De republica vs Pharsalia: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Latin Manuscripts, Facsimiles, Early works to 1800, Philosophy
De republica
Cicero's De re publica contains the fullest ancient account of the theory of the mixed constitution and the oldest extant narrative of early Roman history; it concludes with the Dream of Scipio, one of the most…
vs
Pharsalia
"In this edition Professor Fantham offers the first full-scale commentary on the neglected second book of Lucan's epic poem on the war between Caesar and Pompey: De bello civili. Book II presents all three leading…
The verdict
- De republica is the quickest read — about 5 hours vs 7 for Pharsalia.
Scores by source
| De republica | Pharsalia | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.9 (1705) |
Reception
| De republica | Pharsalia | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | — | 1705 |
| Editions | 55 | 182 |
| Citations | — | 4 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 59 |
| Reading it now | — | 2 |
| Written reviews | — | 2 |
| Wikipedia attention | 1899 | 2559 |
| Pages | 276 | 424 |