The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Ancient Rome

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Resource, Marred By Some Creaky Translations
Review: This Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Ancient Rome, edited by Jon Lewis, is really about the same size as a Viking Portable, so the title overstates the reality. At the same time, the book does collect a wide variety of Roman writings from all phases of its development and collapse. I've never before run across the Twelve Tables(450) BCE, anonymous rituals, Josephus, St. Augustine, Hannibal, Pliny, Suetonius, Marcus Aurelius, Horace, Caesar, Cicero, Juvenal, Constantine and too many others, known and anonymous, to name, all in one volume. It's main problem is that some of these translations are so hoary it's hard to imagine anyone ever expressed themselves in such convoluted and ornate language. Hannibal's speech to his troops is a prime example: it is unlikely his troops would have understood what he said, much less been motivated to valor, if he actually talked like he does in the translation here. Most of the pieces are good enough, though. It's fun to browse through, to get a peek at what Romans thought of themselves, and ordinary things they did, as well as great ones. The chronology at the front is very handy, too.