Yesterday I was feeling
rather restless. I had been pinned down by a cold for almost four days and was
finally feeling something close to normal. I wanted to do something, and
I figured, since I was back to taking my walk, why not take it a little farther
and go down to the library bookstore and see if there was anything new. I hadn’t
been there for a while.
My strength was just enough
for the trip … barely. I suppose my strength of will wasn’t up to snuff just
yet, though, and I predictably (perhaps inevitably) bought three books I did
not need, copies of which I had indeed had once but had gotten rid of, allured
once more by luxurious Penguin editions, this time in larger format and new appealing
covers.
Lysistrata/The
Archarnians/The Clouds, by Aristophanes, translated by Alan H.
Sommerstein
“Writing at the time of
political and social crisis in Athens, Aristophanes was an eloquent yet bawdy
challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. The Acharnians is
a plea for peace set against the background of the long war with Sparta.
In Lysistrata a band of women tap into the awesome power of
sex in order to end a war. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes
Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties
of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were
being challenged.” – Amazon.
There is the cover of the
old volume of Aristophanes I once had, not a Penguin edition, of course. I do
have another Penguin Aristophanes, The Frogs and Other Plays.
The Last Days of Socrates:
Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, by Plato. Translated by
Hugh Treddenick and Harold Tarrant.
“The trial and death of
Socrates (469-399 BCE) have almost as central a place in Western consciousness
as the trial and death of Jesus. In four superb dialogues, Plato provides the
classic account. Euthyphro finds Socrates outside the court-house, debating
the nature of piety, while the Apology is his robust rebuttal of the charges of
impiety and a defence of the philosopher's life. In the Crito, while awaiting
execution in prison, Socrates counters the arguments of friends urging him to
escape. Finally, in the Phaedo, he is shown calmly confident in the face of
death, skilfully arguing the case for the immortality of the soul.” – Amazon.
And here is the cover of the
old copy that I had. I often wonder just how accurate Plato’s account of his
old teacher is; you have to think that he at least did a little editing and
explaining of what Socrates said, perhaps after pondering the deeper meanings
for years. You can tell from his play The Clouds that Aristophanes had a
less than reverent opinion of the man.
The Prince, by
Niccolo Machiavelli. Translated by George Bull.
“The Prince shocked Europe
on publication with its advocacy of ruthless tactics for gaining absolute power
and its abandonment of conventional morality. Niccoló Machiavelli drew on his
own experience of office under the turbulent Florentine republic, rejecting
traditional values of political theory and recognizing the complicated,
transient nature of political life. Concerned not with lofty ideal but with a
regime that would last, The Prince has become the bible of realpolitik, and it
still retains its power to alarm and to instruct. In this edition,
Machiavelli's tough-minded and pragmatic Italian is preserved in George Bull's
clear, unambiguous translation.” – Amazon.
Not only did Machiavelli go
down in history as a byword for devious masterful plotting, his first name is
said to be the origin of ‘Old Nick’ as a nickname for the Devil. The new cover
is not a portrait of him (he looks altogether a more rascally, weaselly fellow)
but rather of what The Prince might look like. In this case ‘prince’ means ‘a
: monarch, king b : the ruler of a principality or state’.
Well, there they are. I am
sure there are treasures here if I can only bring myself to lift the lid. The
new covers are … richer, let’s say, more appealing than the broken artifacts
on the old. In the meantime, their black spines make a solemn, scholarly
presence on the shelves. They only cost $6 altogether and they assuaged my
hunger for books. There’s nothing else calling from the Wish List at the
moment; they may well fulfill March’s book allowance in time.
