The Age of Caesar: Five Roman Lives by Plutarch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Romans—they’re just like us! Okay, not really. But you don’t have to dig deep to find the family resemblance.
This collection of five of Plutarch’s Lives includes Pompey, Caesar, Brutus, Antony, and Cicero, with many lines threading between each of these. Plutarch is entertaining and funny, insightful and critical, and through the seemingly endless descriptions of wars and battles, we gain access to a period of history when the people wanted security and prosperity, the noblemen wanted to maintain systems that ensured them access to incredible wealth, and the leaders were willing to strike deals and scheme betrayals if only to gain one more day of supreme power. There are occasional moments of nobility and honor, but more often these Lives reveal the ways that arrogance and paranoia work in concert to raise up strong men and also to ensure their downfall. An enlightening read.