Böcker i Loeb Classical Library-serien

Fronto (c. 100-176 CE), a much admired orator and rhetorician, was befriended by the emperor Antoninus Pius and teacher of his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. His correspondence offers an invaluable picture of aristocratic life and literary culture in the 2nd century.

Reprint. Originally published: 1932-1951.

We know more of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher, than of any other Roman. Besides much else, his work conveys the turmoil of his time, and the part he played in a period that saw the rise and fall of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.

In On Temperaments, Galen of Pergamum sets out his concept of the combination of the four elemental qualities (hot, cold, wet, and dry), which is fundamental to his account of the structure and function of human, animal, and plant bodies. Two related works explore disturbances in this combination and their consequences.

The great Athenian philosopher Plato was born in 427 BCE and lived to be eighty. Acknowledged masterpieces among his works are the Symposium, which explores love in its many aspects, from physical desire to pursuit of the beautiful and the good, and the Republic, which concerns righteousness and also treats education, gender, society, and slavery.

Nearly all the works Aristotle (384-322 BCE) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.

The Rhetorica ad Herrenium was traditionally attributed to Cicero (106-43 BCE), and reflects, as does Cicero's De Inventione, Hellenistic rhetorical teaching. But most recent editors attribute it to an unknown author.

Sallust's two extant monographs take as their theme the moral and political decline of Rome, one on the conspiracy of Catiline and the other on the war with Jugurtha. Although Sallust is decidedly unsubtle and partisan in analyzing people and events, his works are important and significantly influenced later historians, notably Tacitus.

Nearly all the works Aristotle (384-322 BCE) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.

The six plays by Terence (died 159 BCE), all extant, imaginatively reformulate Greek New Comedy in realistic scenes and refined Latin. They include Phormio, a comedy of intrigue and trickery; The Brothers, which explores parental education of sons; and The Eunuch, which presents the most sympathetically drawn courtesan in Roman comedy.

Based on the critical edition of Malcovati, this three-volume Loeb edition of Roman Republican oratory begins with Ap. Claudius Caecus (340-273 BC) and with the exceptions of Cato the Elder and Cicero includes all individuals for whom speech-making is attested and for whose speeches quotations, testimonia, or historiographic recreations survive.

In his epic The Civil War, Lucan (39-65 CE) carries us from Caesar's fateful crossing of the Rubicon, through the Battle of Pharsalus, Pompey's death, and Cato's leadership in Africa, to Caesar victorious in Egypt. The poem is also called Pharsalia.

The comedies of Plautus, who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences c. 205-184 BCE, are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Moliere to modern times. Twenty-one of his plays are extant.

The comedies of Plautus, who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences c. 205-184 BCE, are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Moliere to modern times. Twenty-one of his plays are extant.

Historical works by Bede (672 or 673-735 CE) include his Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Lives of the Abbots of Bede's monastery, accounts of Cuthbert, and the Letter to Egbert, Bede's pupil.

Libanius (314-393 CE), who was one of the last great publicists and teachers of Greek paganism, has much to tell us about the tumultuous world of the fourth century CE. His works include Orations, the first of which is an autobiography, and Letters.

The great Athenian philosopher Plato was born in 427 BCE and lived to be eighty. Acknowledged masterpieces among his works are the Symposium, which explores love in its many aspects, from physical desire to pursuit of the beautiful and the good, and the Republic, which concerns righteousness and also treats education, gender, society, and slavery.

The importance of Isocrates (436-338 BCE) for the study of Greek civilization of the fourth century BCE is indisputable. Twenty-one discourses by Isocrates survive; these include political essays, treatises on education and on ethics, and speeches for legal cases. Nine letters, more on public than private matters, are also extant.

Prudentius (born 348 CE) used allegory and classical Latin verse forms in service of Christianity. His works include the Psychomachia, an allegorical description of the struggle between Christian virtues and pagan vices; lyric poetry; and inscriptions for biblical scenes on a church's walls--a valuable source on Christian iconography.

Nearly all the works Aristotle (384-322 BCE) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.

The passionate and dramatic elegies of Propertius (c. 50-soon after 16 BCE) gained him a reputation as one of Rome's finest love poets. He portrays the uneven course of his love affair with Cynthia and also tells us much about the society of his time, then in later poems turns to the legends of ancient Rome.

Euripides (c. 485-406 BCE) has been prized in every age for his emotional and intellectual drama. Eighteen of his ninety or so plays survive complete, including Medea, Hippolytus, and Bacchae, one of the great masterpieces of the tragic genre. Fragments of his lost plays also survive.

The poetry of the seventh to the fifth centuries BCE that the Greeks called iambic seems connected with cult songs used in religious festivals, but its purpose is unclear.

We know more of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher, than of any other Roman. Besides much else, his work conveys the turmoil of his time, and the part he played in a period that saw the rise and fall of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.

The Greek Anthology (Gathering of Flowers) is a collection over centuries of some 4500 short Greek poems (called epigrams but seldom epigrammatic) by about 300 composers. Meleager of Gadara (first century BCE), an outstanding contributor, also assembled the Stephanus (Garland), a compilation fundamental to the Anthology.

Greek papyri relating to private and public business in Egypt from before 300 BCE to the eighth century CE inform us about administration; social and economic conditions in Egypt; Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine law. They also offer glimpses of ordinary life.

We know more of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher, than of any other Roman. Besides much else, his work conveys the turmoil of his time, and the part he played in a period that saw the rise and fall of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.

Lucian (c. 120-190 CE), apprentice sculptor then travelling rhetorician, settled in Athens and developed an original brand of satire. Notable for the Attic purity and elegance of his Greek and for literary versatility, he is famous chiefly for the lively, cynical wit of the dialogues in which he satirizes human folly, superstition, and hypocrisy.

Lucian (c. 120-190 CE), apprentice sculptor then travelling rhetorician, settled in Athens and developed an original brand of satire. Notable for the Attic purity and elegance of his Greek and for literary versatility, he is famous chiefly for the lively, cynical wit of the dialogues in which he satirizes human folly, superstition, and hypocrisy.

We know more of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher, than of any other Roman. Besides much else, his work conveys the turmoil of his time, and the part he played in a period that saw the rise and fall of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.