Expert: Francesco Marchesani - 1/26/2006

Question
Dear Francesco,
I have long been a lover of Ancient History,and studied both the Augustan Age and Fifth Century B.C.E.Athens,whilst at University.
With regard to Augustus,I am particularly interested in Agrippa,who was an indispensible ally of the Emperor.
Now that I am in a position to start an in-depth
study of the man,I can find very little,both in bookstores,or on the Internet!!
John Buchan's marvellous bio.of Augustus quotes an
autobiography of Agrippa,but,sofar,I have failed to find a copy,or anything similar.
I am wondering if you can help me?
Yours sincerely,
         John Harvey.  

Answer
Hello,
Agrippa's autobiography is lost, we have only excerpts used by Strabo in his books on geography.
A very complete biography of Agrippa is an old book, which you can probably find in some public library:
"Marcus Agrippa, a biography" - by Meyer Reinhold - Geneva (NY), The W.F. Humphrey Press, 1933.
On the internet, Wikipedia has an interesting, but obviously short, biography of Agrippa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippa