rpmiller's review against another edition
4.0
I find the ancient Greeks a most admirable people, even if it is only the minority that we know through their artifacts. The Romans, Chinese and Indians all come up short in comparison to the Greeks. The humor and subtlety of their literature enhances the stories and legends in a way that we do not yet match even today. Our modern era, prodigious in science, philosophy and technology has only begun to surpass the Greek, even with a thousand times the population for our accomplishments. Yet the literature that remains from those ancient times is beyond our capabilities. Who today could write these lines attributed to Timor by Plutarch?
“Ye men of Athens, I have a little plot of ground, and in it grows a fig-tree, on which many citizens have been pleased to hang themselves; and now, having resolved to build in that place, I wished to announce it publicly, that any of you who may be desirous may go and hang yourselves before I cut it down.”
“Ye men of Athens, I have a little plot of ground, and in it grows a fig-tree, on which many citizens have been pleased to hang themselves; and now, having resolved to build in that place, I wished to announce it publicly, that any of you who may be desirous may go and hang yourselves before I cut it down.”
oenamaus's review
3.0
Needs other sources to really understand what is going on. Written several hundred years after the events described for a Roman audience. Something most likely lost in translation. Wouldn't read again but I would reference while studying other lives.
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