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Overview
Curtius' History offers a great deal of information unavailable elsewhere (even if Arrian is sometimes more reliable on minor details). It also provides by far the most plausible and haunting portrait of Alexander we possess: a brilliantly realized image of a man ruined by constant good fortune in his youth.Everything else in the book is on the same heroic scale: the great battles and court intrigues that make up a compelling narrative of a turbulent era, and the stirring speeches, incisive character sketches and profound moralizing, in which Curtius shows himself to be a true disciple of Livy. The result is a magnficent work, which more vividly than any other, perhaps, brings Alexander and his age to life for us.
Synopsis
Curtius' History offers a great deal of information unavailable elsewhere (even if Arrian is sometimes more reliable on minor details). It also provides by far the most plausible and haunting portrait of Alexander we possess: a brilliantly realized image of a man ruined by constant good fortune in his youth.
Everything else in the book is on the same heroic scale: the great battles and court intrigues that make up a compelling narrative of a turbulent era, and the stirring speeches, incisive character sketches and profound moralizing, in which Curtius shows himself to be a true disciple of Livy. The result is a magnficent work, which more vividly than any other, perhaps, brings Alexander and his age to life for us.