The Roman Revolution
Sep. 16th, 2005 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lesbiassparrowI've seen a lot of love for Rubicon recently on various LJs of those who watch HBO's Rome. It's a good book, but I wanted to recommend Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution for anyone who might be interested in a classic and brilliant look at the fall of the Roman Republic.
This is a great, great work of history. It is a must for anyone who is vaguely sympathetic to Marc Antony as it attempts the almost impossible task of writing a history of the rise of Augustus from the perspective of the losing (Antonine) side. But most of all it is superbly written. Here's a sample of Syme's style:
"In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the facade; and Roman history, Republican or Imperial, is the history of the governing class."
And on Tiberius' accession to power after the death of Augustus:
"From first to last the dynasty of the Julii and the Claudii ran true to form, despotic and murderous."
Syme is adamantly against writing great man history, to the extent that he will deliberately avoid writing about the iconic moments of Republican history - like Julius Caesar's death. This happens between chapters and Syme's first mention of it reads thus:
"Caesar lay dead, stricken by twenty-three wounds. The Senate broke up in fear and confusion, the assassins made their way to the Capitol to render thanks to the gods of the Roman State. They had no further plans - the tyrant was slain, therefore liberty was restored."
The Roman Revolution was published in 1939 and reflects Syme's and his age's anxieties about dictators crystalized in the icy figure of the young Augustus. It is not that Syme is blind to what Augustus did for Rome, but that he recognised the price both the state and Augustus himself paid for his rise to power:
"For power he had sacrificed everything; he had achieved the height of all mortal ambition and in his ambition he had saved and regenerated the Roman people."
If you're thinking that a book published in 1939 can't possibly have anything to say that is useful about the Roman Republic and that it has surely been supplanted by other, more recent books, then you should rethink. This book is still fresh, Syme's genius with plotting family relationships is still unmatched (as is acknowledged by most classicists) and as a study of the dysfunctional and collapsing Roman Republic it has never been matched. I honestly don't think anyone in academia could write a history like this any more; it perfectly shows the murderous plotting and backbiting, describes the chaos of a disintegrating society, and portrays the cold chill of Octavian's intelligence like no other book on this period.
Go and read it and you will enjoy Rome as never before!
This is a great, great work of history. It is a must for anyone who is vaguely sympathetic to Marc Antony as it attempts the almost impossible task of writing a history of the rise of Augustus from the perspective of the losing (Antonine) side. But most of all it is superbly written. Here's a sample of Syme's style:
"In all ages, whatever the form and name of government, be it monarchy, republic, or democracy, an oligarchy lurks behind the facade; and Roman history, Republican or Imperial, is the history of the governing class."
And on Tiberius' accession to power after the death of Augustus:
"From first to last the dynasty of the Julii and the Claudii ran true to form, despotic and murderous."
Syme is adamantly against writing great man history, to the extent that he will deliberately avoid writing about the iconic moments of Republican history - like Julius Caesar's death. This happens between chapters and Syme's first mention of it reads thus:
"Caesar lay dead, stricken by twenty-three wounds. The Senate broke up in fear and confusion, the assassins made their way to the Capitol to render thanks to the gods of the Roman State. They had no further plans - the tyrant was slain, therefore liberty was restored."
The Roman Revolution was published in 1939 and reflects Syme's and his age's anxieties about dictators crystalized in the icy figure of the young Augustus. It is not that Syme is blind to what Augustus did for Rome, but that he recognised the price both the state and Augustus himself paid for his rise to power:
"For power he had sacrificed everything; he had achieved the height of all mortal ambition and in his ambition he had saved and regenerated the Roman people."
If you're thinking that a book published in 1939 can't possibly have anything to say that is useful about the Roman Republic and that it has surely been supplanted by other, more recent books, then you should rethink. This book is still fresh, Syme's genius with plotting family relationships is still unmatched (as is acknowledged by most classicists) and as a study of the dysfunctional and collapsing Roman Republic it has never been matched. I honestly don't think anyone in academia could write a history like this any more; it perfectly shows the murderous plotting and backbiting, describes the chaos of a disintegrating society, and portrays the cold chill of Octavian's intelligence like no other book on this period.
Go and read it and you will enjoy Rome as never before!
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Date: 2005-09-16 09:39 pm (UTC)After I finish reading all the books about Stalin ;)
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Date: 2005-09-16 10:06 pm (UTC)Syme is absolutely not out of date and it is a brilliant read; I honestly that is the best book on the fall of the republic ever written - everything else is a pale imitation. He's still mandatory reading for Classics qualification exams and not in the 'oh, we have to read the old masters just to cover the bases way.'
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Date: 2005-09-16 10:10 pm (UTC)I've got Martin Amis's Koba the Dread, which is kind of interesting and difference; and may I recommend The Dictators by Richard Overy, a very distinguished scholar of World War II era Russia (he wrote a brilliant book called Russia's War)? It's not so much about Stalin and Hitler as people, but about the systems of governance that they created in their respective countries.
I'm definitely going to buy the Symes book (I might as well ;))
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Date: 2005-09-19 10:36 pm (UTC)