Lives of the Later Caesars: The First Part of the Augustan History, with Newly Compiled Lives of Nerva & Trajan
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Translator: Anthony BirleyEdition: Paperback
Published: 1976-06-24
ISBN: 0140443088
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Lives of the Later Caesars: The First Part of the Augustan History, with Newly Compiled Lives of Nerva & Trajan
Book Review: Being emperor depends on fortune
Summary: 5 Stars
The German scholar H. Dessau unmasked the six authors of the Historia Augusta (HA) as the brainchildren of one impostor, whom Sir Ronald Syme in his `Ammianus and the Historia Augusta' calls a master of historical romance.
This book contains 17 lives of emperors from the HA, together with 2 small biographies of Nerva and Trajan compiled by the excellent translator Anthony Birley.
The anonymous author of the HA mingled excerpts from other works, particularly by Cassius Dio and Herodian, with his own `fiction' to compile a parody of imperial hagiographies, exposing those who `belittle the defeated'.
It is a work in super-Hollywood style with fake letters, bogey references and even an insult litany on Commodus. The latter `killed with his own hand many thousands of wild animals, even elephants.' During the reign of Antoninus Pius, `four lions became tame of their own accord and yielded to capture'.
Hadrian was a Stakhanovist: `At one and the same time, he wrote, dictated, listened and conversed with his friends - if it can be believed.'
Avidus Cassius had a schizophrenic character; he `seemed truculent and rough, but sometimes placid and mild; often he was devout, but at other times scornful of sacred things; avid of wine, and again abstinent; eager for food but able to endure starvation; a devotee of Venus and a lover of chastity.'
Marcus Antoninus `made the bad good and the good very good.'
Pescennius Singer insulted his soldiers: `You have the Nile and you ask for wine?'
But the author is fundamentally a moralist: `Wretched is the republic which endures those men who are desirous of riches, and the rich.'
Severus `killed many for allegedly consulting astrologers or seers about his health, especially each and every person suitable for the imperial office.... Yet the murderer of these men is regarded as a god.'
Emperors don't need hagiographies: (Hadrian) `The lot of emperors is wretched, for they cannot be believed in cases of attempted usurpation - unless they have been killed.'
This cleverly disguised author wrote a superb hoax, which is a must read for all lovers of classical literature.
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