Plutarch Lives, I, Theseus and Romulus. Lycurgus and Numa. Solon and Publicola (Loeb Classical Library®) (Volume I)

I have only started reading this book, translated by Perrin, but I wanted to make a quick comparison with the "Dryden translation, edited and revised by Arthur Hugh Clough," as presented in the 1992 Modern Library edition available at my library. Consider:Clough says: "That age produced a sort of men, in force of hand, and swiftness of foot, and strength of body, excelling the ordinary rate and wholly incapable of fatigue; making use, however, of these gifts of nature to no good or profitable purpose for mankind, but rejoicing and priding themselves in insolence, and taking the benefit of their superior strength in the exercises of inhumanity and cruelty, and in seizing, forcing, and committing all manner of outrages upon everything that fell into their hands; all respect for others, all justice, they thought, all equity and humanity, though naturally lauded by common people, either out of want of courage to commit injuries or fear to receive them, yet no way concerned those who were strong enough to win for themselves."Where Perrin says: "For verily that age produced men who, in work of hand and speed of foot and vigour of body, were extraordinary and indefatigable, but they applied their powers to nothing that was fitting or useful. Nay rather, they exulted in monstrous insolence, and reaped from their strength a harvest of cruelty and bitterness, mastering and forcing and destroying everything that came in their path. And as for reverence and righteousness, justice and humanity, they thought that most men praised these qualities for lack of courage to do wrong and for fear of being wronged, and considered them no concern of men who were strong enough to get the upper hand."

Good to see the original scan.

My 12 year old can't get into the lives written in this book very well. She does read them and does well. It is more fun for me to read them to her and we discuss them as we go.

This product has missing pages: 221, 223, 338.

Since there are so many of these darn things the review shall be divided into three sections. First, a brief description of the Loeb series of books and their advantages/disadvantages. Second shall be my thoughts on the author himself, his accuracy, as well as his style and the style of his translator. This is of course only my opinion and should be treated as such. The final part shall review what this particular book actually covers.The Loeb series date back to the turn of the last century. They are designed for people with at least some knowledge of Greek or Latin. They are a sort of compromise between a straight English translation and an annotated copy of the original text. On the left page is printed the text in Greek or Latin depending on the language of the writer and on the right side is the text in English. For somebody who knows even a little Greek or Latin these texts are invaluable. You can try to read the text in the original language knowing that you can correct yourself by looking on the next page or you can read the text in translation and check the translation with the original for more detail. While some of the translations are excellent mostly they are merely serviceable since they are designed more as an aid to translation rather than a translation in themselves. Most of them follow the Greek or Latin very closely. These books are also very small, maybe just over a quarter the size of your average hardcover book. This means that you'll need to buy more than just one book to read a complete work. They are also somewhat pricey considering their size. The Loeb Collection is very large but most of the more famous works can be found in better (and cheaper) translations elsewhere. If you want to read a rarer book or read one in the original language then you can't do better than the Loeb Editions.There are 11 volumes of Plutarch's Lives as well as a further 16 of his Moralia in the Loeb series which includes all his known works. Plutarch is without doubt my favorite Classical author. His books are personal, entertaining, and he just comes across as a generally warm and friendly guy. That last part is very rare in Classical authors. His most famous works are his Lives. These were basically mini-biographies of famous men. The writing of Lives was very popular in Antiquity with Suetonius being perhaps the most famous example. What makes Plutarch's different however is the way that he captures the character and the ability of his subjects. Unlike other Lives which divide their subject into topics and then record these out of context, Plutarch's ones follow a chronological order. He also took more care over them than others did. Lives were considered less reputable than Histories but Plutarch treated his like mini-Histories. The interpretation might be different but he is rarely caught out in errors except where his sources make the same errors. Also unlike most Classical writers he doesn't go overboard on the moralizing. These works were written to educate and instruct but the basic lessons are simple enough and he only goes into ethical conclusions in his comparison after each paired life.This is one of the rare times where I really think that the Loeb translations are the best ones out there. While these works are available for cheaper elsewhere (Modern Library  Volumes 1  and  Volume 2 ) they are generally based off the Dryden translation. Avoid the Dryden translation. It is very old (1683) and a lot of these "new" translations are simply the Dryden translation with a few spelling and wording changes to make it sound more modern. While the Loeb translations may seem older (the 1910s) they are at least written in modern English translated directly from the Greek. The Penguin ones are better but for some reason they felt the need to split them up by era ( On Sparta  [Lycurgus, Agesilaus, Agis, Cleomenes, and some Spartan Sayings],  The Rise and Fall of Athens  [Theseus, Solon, Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, Lysander],  The Age of Alexander  [Agesilaus, Pelopidas, Dion, Timoleon, Demosthenes, Phocion, Alexander, Demetrius, Pyrrhus],  The Makers of Rome  [Coriolanus, Fabius Maximus, Marcellus, Cato the Elder, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Sertorius, Brutus, Mark Antony],  Rome in Crisis  [Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Sertorius, Lucullus, Younger Cato, Brutus, Antony, Galba, and Otho],  The Fall of the Roman Republic  [Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero]). These were dual Lives. They paired off famous Greeks with famous Romans and compared their careers, the idea being that they had similar virtues and vices. Splitting them up like that ruins the original intent of the author and removes the analysis after each pair. Even when the comparison seems forced it is at least evident why Plutarch included what he did.This book covers Theseus and Romulus. Theseus was one of the earliest kings of Athens while Romulus was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Both of these figures are mythological and probably fictitious so the Life is basically a rationalization of the mythology surrounding them. They make for entertaining reading. The second pairing is that of Lycurgus and Numa. Lycurgus was the lawgiver who established the culture of Sparta and Numa Pompilius, was the second king of Rome who was renowned as a lawgiver. Again, these are both fictitious but they are also very readable. Solon reworked the structure of Athenian society to make it more fair and Publicola was one of the men who founded the Roman Republic taking power from the kings and giving it to the people. Solon was certainly real (there are samples of his poetry around) and this is one of the best sources for his life. Publicola may or may not have been real. Certainly there is very little known about the early history of Rome. Everything about Rome before the 4th or 3rd Century BC is essentially mythical.

This is the translation by Bernadotte Perrin and since this is the only translation that I've read I cannot do a comparison, but I did find it very easy to understand. Note that this translation was originally published in 1914, so it is not the most modern English, but should be easily understandable by most people.I found Plutarch's style quite engaging and he did attempt to quote his sources, though there is some controversy on the accuracy of some of his material. This volume contains the biographies of 6 individuals and includes Theseus and Romulus, Numa Pompilius and Lycurgus, and Solon andPoplicola. He goes through each individual separately and then has a chapter comparing each pair. As you will note, the first two names are mythical individuals, so his sources would be questionable.In general, I found the biographies fascinating. I got a good handle on the culture and values of these early Greeks and Romans. Some of what he describes sound too bizarre to be true, but these were ancient times and other sources corroborate much of the information.Highly recommended for anyone interested in ancient history.Note that this translation is in the public domain.