in a plot to assassinate the emperor Nero, and was forced to commit suicide.
His father, Seneca the Elder (55 BCE-41 CE), was also a noted author.
Suetonius (ca. 70-140 CE; full Roman name: Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus). Suetonius wrote biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 Roman emperors. He also authored biog- raphies of other noted individuals, including grammarians, rhetoricians, and poets.
Tacitus (ca. 55-117 CE; full Roman name: Cornelius Tacitus). The highly respected Roman historian Tacitus authored Annals, covering the years 14 to 68 CE, and Histories, covering 69 and 70. He also wrote a biography of his father-in-law, Agricola, a description of Germany (Germania), and a treatise on oratory (Dialogue on Oratory). He claimed in the Annals that his approach to historical writing was sine ira et studio, "without anger and prejudice. "
Terence (195-159 BCE; full Roman name: Publius Terentius Afer). A native of Carthage in North Africa, the Roman playwright Terence was born a slave; fortunately, he had an enlight- ened owner who brought him to Rome, educated him, and eventually freed him. Terence went on to write six comedies, all extant. His cognomen, Afer ("African"), reflects his birthplace.
Tertullian (ca. 160-225 CE; full Roman name: Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus). Like Terence (above), Tertullian was a native of North Africa. At some point, he converted to Christianity, and became the earliest Christian patristic writer. Among his many works
Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
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Biographical Sketches of Important Individuals Mentioned in Text
250
(some written in Greek, others in Latin), the most notable is perhaps the Apology, a defense of Christianity.
Virgil; sometimes spelled Vergil (70-19 BCE; full Roman name: Publius Vergilius Maro). Virgil is generally regarded as the finest ancient Roman poet. He wrote several collec- tions of poetry, including Georgics (on farming) and Eclogues (pastoral poems), but his best- known work is the epic poem about the founding of the Roman race, Aeneid. He worked on the Aeneid for the last 10 years of his life, finally completing it shortly before his death. He had intended to spend an additional three years editing and polishing it; unfortunately, his death cut short those plans. Although he had specified in his will that the entire manuscript was to be destroyed if he died before completing his revisions, the emperor Augustus inter- vened and ordered it to be published as it was.
Vitruvius (fl. ca. early first century CE; full Roman name: Vitruvius Pollio). Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer whose manual on architecture, De Architectura, is the only text of its kind surviving from antiquity. The manual covers topics such as city planning, construction materials and methods, public and private buildings, house decoration, water quality and testing, aqueduct and pipe construction, and civil and military machines.
Xenophon (430-355 BCE). Xenophon was a Greek historian and essayist, and a student of the philosopher Socrates. His most famous work is probably Anabasis, a firsthand account of the battles and adventures of King Cyrus the Younger of Persia and the Ten Thousand, an army composed of Greek mercenaries who assisted Cyrus in warfare against his brother, Artaxerxes. A versatile author, he also produced works on hunting; on the trial of Socrates; on household management; on the Athenian economy; and an account of conversations at a dinner party, as well as treatises on military matters, history, and philosophy.
GLOSSARY
Definitions and explanations of most terms, place names, archaeological remains, etc. , appear within the text, especially in footnotes to specific documents or in sidebars. For infor- mation about individual ancient authors, please consult the Author Bio section; no authors' names will appear in the glossary.
Acropolis: the large elevation in Athens and location of many famous buildings, notably the Parthenon; literal meaning of the word: "top [of the] city. "
agora: the downtown area of a Greek city; agora is often translated by the misleadingly lim- ited word "marketplace. "
Athens: the premier polis of ancient Greece, particularly in the fifth century BCE. Pericles praised his city's eminence in his famous School of Greece speech in 430 BCE.
consul: the highest elected official in the Roman government, during the period of the Republic (509-27 BCE). Two were chosen annually.
drachma: the basic unit of exchange in the Greek monetary system, approximately the aver- age daily wage paid to a middle-class worker.
forum: the downtown area of a Roman city.
Gracchus: full Roman name: Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. Tribune in 133 BCE; champ- ioned a fairer distribution of farmland between wealthy landholders and homeless, impoverished citizens.
Olympic Games: a quadrennial athletic festival, first held in 776 BCE, at Olympia, in the southwestern area of the Peloponnesus.
ostracism: a method of expelling from Athens an unscrupulous or power-hungry politician for a period of 10 years.
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Glossary
252
Parthenon: the magnificent and expensive temple dedicated to the goddess Athena and located on the Acropolis in Athens.
Peloponnesian War: the devastating conflict between Athens and Sparta, and their allies: 431-404 BCE.
Peloponnesus: the large southern peninsula of Greece.
Pericles: ca. 495-429 BCE. An outstanding orator and politician, and driving force behind
the Athenian Golden Age of the mid- to late fifth century.
polis: Greek word meaning "city-state. " Polises were independent countries--hundreds of
them--dotting the Greek peninsula and elsewhere in the Greek world.
Punic Wars: a series of three wars between Rome and Carthage: 264-241 BCE. ; 218-201;
and 149-146.
Roman Republic: a time period (509-27 BCE) when the chief officials of the Roman
government were chosen in elections. The Republic replaced the monarchy (753-509).
sestertium: a basic unit of exchange in the Roman monetary system; pl. sesterces.
Socrates: 470-399 BCE; the Athenian philosopher, tried and condemned in 399. His teach- ings and ideas are preserved exclusively in the writings of others, notably Plato.
Solon: ca. 640-560 BCE; noted Athenian legislator, businessman, poet, philosopher, and world traveler. Given sole authority in 594 to reform the Athenian law code.
Sparta: one of the most influential of the Greek polises and a major rival of Athens, espe- cially in the fifth century BCE.
Thebes: a famous and powerful polis north of Athens, once ruled by the star-crossed King Oedipus.
tribune: an elected official of the Roman government whose primary responsibility was to protect the interests of the plebeians. Ten were chosen annually.
Trojan War: fought ca. 1200-1190 BCE, between the Trojans (and their allies), and the Greek polises. Homer writes that over 1,000 Greek ships sailed to Troy to carry on this war.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
A sourcebook such as Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome could never be compiled without the assistance of countless translations, commentaries, dictionaries, and reference works. To provide each of these resources with the appropriate recognition would be a daunting task; however, several of them can be singled out.
First and foremost are the translations of the works of Greek and Roman authors to be found in the Loeb Classical Library series (LCL). These translations are highly readable, well annotated and indexed, invariably feature useful and interesting introductions to the transla- tions, and offer the additional advantage of providing the Greek or Latin text on the page facing the English translation. All the major ancient authors are represented in the series, and these volumes collectively form a true sine qua non for anyone wishing to seriously study and research any aspect of life in antiquity.
Also indispensible are major reference works such as The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) and Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities. These and similar resources save the day again and again for the author who cannot quite remember details like Suetonius's birth year, or the length of time required for the construction of the Parthenon, or the number and titles of the surviving plays of Aristophanes, or hundreds of other factoids that are critically important for a sourcebook like Voices.
Many of the definitions or explanations of Greek and Latin words and phrases appearing in Voices have been provided by the premier lexicons of the two ancient languages: Liddell and Scott's A Greek-English Lexicon and Glare's Oxford Latin Dictionary. Older, but still serviceable, is Lewis and Short's A Latin Dictionary. The LCL editors and translators also offer perceptive comments on some of the trickier or more obscure Greek and Latin words that occur in the original sources.
For quick and concise information about mythological characters or places, it would be difficult to imagine a more useful reference work than J. E. Zimmerman's Dictionary of Classical Mythology. All major gods, heroes, and legendary notables are represented within its pages, as well as brief citations of the ancient literature in which they appear.
Special mention ought to be made of Lillian Feder's Apollo Handbook of Classical Literature. This very readable reference contains biographical information for all major ancient authors, as well as informative synopses of their works. "Synopsis," indeed, may not be the operative word, because many of the entries pertaining to these works are
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Bibliography
quite detailed, and this feature is perhaps what constitutes the greatest utility in Feder's book.
Naphtali Lewis and Meyer Reinhold have collected a wide assortment of source material in their two-volume set Roman Civilization Sourcebook I: The Republic and Roman Civilization Sourcebook II: The Empire. Both volumes are well stocked with pertinent selec- tions from ancient sources, as well as introductions and commentaries.
Few websites are mentioned in the bibliographies, partially because of their imperma- nence and partially because of their potential for purveying inaccurate information. However, relevant Internet sites, including translations of ancient works, can be quickly accessed via search engines by readers who prefer electronic media to hard copy.
TRANSLATIONS AND EDITIONS OF ANCIENT AUTHORS
Babbitt, Frank Cole (tr. ). Plutarch's Moralia. Volume III. [LCL. ] London and New York, 1931.
Barker, Ernest (tr. ). The Politics of Aristotle. Oxford, 1958.
Blanco, Walter (tr. ). Herodotus: The Histories. New York, 1992.
Brownson, Carleton L. (tr. ). Xenophon: Anabasis. Volume III. [LCL. ] London and
Cambridge, 1922.
Bury, The Rev. R. G. (tr. ). Plato: Timaeus; Critias; Cleitophon; Menexenus; Epistles. [LCL. ]
London and Cambridge, 1929.
Butler, H. E. (tr. ).
The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1920.
Clement, Paul A. (tr. ) Plutarch's Moralia. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1969.
Cornford, Francis MacDonald (tr. ). The Republic of Plato. New York and London, 1941. Creekmore, Hubert (tr. ). The Satires of Juvenal. New York, 1963.
de Selincourt, Aubrey (tr. ), revised by A. R. Burn. Herodotus: The Histories. Baltimore, 1954. de Selincourt, Aubrey (tr. ). Livy: The War with Hannibal, Books XXI-XXX. Baltimore, 1965. Dover, Kenneth (ed. ). Aristophanes: Clouds. Oxford, 1968.
Fagles, Robert (tr. ). Homer: The Iliad. New York, 1990.
Fairclough, H. Rushton (tr. ). Virgil: Eclogues; Georgics; Aeneid. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge
and London, 1916.
Fowler, Harold N. Plato: Cratylus; Parmenides; Greater Hippias; Lesser Hippias. [LCL. ]
London and New York, 1926.
Fuller, Edmund (tr. ). Plutarch: Lives of the Noble Greeks. New York, 1968.
Glover, T. R. (tr. ). Tertullian: Apology; De Spectaculis. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London,
1931.
Godley, A. D. (tr. ). Herodotus. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1920.
Granger, Frank (tr. ). Vitruvius on Architecture. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London,
1934.
Grant, Michael (tr. ). Selected Political Speeches of Cicero. New York, 1969.
Gulick, Charles Burton (tr. ). Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists. Volume I. [LCL. ] London and
New York, 1927.
Gummere, Richard M. (tr. ). Seneca: Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales. Volume II. [LCL. ]
London and Cambridge, 1920.
Harmon, A. M. (tr. ). Lucian. Volume V. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1936.
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Henderson, Jeffrey (tr. ). Aristophanes: Clouds; Wasps; Peace. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1998.
Hubbell, H. M. (tr. ). Cicero: De Inventione; De Optimo Genere Oratorum; Topica. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1949.
Humphries, Rolfe (tr. ). Ovid: Metamorphoses. Bloomington, IN, 1955.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Hippocrates. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and London, 1923. Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pausanias: Description of Greece. Volume III. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1933.
Jones, W. H. S. (tr. ). Pliny: Natural History. Volume VIII. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge,
1963.
Lamb, W. R. M. (tr. ). Plato: Laches; Protagoras; Meno; Euthydemus. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1924.
Marchant, E. C. (tr. ). Xenophon: Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. Volume IV. [LCL. ]
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Miller, Walter (tr. ). Cicero: De Officiis. [LCL. ] London and New York, 1913.
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Palmer, George Herbert (tr. ). The Odyssey: Homer. New York, 1962.
Perrin, Bernadotte (tr. ). Plutarch's Lives. Volume I. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1914. Perrin, Bernadotte (tr. ). Plutarch's Lives. Volume V. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1917. Peterson, Sir William (tr. ).
