Review

Author(s): Henry C. Boren

Review by: Henry C. Boren
Source: The Classical World, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Jan. - Feb., 1990), pp. 239-240
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Classical Association of
the Atlantic States
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4350608
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 REVIEWS 239

like. He can listen to Pro Archia, or Somnium Scipionis, and hear a sonorous,
profound, and measured performance. Nasalisation is discreet, elision rare.
The two-to-one ratio of syllabic length is observed with a precision that some
people would say is beyond that of any natural prose, however much it may
be regularised in quantitative verse. The effect is one of awesome formality.
Yes, there were giants in those days.
The First Catiline is delivered in the same style, and we begin to doubt.
Cicero had a full, fine, voice-Plutarch tells us so (Cic. 3.5)-but he also tells
us that it was harsh and "unmoulded", that the violence and passion of his
diction would so drive it into the upper register that people feared for his
health. But now we hear First Catiline (and bits of In Verrem and other
speeches too) in the style of philosophy, forty-four minutes of even pace.
Modulations of the voice are always down, deep down-and (we must admit)
very impressive. We may still have reservations about what the impression
should be.

University of Texas at Austin GARETH MORGAN

CW 83.3 (1990)

Philip 0. Spann. Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla. Fayetteville: The
University of Arkansas Press, 1987. Pp. xiii, 239. $23.50. ISBN 0-938626-64-7.

Plutarch thought Sertorius important enough to do a biography of him; it is

good to have, at last, a well-done English-language treatment of the man.
Based on a sound dissertation and several articles, the book competently
traces what can be known or indicated of Sertorius, life and career;
speculation, sometimes excessive, attempts to fill in some of the blanks.
Spann takes a balanced view. Sertorius is the remarkable New Man who
through his consummate guerilla tactics in Spain kept the Sullan government's
forces off balance for years; but he is also a general who was less comfortable
in major battles and often unable to make timely decisions. He is a quite
successful and charismatic leader who could hold the loyalty of the Celtibe-
rians, but he resorted to the sham of the famous white doe represented as
somehow the messenger of a god, and he probably pretended to support the
natives' nationalistic aspirations. Spann more than once reminds the reader
that Plutarch only compared Sertorius with Eumenes.
Problems of chronology and the like are usually dealt with logically, but it
is not difficult to compile a list of conclusions to question. Spann dates
Sertorius' praetorship to 84 or 85 B.C., but there are good reasons that he has
not noticed for thinking that 83 is more likely right. He contradicts himself (in
the text and an appendix footnote) on the question of whether Sertorius might
publicly have supported the tribune Sulpicius against Sulla. He complains that
the Marian terror "may have been exaggerated in the sources", when he has
just indulged in the same exaggeration.
There are six useful appendices and an excellent bibliography. Appendix VI
is worth mention here: it lists all Romans of note who served with Sertorius;
contrary to some suggestions, not many of them were Italians who had
recently received the citizenship. The common thread, it seems, was simply
hatred of Sulla. Spann seems to have got at the essence of this thorn in the

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240 CLASSICAL WORLD

flesh of the Sullan republic. The book is interesting to scholars and suitable
for advanced students.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill HENRY C. BOREN

CW 83.3 (1990)

Joan Breton Connelly. Votive Sculpture of Hellenistic Cyprus. Cyprus: The

Department of Antiquities of Cyprus and the New York University Press,
1988. Pp. xix, 128, plus 201 b/w ill. No price listed. ISBN 9963-36-413-6.

From the seventh century B.C. to the first century A.D., the people of
Cyprus placed votive statuary made from white, local limestone in their
sanctuaries. This monograph examines votives of the Hellenistic period (when
Alexander's liberation of the island from the Persians had left it open to
influences from the broader Hellenistic koine) but not the overall production
of Cypriote votives in this period. The author has selected 66 of the nearly
1000 pieces of sculpture initially studied, including only those of sufficient
quality to be dated and discussed in terms of an historical development, i.e.
only about 6% of the extant production, those comissioned by clients wealthy
or sophisticated enough to engage a top artisan. An account which considers
the sociological implications of this production has yet to be written.
Nevertheless, the monograph makes a firm contribution to our knowledge
of Cyprus and of the private portrait in the Hellenistic period. The chief
problem for all who work with this material is chronology. Little evidence
apart from style and iconography can be brought to bear, and earlier scholars
attempted to establish dates for the Hellenistic votives by identifying them as
portraits of historical personalities. Connelly uses measurements and close
observation of detail to argue 1) that many of the features used to attribute
these heads to specific individuals are formulae which recur or linger in the
sculptural tradition for centuries, and 2) that many heads which have been
dated to different periods are by the same hand or by a member of an
associated workshop and thus contemporaneous (difficult to judge from
photographs). The painstaking analysis inspires confidence and the general
approach is refreshing in a field which has long focused on great masterpieces
and historical figures.
The book is easy to use. The problem and the history of the problem are
laid out in a clear introduction, and succeeding chapters deal with the
sculptural production of individual sites-Arsos, Voni, Idalion, and Golgoi.
Catalogue entries with measurements, descriptions and full bibliographies are
placed at the end of each chapter and do not break the flow of analysis.
Charts illustrate the broader historical and art historical conclusions set forth
in the concluding chapter. The large number of photographs included, the
"Concordance of Collections", and two "Indexes" add to the value of the
monograph as a reference work.

University of Pittsburgh ANNE WEIS

CW 83.3 (1990)

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