20th century onwards: Marketing and financial issues. Look, you and I would of course buy a German translation of a French translation of Homer with Fritzian commentary. Or a German translation of Voltaire play with Fritzian commentary. But we're hardly typical.
Okay, but then next question, when and for what book-buying audience did the Montesquieu volume get deciphered and commentated and published? Was that 19th century? I now regret Napoleon didn't take more souvenirs! You were too focused on the wrong things, Napoleon! :P
LOL. Well, I never said he wasn't among those five, did I?
You didn't, but there's a traditional list of The Five Good Emperors (TM), and Diocletian never makes the cut. :P To be clear, not that he should be listed among the five good emperors. But the only other category presented was "no good luxury loving parasites," and that's what I take umbrage at. He may have been a Christian-persecuting bureaucracy-loving absolutist, but he was not a luxury-loving parasite!* :P Much like Fritz, I could not disagree with his politics more, but I dig the competence and efficiency.
* This reminds me of the time I saw a description of Alexander as "a decadent, alcoholic megalomaniac," and I went, "He was not decadent!" (I Take Offense To That Last One!)
He considers him ultra competent, mind, but also as the guy who eased the Romans into tyranny and responsible for finishing the Senate off for good as a political force.
Welp, I guess that answers my question about Diocletian. :P
Maybe in Elizabeth's Russia, you could not buy Plutarch in bookshops for this reason, and the number of people able to order their copy from France (or hey, Berlin) were limited?
Not sure. Elisaveta doesn't have a lot of room to throw stones about sex scandals (at least non-incestuous het ones), but censorship and the monarch's personal life are two different things. I have no idea what the Orthodox position on Plutarch and censorship during this period was.
Maybe the difficulty of shipping to St. Petersburg meant recent French bestsellers were easier to get than old Classics, I was just surprised nobody would have a copy of Plutarch already lying around in their library for the Grand Duchess to borrow.
Same. I don't have the time to cross check with Henri de Catt, but does he list Montesquieu among the books he discussed with Fritz? (read: that Fritz monologued about?)
Not that I remember, and not in my searching, either.
Re: Montesquieu II: With added Fritz commentary on clemency, courage, fame and suicide
Okay, but then next question, when and for what book-buying audience did the Montesquieu volume get deciphered and commentated and published? Was that 19th century? I now regret Napoleon didn't take more souvenirs! You were too focused on the wrong things, Napoleon! :P
LOL. Well, I never said he wasn't among those five, did I?
You didn't, but there's a traditional list of The Five Good Emperors (TM), and Diocletian never makes the cut. :P To be clear, not that he should be listed among the five good emperors. But the only other category presented was "no good luxury loving parasites," and that's what I take umbrage at. He may have been a Christian-persecuting bureaucracy-loving absolutist, but he was not a luxury-loving parasite!* :P Much like Fritz, I could not disagree with his politics more, but I dig the competence and efficiency.
* This reminds me of the time I saw a description of Alexander as "a decadent, alcoholic megalomaniac," and I went, "He was not decadent!" (I Take Offense To That Last One!)
He considers him ultra competent, mind, but also as the guy who eased the Romans into tyranny and responsible for finishing the Senate off for good as a political force.
Welp, I guess that answers my question about Diocletian. :P
Maybe in Elizabeth's Russia, you could not buy Plutarch in bookshops for this reason, and the number of people able to order their copy from France (or hey, Berlin) were limited?
Not sure. Elisaveta doesn't have a lot of room to throw stones about sex scandals (at least non-incestuous het ones), but censorship and the monarch's personal life are two different things. I have no idea what the Orthodox position on Plutarch and censorship during this period was.
Maybe the difficulty of shipping to St. Petersburg meant recent French bestsellers were easier to get than old Classics, I was just surprised nobody would have a copy of Plutarch already lying around in their library for the Grand Duchess to borrow.
Same. I don't have the time to cross check with Henri de Catt, but does he list Montesquieu among the books he discussed with Fritz? (read: that Fritz monologued about?)
Not that I remember, and not in my searching, either.