Robert Kaster - Böcker

Studies on the Text of Macrobius' Saturnalia is a companion to new editions of Macrobius' encyclopedic dialogue that are to appear in the Loeb Classical Library and the Oxford Classical Texts series. The first chapter reports the results of a new survey of all the extant manuscripts of the work written before the 13th century and provides the first detailed stemma, which allows the early medieval archetype to be reconstructed more reliably than previously. Chapter 2 discusses some of the nearly 300 passages in which the new text differs from the standard edition of James Willis (Teubner 1963); the critical discussions then continue in Chapter 3, which considers some questions of editorial practice posed by a text whose author was not just the author but also, to a very extensive degree, a copyist himself. Three appendixes supplement the arguments in the body of the monograph.

A radical new portrait of the infamous Roman emperorRome’s second emperor, Tiberius (42 BCE–CE 37), has traditionally been seen as a villainous hypocrite—treacherous, grasping, vindictive, and depraved. But in Tiberius and His Age, Edward Champlin draws on vast and diverse evidence to show that Tiberius was—and was seen by contemporaries to be—recognizably human and far more complex than the monster of the hostile tradition that began with Tacitus and Suetonius.Focusing on the overlapping themes of luxury, sex, power, and, especially, myth, Tiberius and His Age examines Tiberius’s standing as a folkloric figure in the Roman popular imagination and his conscious use of mythological themes to consolidate his power. It argues that the striking stories of Tiberius’s sexual depravity, which literary sources passed on to later generations, are ultimately incoherent fictions, the work of a brilliant fantasist who hated the emperor. The book’s portraits of three important figures in Tiberius’s circle—the gourmands Asellius Sabinus and Marcus Apicius and the emperor’s lieutenant, Sejanus—provide new perspectives on the emperor and his age. Tiberius’s passions for astrology, gastronomy, and mythology, which have often been seen as eccentric scholarly diversions, are revealed instead to be central to contemporary Roman debates and keys to understanding his personality, his power, and the lasting image of Roman emperors.Incisive, witty, and original, Tiberius and His Age presents a startlingly new picture of Tiberius and the culture and politics of the early Roman Empire.

How ancient Stoicism can help teach us to treat others—and ourselves—more fairly and mercifully There are times when we’ve all felt that we haven’t been treated as we deserve—that we’ve been misjudged, shortchanged, or given a raw deal. And, at one time or another, other people have probably felt that we’ve treated them just as unfairly. How to Do the Right Thing draws on the principles of ancient Stoicism as articulated by the Roman statesman and philosopher Seneca to help readers better navigate one of the most important practical questions of daily life—how to do right by others.Starting from the virtue of magnanimity—the opposite of small-mindedness—How to Do the Right Thing draws together lessons from Seneca’s writings that stress the importance of calm and clear thinking, of judging oneself fairly before judging others, and of cutting people slack, with a bias toward mercy—all delivered in crisp and lively new translations, and with the original Latin on facing pages.