Scan barcode
samphiresyl's review against another edition
3.75
Entertaining fanfic with elements of truth! I wonder what's up next for this aspiring author <3 (goddamn does he have opinions though...)
christian_mcguire's review against another edition
4.0
Regarding the main text, there is a short biography of the roman general Agricola (whom Tacitus is descended from) and a geographical account of Germania, particularly the customs and human geography of its people. Both of these are excellent.
Although Agricola is a biased and uncritical account boosting the reputation of a relative, the writing and character-development is superb, and Tacitus's ability to arouse positive feelings about Agricola and to excuse literal imperialism and genocide as it pertains to Agricola's actions is impressive. For someone I've long viewed negatively, Agricola sure does seem like a nice chap.
As for Germania, as a nerd of human geography, this was an absolute feast. I find the cultural customs of the Germans to be utterly fascinating, and I am grateful that Tacitus gave us an account of them on par with Ceaser's human-geographical account of the Gauls.
The introduction is a bit of a slog but then again I went into this already familiar with the text and knowing what to expect. About half of the book's length is explanatory notes, and with this high a frequency of notes, they should have been footnotes instead of making me flip back and forth constantly. Instead of half the book being notes, I'd rather the bottom half of the pages be footnotes. That said, the kick I got out of the main text and the high quality of the translation makes this a worthwhile read.
Although Agricola is a biased and uncritical account boosting the reputation of a relative, the writing and character-development is superb, and Tacitus's ability to arouse positive feelings about Agricola and to excuse literal imperialism and genocide as it pertains to Agricola's actions is impressive. For someone I've long viewed negatively, Agricola sure does seem like a nice chap.
As for Germania, as a nerd of human geography, this was an absolute feast. I find the cultural customs of the Germans to be utterly fascinating, and I am grateful that Tacitus gave us an account of them on par with Ceaser's human-geographical account of the Gauls.
The introduction is a bit of a slog but then again I went into this already familiar with the text and knowing what to expect. About half of the book's length is explanatory notes, and with this high a frequency of notes, they should have been footnotes instead of making me flip back and forth constantly. Instead of half the book being notes, I'd rather the bottom half of the pages be footnotes. That said, the kick I got out of the main text and the high quality of the translation makes this a worthwhile read.
More...