Roman Sources on Private Life

Comments

July 21, 2011 at 6:58 pm

(1) Roger Pearse :

Also Juvenal and Martial. The latter gives a very real feel for the sheer inconvenience of life in ancient Rome.

Pliny’s letters in the Penguin translation are wonderful. Cicero’s letters to his friends are also good, but hard to obtain in a modern translation (the Penguin is out of print). The letters of Cicero to Atticus are a bit stodgy for me.

Suetonius is certainly readable.

The good thing about all these authors is that you can read a few pages here and there.

July 26, 2011 at 1:21 am

(2) Lamprocles :

I’m surprised Nepos, Athenaeus, Seneca and Diodorus haven’t been mentioned; they all provide insightful anecdotes.

July 26, 2011 at 1:26 am

(3) Max Bini :

I would definitely add Seneca and his Moral Epistles to Lucilius. Even though these are not true “letters,” rather a moral education written in the form of letters (much like Plato’s dialogues), they do supply thought-provoking comments on such things as gladitorial events, the treatment of slaves, the morning regime of salutatio, extravagant foods and bathing.

July 26, 2011 at 11:29 am

(4) Jim Fitzpatrick :

Martial’s “Epigrammata” (see my FB page: Martial’s Epigrammata) provides a wonderful look at upper-class life, as does Pliny’s letters. But there’s so little material on the lower classes. It’s a shame.