Oct 23– From Caesar by Plutarch translated by Arthur Hugh Clough
Summary: Caesar bluffs, tricks, bribes, and schmoozes his way to freedom, and then goes to Spain.
Commentary: “For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows, than the second man in Rome.” I can only assume that Milton read Plutarch. I wonder what it was like to live in the days of a very concrete and mostly manageable canon, where you could reasonably expect everyone educated to get your references. Much harder with the sheer volume of stuff today. Maybe I'm just being nai-stalgic.
"And by his great liberality and magnificence in theatrical shows, in processions, and public feastings, he threw into the shade all the attempts that had been made before him." Maybe this was a common expressing at some point (the metaphor makes sense) but I'm mostly just amused with the concept of Caesar throwing shade on Caius Popilius.
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