Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #70.
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Bru. Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face, while I do run upon it.
Alas, poor Brutus. Shakespeare read his Plutarch, and so should you!
Today’s episode ends our reading of Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #69. 
Click here for link to previous audio podcast episodes.
Quite early one morning, a couple of months ago, our backyard was inundated with water from someone’s broken sprinkler system. I threw on my robe and drove up the hill to try to locate the neighbor whose house had the leak. I knocked on the door to a house that appeared to be awake, and a kind, calm gentleman opened the door and invited me in. As we were trying to figure out which yards backed up to mine, I noticed that his house had a full-on Greek theme going on! He determined that the leak was from his neighbor’s yard, and we very soon stood at the door again, saying farewell. I reached out to shake his hand in thanks, and asked his name. Imagine the shock when he said his name was “Achilles!” I nearly fell down to the ground in disbelief! Of all names on Earth, his name happened to be Achilles! I told him about my work with ancient world stuff and about my cat Achilles, and we decided to get the neighbors together for a party. So, on Saturday night, some neighbors gathered together here at our house and we all bonded over costumes and scripts. What a treat it was, to have Katerina invoke the muse in her native Greek language! Here are a couple of pics from the night. (above: Achilles and his family, with me on the right)
Today’s episode is our second installment on Brutus, from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s. Enjoy!
(below left: Larry, Cathy, Katerina, David, Melina, Scott, Estelle, and Debra—thanks for being such good sports! and below right: my David!)
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #68. 
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“Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar.” ~ Julius Caesar: III,ii,77. William Shakespeare.
Brutus was all that a Roman father wanted in a son: piety, integrity, and loyalty.
Brutus honored his duty to his family and he honored his duty to the state.
He was a patriot to the very idea of Rome, and in a time of civil upheaval, that meant taking sides and
making choices. We have all learned that Brutus betrayed his friendship with Julius Caesar
and struck the final blow that brought him down, but what were Brutus’s motives for his action?
For an excellent teaching resource from the Washington State Courts, check out:
Today we begin our final series from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.
Enjoy!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #67. 
Click here for link to previous audio podcast episodes.
Here, Caesar receives the decapitated head of Pompey the Great. The Civil War was over, but the battle for political supremacy was just beginning…
Shrewd Caesar re-erects the statues of Pompey in a bid to placate the public after the devastation of the Civil War he put them through, but the tragedy is too deep and tiny slights are nursed into monumental grievances until Caesar steps boldly into the morning light of the ides of March.
Ironically, the end of the road for Caesar was at the foot of a statue of Pompey surrounded by his many “friends.”
Check out today’s episode from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s. Our final installment of our 3 part series on Julius Caesar.
Enjoy!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #66. 
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Alea iacta est….The die has been cast….One of my favorite ancient texts is Lucan’s Civil War, translated by Susan H. Braund (Oxford University Press). I was lucky enough to take three of Professor Braund’s classes—Nero, Virgil, and Lucan, while she was at Stanford. Lucan’s epic describes the waves of terror loosed upon Rome by the act of Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon. Lucan gives one the sense of the affectionate regard the Romans had for Pompey, while at the same time showing the decline of a great man. On the other hand, all that Caesar did in this noble epic is washed with his ambition. Read it and let me know what you think.
Today’s episode is from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.
Enjoy!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #65. 
Click here for link to previous audio podcast episodes.
Shakespeare studied Plutarch’s keen commentary on the character of Julius Caesar and then wrote some of the most beautiful lines in all of literature. This is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays because the tragic main figure is rendered with such depth. I never tire of picking up my little palm-sized New Temple edition published by J.M.Dent & Sons, Ltd., with engravings by Eric Gill. One afternoon I read it straight through while waiting for some eighth graders on their Physics Day amusement park field trip. An unforgettable pleasure!
Today’s episode is from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.
Enjoy!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #64. 
Click here for link to previous audio podcast episodes.
Here is our final episode on Caius Marius, in which he turns to savagery against his own people.
Today’s episode is from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey; published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.
Enjoy! Next week we start Plutarch’s portrait of Julius Caesar!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #63.
Click here for link to previous audio podcast episodes.
The European tribes that defied the Romans have always appealed to me. I especially like to read of open defiance in the face of death, like this excerpt describing the Cimbri warriors marching through the Alps, from the Modern Library edition of Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, translated by John Dryden:
“…the barbarians…came on with such insolence and contempt of their enemies, that to show their strength and courage, rather than out of any necessity, they went naked in the showers of snow, and through ice and deep snow, climbed up to the tops of the hills, and from thence, placing their broad shields under their bodies, let themselves slide from the precipices along their vast slippery descents.”
On a darker note, Plutarch goes on to tell of the Cimbri women, “…standing in black clothes on their wagons, slew all that fled, some their husbands, some their brethren, others their fathers; and strangling their little children with their own hands, threw them under the wheels and the feet of the cattle, and then killed themselves. They tell of one who hung herself from the end of the pole of a wagon, with her children tied dangling at her heels.”
Would you have surrendered yourself and your loved ones to the enemy?
Today’s episode is from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #62. 
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Rome feels the pressure from the north and the south! Jugurtha is nabbed, the barbarians are held at bay, and treachery among the political elite is being held in check by Caius Marius. Tune in to find what awaits this influential general and statesman.
Today’s episode from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.
Enjoy!
Click here for direct link to audio podcast Episode #61. 
Click here for link to previous audio podcast episodes.
This episode takes a decidedly ugly turn as the common man shows his tendency to be easily manipulated by the crafty patrician senators. Alas, the noble Gracchi are powerless as the machine of Roman politics puts the pedal to the metal.
Here we see the faithful friends of Caius Gracchus attempting to stop the soldiers
from crossing the bridge.
Enjoy this last episode of the Gracchi, from Plutarch’s Lives for Boys & Girls, retold by W.H. Weston, and illustrated by W. Rainey, published in London & Edinburgh in the early 1900′s.