{"product_id":"9780226111902","title":"The Commerce of War: Exchange and Social Order in Latin Epic","description":"\u003cp\u003eLatin epics such as Virgil’s \u003ci\u003eAeneid\u003c\/i\u003e, Lucan’s \u003ci\u003eCivil War\u003c\/i\u003e, and Statius’s \u003ci\u003eThebaid\u003c\/i\u003e addressed Roman aristocrats whose dealings in gifts, favors, and payments defined their conceptions of social order. In \u003ci\u003eThe Commerce of War\u003c\/i\u003e, Neil Coffee argues that these exchanges play a central yet overlooked role in epic depictions of Roman society.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e            Tracing the collapse of an aristocratic worldview across all three poems, Coffee highlights the distinction they draw between reciprocal gift giving among elites and the more problematic behaviors of buying and selling. In the \u003ci\u003eAeneid\u003c\/i\u003e, customary gift and favor exchanges are undermined by characters who view human interaction as short-term and commodity-driven. The \u003ci\u003eCivil War\u003c\/i\u003e takes the next logical step, illuminating how Romans cope once commercial greed has supplanted traditional values. Concluding with the \u003ci\u003eThebaid\u003c\/i\u003e, which focuses on the problems of excessive consumption rather than exchange, Coffee closes his powerful case that these poems constitute far-reaching critiques of Roman society during its transition from republic to empire.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47107040346352,"sku":"9780226111902","price":63.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780226111902_p0.jpg?v=1763674489","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780226111902","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}