Scrinium Classical Antiquity

MACHIAVELLI, N., Das Leben des Castruccio Castracani von Lucca. Italienisch-deutsch. Übertragen und mit Anmerkungen versehen von H. Legers. Mit einem Geleitwort von A. Benedetti und einer Einleitung von E. Calani. Böhlau Verlag, Köln / Wien, 1969. 92p. Paperback. Cover partly yellowed. Signature on title page. Pages yellowed. € 10.00 (Antiquarian)

MACINTOSH, Fiona, Dying Acts: Death in Ancient Greek and Modern Irish Tragic Drama. Cork University Press, Cork, 1994. XX,212p. Cloth wrps. Upper edge a bit stained. With author's dedication to Professor Arnott on free endpaper. 'Greek tragedy and the plays of the Irish Literary Revival have a number of common features: Ireland saw itself as having a special relationship with the Greeks as far back as the Middle Ages, and the classical tradition, with ready (if sometimes spurious) parallels to be drawn between the Greek and Gaelic myths and bardic traditions (…). W.B. Yeats came to see Greece as 'a storehouse of cultural traditions that industrialized Europe had sacrifices in the name of progress': as Fiona Macintosh demonstrates, Seán O'Casey was no less aware of classical precedent when he fashioned his tragic scenes. Macintosh sets her study of the representation of death and dying in Greek and Irish drama against this background, and offers some novel and interesting comparative insights within a general field where one might have thought there was not much new left to be said. She argues that death in Greek and Irish society is given a different kind of representation from that found in many other traditions (…). Death is not a single catastrophic event, but a process joining forces with the tragic working of time. It is prepared for [(…) it is marked conventionally by a big speech (…)]; and it is rounded off by the lamentation of those who were close to the hero in life. One interesting argument put forward is that the much discussed avoidance of death on the stage in Greek tragedy is perhaps not so important after all, since the dramatist is concentrating on the process of preparation for death (…). Without overstating her case she traces many illuminating parallels between the Greek tragedians and her three Irish dramatists, Yeats, Synge and O'Casey, concluding that the absence of tragedy from much of the modern stage may be related to 'the decline in ritual practices surrounding death' in the Western world. (…) This study touches upon so many cultural and aesthetic issues that, despite its sombre topic, it deserves to be widely read.' (MICHAEL ANDERSON in Theatre Research International, 1995, p.292). From the library of the late Prof. W. Geoffrey Arnott. € 37.50 (Antiquarian)

MACINTOSH, Fiona, (ed.), The Ancient Dancer in the Modern World. Responses to Greek and Roman Dance. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012. 532p. ills. Paperback. When the eighteenth-century choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre sought to develop what is now known as modern ballet, he turned to ancient pantomime as his source of inspiration; and when Isadora Duncan and her contemporaries looked for alternatives to the strictures of classical ballet, they looked to ancient Greek vases for models for what they termed 'natural' movement. This is the first book to examine systematically the long history of the impact of ideas about ancient Greek and Roman dance on modern theatrical and choreographic practices. (Publisher's information). 'This richly textured, multidisciplinary book is part of the systematic investigations of verbal and non-verbal art forms (music, movement, etc.), by the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (University of Oxford), and was given momentum by recent publications on ancient pantomime. (…) The unique juxtaposition of eminent dance historians, classicists, and practitioners is distilled into five sections ('Dance and the Ancient Sources', 'Dance and Decadence', 'Dance and Myth', 'Ancient Dance and Modern Mind', and 'The Ancient Chorus in Contemporary Performance'). This has ensured that a wide range of scholarship illuminates both familiar and murkier histories, and also sustains a diachronic and synchronic mode of engagement throughout. (...) Classical reception is much indebted to this much anticipated collection of critical dance history in theatre.' (ZACHARY DUBAR in New Theatre Quarterly). € 47.50 (New)

MACKAIL, J.W., Virgil and his Meaning to the World of To-Day. Harrap, London, n.d.(>1922). X,159p. Cloth. Gilt edge. Cover bit stained. Some rust. Series: Our Debt to Greece and Rome, 15. € 18.50 (Antiquarian)

MACKAIL, J.W., The Hundred Best Poems (Lyrical) in the Latin Language. Gowans & Gray, London / Glasgow, 1911. XX,105p. Cloth. Cover partly discoloured and a bit scratched. Spine discoloured. € 9.00 (Antiquarian)

MACKAIL, J.W., (ed.), Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology. Longmans/Green, London/NewYork, 1925. 175p. Cloth. Spine gilt stamped. € 19.50 (Antiquarian)

MACKAIL, J.W., (ed.), Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology. Longmans/Green, London/NewYork, 1907. 175p. Original green leather bound. Spine gilt stamped. Head spine damaged. Tail spine a bit worn. Front joints a bit cracked. Edges cover a bit scratched. Signature on free endpaper. € 19.50 (Antiquarian)

MACKAY , Chr.S., The Breakdown of the Roman Republic. From Oligarchy to Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2012. 462p. ills. Paperback. 'Allowed both his target audience (the general public) and his understated goals ('I have eschewed extended argument with other interpretations of individual points in favor of giving a relatively unitary presentation of my own views') Christopher S. Mackay has written an exemplary and noteworthy account of the late Roman Republic's transition from oligarchy to empire. The only chapter that can be judged less than a complete success is the first - 'Historical Background'. There Mackay attempts in 25 pages to cover the Early and Middle Republic, to introduce to the reader the institutional and social structure of the Republican state, and to presage the tensions that led to its destruction. A novice reader might find the quick delivery of this complicated mass somewhat disorientating. However, once Mackay settles into his regular narrative pace, it is hard to imagine a clearer or steadier exposition than the one he delivers. (...) Two special features distinguish Mackay's text. Firstly a series of thirty-seven numismatic plates--referred to at the apposite places in the narrative and along with Mackay's descriptive analyses. These plates provide as compelling an introduction to the numismatic treasures of Roman antiquity as one can imagine. Secondly, each chapter is concluded with a series of Questions for Study and Reflection. (...) All in all Mackay has produced a popular masterpiece that will please all but the most ardent admirers of Cicero and the most diehard of populares. His work deserves a place on every university and public library collection. Bravo. (WALTER M. ROBERTS III in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.12.65). € 30.50 (New)

MACKENSEN, L., (ed.), Tacitus' Germania. Eine Auswahl mit Übersetzungen und sprachvergleichendem Kommentar. Carl Winter, Heidelberg, 1942. VIII,44p. Sewn. Gothic script. Blank cover. Lower bottom near tail spine water stained. Series: Vergeleichende Texte zur Volkheitskunde, fremdsprachliche Reihe, 3. (Rare). 'Wenn Übersetzungen aus verschiedenen Jahrhunderten nebeneinander gestellt werden, so soll daran die Entwicklung der Muttersprache verfolgt werden können; auf solche Weise kann aus der leistung der Übersetzung in verschiedenen Jahrhunderten die steigende Entwicklung der Muttersprache in Wortbildung und Satzbau abgelesen werden.' (K. STEGMANN, K.Fr. PROBST in the intoruction, p.V). 'Das der Kommentar sich auf die 'Unübersetzbarkeiten', die strukturellen Abweichungen zwischen Text und Übersetzung beschränkt, ist durch die Aufgabe, die sich die Hefte dieser Sammlung gestellt haben, begründet, sei aber hier nochmals besonders hervorgehoben.' (L. MACKENSEN in Prolog, p. VIII). Mit Übersetzungen von Eberlin von Günzburg (1526), Backmeister (1868), und E. Fehrle (1939). € 25.00 (Antiquarian)

MACKENZIE, C., Golden Tales of Greece. The stories of Perseus, Jason, Achilles and Theseus. BCA, London, 1976. 250p. ill. Bound wrps. € 13.00 (Antiquarian)