In the book The Fall of the Roman Republic, the author, Plutarch, writes about the lives of six important Roman figures: Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, and Guide. This book was first published in 1958 and was translated by Rex Warner. It was then revised by Robin Seager in 1972 and then in 2005 it was revised and expanded by Robin Seager and Christopher Pelling, and that's what I'm reviewing today. The Fall of the Roman Republic contains Plutarch's writings, but they are edited and translated to give greater understanding to the reader. At the beginning of each section is a foreword written by Robin Seager and Christopher Pelling. These prefaces were useful in understanding many different interpretations of the figure discussed in that section, although they tended to highlight negative aspects of what Plutarch had written. However, the fact that they pointed out what Plutarch had missed or messed up was a necessity to get the information correct, I felt they were doing it inappropriately. For example, "the most serious criticism that can be leveled at Plutarch is that he did not highlight the consequences of Marius' enrollment in the capita censi" (4). I was able to create my own images in my head because of the great detail in explaining Plutarch's lives and characters. In the back of the book, there is a section called "Abbreviations" that explains what the abbreviations used throughout the book mean. It was helpful to reference when specific abbreviations were written and I didn't know what they meant. There is also a section called “Glossary of Roman Technical Terms”. It was helpful to reference this because many of the words mentioned in the glossary have a different meaning today than they did during the Roman Revolution. To deduce the correct information, these abbreviations and words are necessary. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Plutarch was known to be one of the greatest Greek philosophers and authors of the early Middle Ages. He was born around 46 AD in central Greece and died around 120 AD. He had lived his life as a Greek during the early Roman Empire, so he was able to see many positive and negative aspects of this time period. Plutarch was born into a very wealthy family and studied philosophy, rhetoric and mathematics at the Platonic Academy in Athens. He traveled to Egypt and Rome many times throughout his life, which helped him make many friends and see many interpretations of the Roman Empire. Plutarch created more than 230 works, his most recognized being Moralia and Parallel Lives. All his writings are biographies of famous Greek or Roman figures, this is what The Fall of the Roman Republic consists of. One editor, Robin Seager, is an English historian who devoted much of his study to the history and literature of the later Roman republic and contributed to, edited, and translated over 14 works relating to the Roman republic in his lifetime. While, Christopher Pelling studies Greek and Latin historiography and biography, as well as Greek literature. He also edited other books by Plutarch and wrote his own on Greek history. Both editors have an immense background in the history of the Roman Republic and Greek life, which demonstrates their expertise in curating the Fall of the Roman Republic. This book is considered a primary source because the author, Plutarch, was present during that time and experienced all the events that led to the fall of the Roman Republic. Is able to use his knowledge of important figures and their lives to express a moral lesson, or how their role has affecteda role in the fall of the Roman Republic. The book Fall of the Roman Republic contains six different biographies: Marius, Sulla, Crassus, Pompey, Caesar and Cicero. These six figures were all important Roman people who in some way played a role in the fall of the Roman republic. Plutarch wrote of the births, careers, marriages, and deaths of all six figures. He wasn't focused on writing about why revolutions happened or what caused the fall of a great power, he was more focused on a person's character. He was more of a moralist than a historian. He used the lives of these individual people to explain how the Roman Republic fell. This period of time interested Plutarch because it was full of dramatic events and sparked many moral reflections in the people involved. Since Plutarch was a Greek living under the Roman Empire, he did not have intense feelings about Roman history. This created a more realistic approach to his writings and led to his interpretation of a person's character. He had made it clear that he thought Mario was evil and was hated everywhere, but Silla was hated even more, even though they shared similar characteristics. Plutarch states: “It accords well with the rough and harsh character which is supposed to have been his”, (4) speaking of Marius, “he was by nature a very virile type” (4). He then went on to explain Sulla's character, "naturally inclined to buffoonery," (58), meaning that his actions were ridiculous but people found him funny. He then explained how Sulla had killed more than 20,000 people despite jealousy, which made the Romans disliked him. Plutarch explains that Crassus was “temperate and moderate in his way of life” (111) and explained that Pompey was easily liked by the Romans. Caesar was constantly neglected and spent most of his time alone. Plutarch had a high opinion of Cicero, stating: “In fact, Cicero, more than anyone else, showed the Romans how great the charm that eloquence gives to goodness, how invincible justice is if it is well expressed in words, and how the good and efficient statesman should always prefer in his actions that which is right to that which will win popularity, and by his words should express the public interest in a manner which pleases rather than is offensive” (335). Plutarch expressed his thoughts on all the figures mentioned in the book and had no problem doing so. Plutarch was harshly criticized for the use of his sources in his writings. For his writings he had used many sources such as letters, poems, plays and biographies, but he was accused of not having great Latin skills. Most likely he had sources written in Latin translated for him, knowing that there would be some prejudice. This can cause some misrepresentations about figures discussed in the book, and Robin Seager and Christopher Pelling are able to mention this in section prefaces. Plutarch had gotten many dates wrong and had also completely left out important events and details that some figures had experienced or created. These errors can often cause someone to infer an entirely new story from what actually happened. All six of these biographies were written at different times and there is still no clear chronological framework for these writings. We can make a guess, but there is no certainty yet. Many of the events in the biographies overlap or are repeated in the other biographies discussed. However, this is usually what is expected when writing biographies about six different people in the same time period. Plutarch seemed to pair many of the figures and compare their lives by adding extra sections of the book after specific sections; Comparison between Lysander and Sulla, Comparison between Nicias and Crassus, Comparison between..