Roman History, Volume 2

Volume Two of Dio Cassius brings to a close his sweeping historical work, Roman History. This volume begins with book 50 and the struggle between Octavian and Mark Antony. Octavian's victory is the beginning of the Principate and a new direction in Roman history. Dio takes a prolonged look at the reign of Augustus. He follows this with the history of the following emperors: Tiberius, Gaius (Caligula), Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus, Diadumenian, Elagabalus, and Alexander Severus. Much of our information about the emperors who followed Commodus is only available in the work of Dio Cassius. Please note that book 72 is no longer extant.

Public Domain (P)2017 Audio Connoisseur

Great narration, engaging history

The narration in this book is smooth and easy to listen to. Dio Cassius is a good writer who mostly tells his history plainly.

Good

Good and gossipy, great anecdotes. Surprising absence of detailed Judaic wars: generic alas. Some parts are muddled. It would help to re say who the narratives are describing.

Negligent

Apart from the reader's usual indefensible failure to pronounce things correctly, the main objection is the ridiculous failure to note that after the lacuna at the end of Agrippa's speech, the subsequent speech is by Maecenas, advocating the opposite position.