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Notes to self:
- would have gone down easier if I read a recap of the Roman history of the period first.
- I.can't.process.Latin names. Not the fault of the author, what could he do about Roman name conventions, but GOD. Everyone has at least three names, selected from a pool of like ten options, so a lot of people have at least one overlapping name, it feels like.
- i need a chart of who was whose child and cousin and who married whom. Because dear god. The familial and marital relations get reshuffled like a deck of cards.
- I like what he did with the mosaic structure of various historical writings, letters, journal excerpts, etc. No reliable narrator, ever .
- I might be hallucinating, but Book 1, the first 200 pages out of 400 in my edition, were written in this crusty outdated language, with too many 'whence' and 'thence'. I thought the book was 'just like that', but then Book 2 and 3 switched to something a lot more readable – so that was definitely A Choice and On Purpose, but it makes the book a tough start. Maybe it's to convey that the stories in that part of the book represent mostly official history and events that are old even to the contemporaries?
- Augustus is almost absent from Book 1 (official history & his presence in politics), a lot more present but still distant in Book 2 (his presence in the family), and Book 3 is mainly his own words. Tells you how much of a facade he wore in these different aspects of life?
- Did or did not Julia conspire to his murder? If we believe her words in journals written in permanent exile, then not – in which, even this unusually loving father (for the time and place), could believe she was involved. Didn't believe her, but loved her enough to save her? This is something.
-the book is chewing a lot on the opposition of personal wants and political needs. I wonder if Williams' Octavius would be a relatively peaceful person if he lived in modern or near-modern times, or is he lying to himself about what he thinks is political necessity.
- laughed at the very last page when the speaker was expressing hope that the string of shitty emperors past Augustus is over, and Nero will be a nice guy. A little bit of horror sprinkled in through historical hindsight.
- would have gone down easier if I read a recap of the Roman history of the period first.
- I.can't.process.Latin names. Not the fault of the author, what could he do about Roman name conventions, but GOD. Everyone has at least three names, selected from a pool of like ten options, so a lot of people have at least one overlapping name, it feels like.
- i need a chart of who was whose child and cousin and who married whom. Because dear god. The familial and marital relations get reshuffled like a deck of cards.
- I like what he did with the mosaic structure of various historical writings, letters, journal excerpts, etc. No reliable narrator, ever .
- I might be hallucinating, but Book 1, the first 200 pages out of 400 in my edition, were written in this crusty outdated language, with too many 'whence' and 'thence'. I thought the book was 'just like that', but then Book 2 and 3 switched to something a lot more readable – so that was definitely A Choice and On Purpose, but it makes the book a tough start. Maybe it's to convey that the stories in that part of the book represent mostly official history and events that are old even to the contemporaries?
- Augustus is almost absent from Book 1 (official history & his presence in politics), a lot more present but still distant in Book 2 (his presence in the family), and Book 3 is mainly his own words. Tells you how much of a facade he wore in these different aspects of life?
- Did or did not Julia conspire to his murder? If we believe her words in journals written in permanent exile, then not – in which, even this unusually loving father (for the time and place), could believe she was involved. Didn't believe her, but loved her enough to save her? This is something.
-the book is chewing a lot on the opposition of personal wants and political needs. I wonder if Williams' Octavius would be a relatively peaceful person if he lived in modern or near-modern times, or is he lying to himself about what he thinks is political necessity.
- laughed at the very last page when the speaker was expressing hope that the string of shitty emperors past Augustus is over, and Nero will be a nice guy. A little bit of horror sprinkled in through historical hindsight.