Reviews for Q. Curtius Rufus, Historiae

The average rating for Q. Curtius Rufus, Historiae based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-08-02 00:00:00 Paul Lopez Having this paperback since August 2012, I've long reluctant to have a go with this seemingly tedious ten-book biography entitled "The History of Alexander" by Quintus Curtius Rufus. It's a pity its Books 1 and 2 had been lost, so we've to make do with the summary. I didn't know why, perhaps its biographer's name wasn't familiar to me, that is, I've rarely heard his name till its page informed me he was the Roman historian who "wrote the only life in Latin of Alexander the Great" (p. i) Generally, it looks formidable because a system of numbering within square brackets followed by translated sentences has been used, for instance, Book Three: Section 1 [1] …, [2] …, [3] …, … [24] … ; Section 2 [1] …, [2] …, [3] …, … [19] … ; Section 3 [1] …, [2] …, [3] …, … [28] … Section 13 [1] …, [2] …, [3] … [17]. This system seems obviously repetitive; it's allowed as a kind of connectivity in relation to the original texts, presumably for comparative translations by those Latin vs English scholars. Alexander, notably deserved such an honorific 'The Great', has since been admired because his incisive character on occasions as the victor was impressively eminent and proudly recorded by historians for posterity. For example, how he extended his kindness towards Darius' family has nobly proved his integrity as a kingly, god-like, gentleman-like warrior in the ancient world history as we can see from this extract: At this particular time, certainly, his actions were such that he outshone all previous kings in self-control and clemency. The unmarried princesses, who were extremely beautiful, he treated with as much respect as if they were his own sisters. As for Darius' wife, who was surpassed by none of her generation in beauty, Alexander was so far from offering her violence that he took the utmost care to prevent anyone from taking advantage of her while she was in captivity. He gave orders for all their finery to be returned to the women, and as captives they lacked none of the magnificence of their former state - only their self-esteem. (p. 46) That is what he did as a true heroic victor, even vanquished Darius who knew their troubled plight and kind treatment later said: 'Gods of my country,' he said, 'before all else make firm my rule; but my next prayer, if my career is at an end, is that Asia find no other ruler than this just enemy, this merciful victor.' (p. 75) By the way, I kept wondering why he's called 'Curtius' taken from his middle name while 'Arrian' taken from his last name (Lucius Flavius Arrianus). However, I couldn't help comparing it to Arrian's "The Campaigns of Alexander", I found reading its seven books in July 2011 more enjoyable and delightful due to its flowing prose, in other words, no obstructive numbers while reading like this one.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-06-16 00:00:00 Brent White Less dry than Arrian's The Campaigns of Alexander, but covering a similar period. Based on different sources to Arrian's ones but nearly similar in the basic sequence of events. It's also a good deal shorter than Arrian's tome. Both are well worth reading.