Besides that... place, I have recently revisited an old friend, as it were: Frontinus' στρατηγήματα ('Stratagems'), which is in Latin, despite its Greek title. I remember studying Roman imperial history and archaeology as an undergraduate (A340 - which is a fantastic module by the way, despite my quibbles and rants about terming 'civilisation': 'complex society' and so forth). I remember translating a section of it back then (some six years ago now) and it coming out completely different to Bennett's translation, which was done just over 100 years ago (in 1921), and is still quite readable.
Although readable, it is not, I feel, entirely faithful to the Latin text (though it is for the most part). Frontinus' Latin can be a little elusive at times (for there are many many different interpretations of each sentence, and indeed numerous definitions of every word). Thus, I find myself also having to interpolate the odd word (though this is strictly speaking a 'no no') simply to make sense of a particular sentence. Even so, Frontinus' στρατηγήματα has rekindled my love for Roman military history. Frontinus reached the rank of praetor, though his term was short lived. He was an immensely practical man, but also industrious, virtuous, and where many others were idle or corrupt, he maintained his integrity. He was almost like the epitome of a good Roman: a soldier, a farmer (he wrote an extant treatise on agriculture), and a statesman that gave more to his country than it conferred upon him. However, his treatise On Aqueducts (where we garner most of the biographical facts about his life) is extremely boring, like you would not believe. That is, unless you happen to be a civil engineer. It is said that people choose this vocation because accounting is too exciting for them. Like I said, it is so dull, unless civil engineering is your 'thing'. This is not to diminish civil engineering, which is an immensely useful and practical subject. Whereas we here in Britain have almost all bankers and economists in top positions, every single person who is senior in the Chinese administration each holds a degree in civil engineering. It's plain, but rather useful.
There is a mention of Frontinus in Tacitus' Histories which discusses his term as praetor (4.39) and I have been reading Kenneth Wellesly's translation, which is, I must say, one of the very best translations I have ever read. Robert Graves' translation of Tacitus' Histories is also worthy. I accidentally bought a copy of Tacitus' Histories in Latin while studying my master's degree (the premium Oxford critical edition) thinking I was buying the Annals. It was a costly mistake, but boy am I glad I have both in my collection. I really like Tacitus, but he is very tricky to translate (certainly as prose authors go, not having to work out scansion in odd metres such as with Catullus or Seneca).
Therefore, I intend to translate Frontinus' στρατηγήματα, which is a fascinating read. I am almost done finished translating the prologue (which has taken me two days already). It is a crying shame that Frontinus' Art of War didn't survive. It would have been a nice Western equivalent to Sun Tzu's magnum opus. As Benedict Cumberbatch's character (playing Dominic Cummings) in the Brexit movie highlighted, such books on tactics can be applied to other spheres: in this case, politics.
Max.
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