The Fall of the Roman Republic Roman History, Books 36-40

'That was how things stood in the city at the time. With no one in charge, murders were taking place almost every day and the elections could not be held.'

Books 36-40 of the Roman History by Cassius Dio (born ca. 163 CE), covers 69-50 BCE, the last twenty years before the Roman Republic collapsed in a long series of civil wars, leading to the monarchy of the emperors. Although Dio's history was written over 250 years later, it provides the fullest surviving account of this crucial period in Roman history and is a key source of information on many of the chief developments. Dio fashions his account of these years to foreshadow the coming civil war, exposing the violence and corruption of the political life of the time, and portraying the gradual eclipse of the great general Pompey by his younger rival Caesar.

Robin Waterfield's lively and up-to-date translation is accompanied by an introduction by John Rich, which sets Dio's work in its context and explores both literary and historical features of the text, and his portraits of major characters such as Pompey, Cicero, and Caesar. This edition also includes full explanatory notes, a glossary, and maps of Central Rome, Gaul, and the East.

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Cassius Dio

Translated by Robin Waterfield, Independent scholar and translator, and with introduction and notes by John Rich, University of Nottingham

Robin Waterfield is an independent scholar and translator, and a former university lecturer, now living in southern Greece. In addition to over thirty volumes of translations of ancient Greek, he is the author of numerous books, ranging from children's fiction to Greek history.

John Rich taught throughout his career at the University of Nottingham. He is now Emeritus Professor at Nottingham and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. He has published widely on Roman history and historiography, with particular focuses on Roman war and imperialism, the reign of Augustus, and the Roman histories of Appian and Cassius Dio.