Fra Verus

Wizardly Virgil's Foundational Fan Fiction and Farming Facts

Fra Verus — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 16:27:00 -0500

Next up is the three major works of the Roman poet Virgil, being the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Aeneid.

The Eclogues have not aged well. It is essentially an overtly political idyllic poem. The issues addressed and alluded to are so particular to Virgil's time and place that I …

Platonic Poltinus

Fra Verus — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 23:01:00 -0500

Next up on the list is a brutal seven-volume slog through Plotinus' six Enneads. Plotinus was a 3rd-century AD Greek-speaking Neoplatonist philosopher. He also marks the end of the pre-Christian philosophers in the Great Books list. In many ways, his school of philosophy and his place in time allow him …

The Freed Man

Fra Verus — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 22:54:00 -0400

Next up is Epictetus' Discourses and the Handbook. Epictetus is yet another Stoic author. Unlike our previous two Stoic authors, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca, Epictetus was neither wealthy nor powerful. Rather, he was a freed slave he strove to live simply. His explanation of Stoic principles is the most rigorous …

The ABCs of Stoicism

Fra Verus — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 23:41:00 -0400

While it's not technically on the GBWW list, Seneca's Letters fits right in with Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. Seneca is a hard man to describe. He was a first century moral philosopher, a playwright, and a billionaire (by Roman standards). He had dealings, good and bad, with multiple Roman emperors …

That Other Western Civilization

Fra Verus — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:50:00 -0400

Backtracking a little after Meditations, I bit the bullet and read Lucretius' De Rerum Natura.This title is and can be translated a number of different ways, owing to the broadness of the Latin word res. The most literal translation would probably be "About the nature of things". However, in …

Our Empire, Ourselves

Fra Verus — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 13:17:00 -0400

Well, for various reasons, I have been reading a lot of other stuff not on the list. I took a stab at Lucretius in Latin but it was a slog. I will attempt it with a better edition and better self-preparation. Aquinas is also still waiting for me to forget …

Quadwrecker

Fra Verus — Sat, 21 Jan 2017 14:04:00 -0500

Completing the set of early-modern satires is Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. This book has seen a ton of editions and you can't go wrong with most of them. I mostly chose this edition because it comes in hardcover and it has original illustrations by Jon Corbino. It is a solid …

NEETs in Enlightenment France

Fra Verus — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 20:08:00 -0400

Next up on the French side of things is Denis Diderot's Le Neveau de Rameau or Rameau'sNephew. This edition is available in paperback, hardcover, and on-line. The hardcover edition is well-bound and printed on heavy paper. I can not really speak for the paperback edition. The on-line edition includes much …

The Possibility of the Pre-Photonic Rulebreaker

Fra Verus — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 23:51:00 -0400

Next up is the first part of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae. This edition is fantastic. Physically, the volumes are as beautiful as they are sturdy. The English translation is solid. There are not really really any footnotes but Aquinas designed the Summa to serve as a first introduction to …

How to Become a Mamamouchi

Fra Verus — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 22:37:00 -0400

Next up in my French reading is Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. It is in the same Dover volume as Le Tartuffe and has the same translator. Therefore, my comments on the actual edition remain the same as in my last post. I would only note that because this play is …

Le Faux Dévot

Fra Verus — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 21:35:00 -0400

Next up in my French reading is Molière's Le Tartuffe. This is a no-frills Dover dual-language paperback edition, much like my copy of Candide. However,the translation of Tartuffe is a lot less literal than Candide. In fact, some of the translation choices are simply bizarre. This is perplexing because …

Satirizing the Problem of Evil

Fra Verus — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 21:47:00 -0400

Skipping around a bit in the list to learn some French, I picked up a dual-language (facing translation) edition of Voltaire's Candide. This edition is a cheap paperback. There are probably better editions of the French and better translations of the English out there. However, side-by-side translations are great for …

The Real Stuff

Fra Verus — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 21:54:00 -0400

Squaring off the Greek math section is Nicomachus of Gerasa's Introduction to Arithmetic. Sadly, this work is long out of print. You can scrounge Amazon or Abe Books for a copy. There are some paperback versions floating around that are just the translation without any of the introductory material. They …

Only True Coneheads Need Apply

Fra Verus — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 19:08:00 -0400

This technically is not next on the list, but I have now read Sir Thomas Heath's translation of Apollonius of Perga's work On Conic Sections. Cambridge University Press still has this book in print, though in paperback only. For a hardcover edition, you will need to go scrounging through the …

Grecian Pi[e]

Fra Verus — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 16:04:00 -0400

Next up on the list are The Works of Archimedes. This Dover edition is basically your only option these days. Sir Thomas Heath's translation is the only game in town and Dover's edition is the only edition still in print. If you are desperate for a better quality binding, Cambridge …

Angles that Euclid Would Know

Fra Verus — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 21:41:00 -0400

Next up on the list, as promised, is Euclid's Elements of Geometry. This is a dated but still definitive translation of Euclid's foundational work on Geometry done by Sir Thomas Little Heath. This particular edition is a slimmed down version his translation with the notes removed so that it can …

Novum Testamentum

Fra Verus — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 19:45:00 -0400

Way later than promised, I have finished reading the New Testament, also known as Bible II: The Adventures of God Junior. For details about the editionI choice, see my previous post: Antiquum Testamentum.

While it should come as no surprise to readers with a Christian background, the New Testament is …

Antiquum Testamentum

Fra Verus — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 23:22:00 -0400

The observant reader will note that I have not updated this blog in roughly a year and a half. He or she may also note that the next item on my reading list is Euclid's Elements. While I did start Euclid, I did not get very far before I started …

Galen and the Crazy

Fra Verus — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 00:42:00 -0500

Next up is Galen: On the Natural Faculties (Loeb Classical Library). It's another Loeb but aside from the original Great Books volume, it's just about the only translation available. The remarks in my previous post about Hippocrates and the respective Loeb editions more or less apply equally to this volume …

I might not have a med-school degree...

Fra Verus — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:00:00 -0500

Next up on the list is Hippocrates, Volume I: Ancient Medicine (Loeb Classical Library, No.147). Well, that's just the first volume. The complete Hippocrati ccorpus comes in ten volumes. This is almost certainly more than is in the corresponding Great Books volume. Someone less crazy than myself may wish …

Brecht vs. Aristotle (Aristotle, Part II)

Fra Verus — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:14:00 -0400

Next up is the second half of Aristotle's complete works: The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, Vol. 2(Bollingen Series LXXI-2). My previous entry describes my general thoughts on this particular edition. I will only add that the binding on my copy of volume twohas started to …

On the Generation of 2,500 Pages (Aristotle, Part I)

Fra Verus — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 18:48:00 -0400

Long time no read/write. It has been over a year. This is even worse than mylast lapse. I got distracted reading other books that aren't on the list. I even learned Calculus. Maybe I should start doing write-ups about more stuff not on the list.

In any case, next …

Don't Eat the Plato

Fra Verus — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:05:00 -0400

After many months, I finally knocked out the next item in the list: Plato: Complete Works. First, as per the usual, here a few words about this edition. It has a few things going for it. It's relatively cheap for the massive amount of content--roughly $50 for 1,800 pages …

Athens vs. Sparta

Fra Verus — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 04:14:00 -0500

Next up is Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. It is the history of the ~30 year war between Sparta and Athens told by a prominent Athenian citizen who spent half of the war in exile with the Spartas due to his having commanded a failed expedition. Thus a lot …

Èrodotus' Ìstories

Fra Verus — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 20:05:00 -0400

Next up on the list is Herodotus' The Histories. Here Herodotus provides adetailed account of the Persian Wars, the parties involved, and the events leading to the wars.

But first, a word about the edition I selected: This is part of a series of Greek histories in translation, each called …

Aristophanes Brings the Lulz

Fra Verus — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:54:00 -0400

Rounding out the volume of Greek drama is Aristophanes: The Complete Plays. Now, the translation of Aristophanes one gets is extremely important. His plays have a lot of swearing and sometimes massive strap-ons. For the bulk of the 20th century, this stuff was considered too racy as is. Unfortunately, this …

The End of Tragedy

Fra Verus — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 02:11:00 -0400

After many long weeks, I've finally made it to the last volume of Euripides. Though this is not actually the end the corresponding volume of the Great Books series. I still have the comedies to go. But this still feels like an important milestone. Also, there are far fewer comedies …

Euripides and Insanity

Fra Verus — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 01:37:00 -0400

Status: published

Next up is the fourth volume of Euripides, including:Herakles, Phoenician Women, and Bacchae. Yeah, onlythree in this volume so I would say it is the shortest volume of Euripides butthe physical book is actually like an inch taller than the others. This made menotice that there are …

Hippolytos, the most fucked up play ever. And some other plays, too.

Fra Verus — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 03:12:00 -0400

Status: published

Next up is yet another volume of Euripides. This volume's plays are:Hippolytos, Children of Herakles, Suppliant Women,and Ion.

Hippolytos is one of the more fucked up things I've ever read.Basically, Aphrodite gets annoyed that Hippolytos is a merry virgin and favoredby Artemis, the virgin huntress …

Euripides, Trojan Sympathizer

Fra Verus — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:39:00 -0400

Status: published

Backtracking a little, due to the previously mentioned shippinginconsistency, I've now read the first volume of Euripides. It includesAndromache, Hecuba, Trojan Women, andRhesos. I'm going to keep this post brief.

The first three plays all deal with women of Troy after the fall of Troy.Basically …

Euripides Retcons the Orestia

Fra Verus — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:43:00 -0400

Status: published

So, my new UPS driver has decided that he only likes delivering one packageat a time. So if I have, say, three packages coming in a day, things get alittle complicated. UPS always flags these delays as "external factors". Butit's totally just the UPS driver not searching for …

Sophocles Gets Homeric

Fra Verus — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 00:51:00 -0400

Status: published

Sophocles' remaining plays all have some connection toHomer's stuff. Unfortunately, they are all horribly depressing and I don'treally have a lot worth saying about them. But I did enjoy them quite alot.

First up is Aias/Ajax. In it, Ajax flips out and goes on amurdering spree because …

Sophocles' Theban Plays

Fra Verus — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:27:00 -0400

Status: published

Shimmying down the list brought me to Sophocles. I started off with hisTheban plays, beingAntigone, Oedipus the King (or Rex), and Oedipus atColonus.

Antigone picks up roughly where Aeschylus' Seven AgainstThebes left off. The sons of Oedipus have killed each other. [K|C]reon,Oedipus' brother-in-law …

Remaining Aeschylus

Fra Verus — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 02:39:00 -0400

Status: published

Next on my list was [the rest of Aeschylus](\%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195373286/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=fraver-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0195373286\%22)![\\"\\"](\%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=fraver-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0195373286\%22){width="\"1\"" height="\"1\""}. The remaining plays being*Persians*, *Seven …

The Oresteia

Fra Verus — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:43:00 -0400

Status: published

Next up on the list was Aeschylus' Oresteia. In summary, it is a trilogyof plays recounting Agamemnon's death, his son Orestes seeking vengeance, andthen Orestes seeking absolution by a court of law convened by the goddessAthena. I chose a translation from a new series from Oxford University Press …

A Brief Introduction

Fra Verus — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:51:00 -0400

Status: published

So, I've set out to read the long list of the most significant works in theWestern canon as judged by the venerable Mortimer J. Adler. I have two majorreasons for doing this: First, you cannot take part in the great discussions ofthe Western Civilization(tm) without familiarizing yourself …

The Odyssey

Fra Verus — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:16:00 -0400

Status: published

Next up on the list is the Odyssey. This was actually my first time aroundfor this one. It has been a long time coming. This being my first time, I optedfor the more traditional Fagles translation: The Odyssey Also, while StephenMitchell is planning an edition of the Odyssey …

The Iliad

Fra Verus — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:03:00 -0400

Status: published

This is my second time reading the Iliad, having read through it under theguidance of one Professor D- R-. during my undergrad years. Since this was mysecond time through, I picked a new, rather unorthodox edition "translated" byStephen Mitchell (not the Old Norse guy at Harvard): The Iliad …