The Portable Roman Reader

by Basil Davenport (Editor)

A collection of representative works of great Roman writers and thinkers from the founding of the Republic to the collapse of the Empire.

Part I: The Beginnings and the Age of Cicero
Part II: The Augustan Age
Part III: The Silver Age
Part IV: The End

Genres: History, Literature, Anthologies, Roman, Reference, Nonfiction, Poetry

656 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1951

Reviews

[Emma Hejlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay I read like 80% of this but 80% of 600 is still a lot

anyways roman writers are fucking BORING girly pops your plays are so fun but you let Caesar get to yall thinking long histories are good

[B. P. Rinehart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great anthology of Ancient Roman literature. I was introduced to many writers that I had previously only heard about. Of course, as an anthology it will pick and choose on writings, but the translations come from some surprising sources. This book should inspire people to chase down and read the full source of their favorite sections.

[Rebester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone needs to read Cicero's speech on Cataline and do what I did -- read it out to the class in true orator style so you can really _see_ the craftsmanship.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diverse selection of Roman literature, from 4th Century BCE to 6th Century CE.

What I liked:
Plautus, "Amphitryon"
Terence, "Phormio"
Ovid, "Metamorphoses"
Seneca, "Medea"
Petronius, "Satyricon"
Apuleius, "The Golden Ass"
The plays are the most accessible, with complete stories drawn from mythology and enough in-text context to aid the reader. The novel excerpts are also good. I liked the inclusion of Petronius's story of the werewolf. The selection from Ovid has too much edited out; it was not always easy to follow.

The historical, philosophical, and religious works are noteworthy and they should provide a good introduction to those interested in exploring the complete or extant works in full. The ones from Caesar, Livy, and Tacitus are the best. Cicero's presentation (reconstruction?) of a speech by Cato the Elder makes Cato an even less appealing figure in my view.

I found much of the poetry to be overly dense, with the age of some of the translations being an issue. I suspect that some of the translations are also fairly free, so I don't know how much they might deviate from the original meaning.

[Karl Vicente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains:
Plautus AMPHITRYON
Terence PHORMIO
Lucretius from ON THE NATURE OF THINGS
Caesar from THE GALLIC WAR
Cicero from the ORATIONS; from CONCERNING OLD AGE
Catullus from the POEMS
Virgil from the ECLOGUES; from THE AENEID
Horace from the ODES; from the SATIRES; THE ART OF POETRY
Livy from THE HISTORY OF ROME
Ovid from the METAMORPHOSES; from the EPISTLES
Seneca MEDEA
Lucan from the PHARSALIA
Petronius from the SATYRICON
Martial from the EPIGRAMS
Tacitus from the ANNALS; from GERMANY
Juvenal from the SATIRES
Apuleius from THE GOLDEN ASS
Anonymous THE VIGIL OF VENUS
Saint Augustine from the CONFESSIONS
Boëthius from THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY

[Shaunna · Rating 2 out of 5]

But to be fair, I do not like most "old" stories, and completely glaze over at odes. The plays were amazing though!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many aspects of Rome, surprisingly modern. The Satyricon is a highlight and relevant as ever.

[Tara]

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