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BIBLIOTECA LATINA -- ROMA -- The alphabetical ordering is in English

1) Apuleius (APULEIO) -- 2 vols. -- APULEIANA -- In “The Metamorphoses”, also known as “The Golden Ass”, we have the only Latin novel which survives entire. It is truly enchanting: a delightful romance combining realism and magic. The hero, Lucio, eager to experience the sensations of a bird, resorts to witchcraft. But by an unfortunate pharmaceutical error, Lucio finds himself transformed into an ass. Lucio knows he can revert to his own human body by eating rose petals. However, these prove singularly elusive. The bulk of "L'assino d'oro" describes Lucio's adventures as an ass. Lucio retells many stories that he overheard, the most charming being that of "Cupido and Psiche" (that inspired Canova), beginning, in true fairy-tale fashion, “erant in quadam civitate rex et regina”. Some of Lucio’s stories are as indecent as they are witty, and two in book IX were deemed by Boccaccio worthy of inclusion in the "Decameron". At last Iside takes pity on Lucio. In a surprising denouement, Lucio is restored to human shape and, now spiritually regenerated, is initiated into her mysteries. Apuleio’s baroque style nicely matches his fantastic narrative and is guaranteed to hold a reader’s attention from beginning to end.

2) Augustine (AGOSTINO -- AGOSTINIANA) -- 10 vols. Agostino (354–430 d.C.) was the son of Patricio, a pagan. Agostino was a rhetorician, plunged into a turmoil of philosophical and psychological doubts in search of truth, joining for a time the Manichaean society. Agostino became a teacher of grammar and lived much under the influence of a friend Alipio. About 383 d.C., Agostino went to Roma as a rhetorician, being now attracted by the philosophy of the sceptics and of the neo-platonists. Agostino’s studies of Paul’s letters with Alipio and the preaching of Ambrosio led in 386 to his rejection of all sensual habits and to his famous conversion from mixed beliefs to Christianity. In 395 he became bishop of Ippona, and was henceforth engrossed with controversy. Agostino died in Ippona during the siege by the vandals. From Agostino’s large output Loeb offers that “Confessions” in 2 vols. and “La città di deo” in 7 vols. ( which unfolds God’s action in the progress of the world’s history, and propounds the superiority of Christian beliefs over pagan in adversity), and a selection of “Letters” which are important for the study of ecclesiastical history and Agostino’s relations with other theologians.

3) Ausonius (AUSONIO, AUSONIANA) -- 2 vols -- 310 –395 d.C., was the son of a doctor. After a good education in rhetoric and a short period during which he was an advocate, he became a rhetorician himself. Among his students was Paulino (later Bishop of Nola); and he seems to have become some sort of Christian himself. Ausonio was called by emperor Valentiniano to be tutor to Graziano, who subsequently as emperor conferred on him honours including a consulship. After Graziano’s murder, Ausonio retired. Ausonio’s surviving works, some with deep feeling, some composed it seems for fun, some didactic, include much poetry: poems about himself and family, notably “The Daily Round”; epitaphs on heroes in the war of Troy, memorials on Roman emperors, and epigrams on various subjects; poems about famous cities and about friends and colleagues. “The Moselle,” a description of that river, is among the most admired of his poems. There is also an address of thanks to Graziano for the consulship. The second volume includes "Eucharisticus" by Paulino Pelleo.

4) Bede (BEDA, BEDEANA) -- 2 vols -- “the Venerable,” was an English theologian and historian, born in 672 d.C. in Wearmouth. He became deacon of the monastery, where his whole life was spent in choral singing and studying. His work was chiefly commentaries, mostly allegorical in method, based with acknowledgment on Gerolamo, Agostino, Ambrosio, Gregorio, and others, but bearing his own personality. In another class were works on grammar and one on natural phenomena. Special interest in the vexed question of Easter led him to write about the calendar and chronology. But Beda’s most admired production is his "Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation". Here a clear and simple style united with descriptive powers to produce an elegant work, and the facts diligently collected from good sources make it a valuable account. Historical also are Bede's "Lives of the Abbots" of his monastery, the Letter to his pupil Egberto (dated 734), important for the knowledge about the Church in Northumbria, and the less successful accounts (in verse and prose) of Cuthbert.

5) Boethius (BOEZIO, BOEZIANA) (480 - 524 d.C.) was a philosopher. After the early death of his father, Boezio was looked after by Simmaco. Boezio married Simmaco's daughter, by whom he had two sons. All three men rose to high honours under Teodorico the Ostrogoth. But Boezio fell from favour, was tried for treason, wrongly condemned, and imprisoned at Pavia, where he wrote his renowned "La consolazione della filosofia". He was was put to death to the great remorse of Teodorico. Revered as a saint, his bones were removed in 996 to the Church of S. Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, and later to the Cathedral. The tower in Pavia where he was imprisoned is still venerated. Boezio's work includes commentaries on Aristotle, a logic, 5 books on music. His “Consolation of Philosophy” is the last example of purely literary Latin of ancient times — a mingling of alternate dialogue and poems. He also wrote theological tractates.

6) Cato (CATONE, CATONIANA) 234–149 a.C., of Tusculum, was a soldier and the first important writer in Latin prose. His speeches, works on jurisprudence and the art of war, his precepts to his son on various subjects, and his great historical work on Roma are lost. But we have Catone’s “De Agricultura”. Terse, severely wise, grimly humorous, “De agricultura” gives rules in various aspects of a farmer’s economy, including even medical and cooking recipes, and reveals interesting details of domestic life. Of Varrone’s more than seventy works involving hundreds of volumes we have only one on agriculture and country affairs ("Res Rustica" or "Rerum Rusticarum") and part of his work on the Latin language ("De Lingua Latina"). Each of the three books of "Res Rustica" begins with an effective mise en scène and uses dialogue to talk about agriculture and farm management (I), sheep and oxen (II) and poultry and the keeping of other animals large and small, including bees and fishponds (III). There are lively interludes and a graphic background of political events.

7) Catullus (CATULLO, CATULLIANA) 84–54 a.C., of Verona, went early to Rome, where he associated with Cicerone and Ortensio. His poems consist of nearly 60 short lyrics, 8 longer poems in various metres, and almost 50 epigrams. All exemplify a strict technique of studied composition. In his work we can trace his unhappy love for a woman he calls Lesbia; the death of his brother; his visits to Bithynia; and his emotional friendships and enmities at Rome. For consummate poetic artistry coupled with intensity of feeling Catullo’s poems have no rival. Tibullo (54 circa–19 a.C.), of equestrian rank and a friend of Orazio, enjoyed the patronage of Messalla, whom he several times apostrophises. 3 books of elegies have come down to us under his name, of which only the first two are authentic. In the elegies, Tibullo proclaims his love for “Delia” (I), his passion for “Nemesis" (II), and includes miscellany of poems from the archives of Messalla. It is very doubtful whether any come from the pen of Tibullo himself. But a special interest attaches to a group of them which concern a girl called Sulpicia. Some of the poems are written by her lover Cerinto, while others purport to be her own composition. The "Pervigilium Veneris", a poem of not quite a hundred lines celebrating a spring festival in honour of Venere, is remarkable for its beauty and as the first clear note of romanticism which transformed classical into medieval literature. We have no clue as to its author, but recent scholarship has made a strong case for attributing it to the early fourth-century poet Tiberiano.

8) Celsus (CELSO, CELSIANA) -- 3 volumes -- wrote during the reign of Tiberio (14–37 CE) an encyclopaedia of agriculture, medicine, military arts, rhetoric, philosophy, and jurisprudence (in that order of subjects). Of all of Celso's work there survives only the 8 books, "de medicina". Celso was not a professional doctor of medicine or a surgeon, but a layman whose medical knowledge is partly a result of the medical treatment of his household (slaves included). From no other source can we learn so much of the condition of medical science up to his own time. After a survey of the three schools (the dogmatic, the methodic, and the empiric) come sensible dietetics or health preservation (I), Celso deals with prognosis, diagnosis of symptoms, and  therapeutics (II), internal ailments: fevers and general diseases (III),  local bodily diseases. Next come two pharmacological books (V), treatment by drugs of general diseases (VI) and Book 6: of local diseases, surgical operations, including amputation (VII-VIII).

9) Gellius (GELLIO, GELLIANA) -- 3 vols -- 123–170 d.C., is known almost wholly from his "Noctes Atticae", so called because the work was begun during the nights of an Attic winter. The work, in 20 books (of Book VIII only the index is extant) covers philosophy, history, biography, antiquities, law, literary criticism, and lexicography, explanations of archaisms, and grammar. It is valuable because of its many excerpts from authors whose works are lost; and because of its evidence for people’s manners and occupations. Some of the dramatic settings may be genuine.

10) Caesar (Giulio CESARE, CESAREANA) -- 3 vols. -- 102–44 a.C., soldier, defied Sulla; served in the Mithridatic wars and in Spain; pushed his way in Roman politics as a democrat against the Senate; was the real leader of the coalition with Pompeo and Crasso; conquered all Gallia; attacked Britannia twice; was forced into civil war; became master of the Roman world; and achieved wide-reaching reforms until his murder. We have his books of "commentarii": 8 on his Gallic War (58–52 a.C.) including the two expeditions to Britannia (55–54) (I) and 3 on the Civil wars (49–48) (II). These are records of his own campaigns with occasional digressions in vigorous, direct, clear, unemotional style and in the third person, the account of the civil war being somewhat more impassioned. There's also commentaries on the Alexandrian War, the African War, and the Spanish War, usually ascribed to Giulio Cesare (III).

11) Cicero (CICERONE, CICERONIANA) -- 30 vols --, 106–43  a.C., was a philosopher, of whom we know more than of any other Roman. Cicerone lived through the stirring era which saw the rise, dictatorship, and death of Giulio Cesare in a tottering republic. In his speeches and in his correspondence we see the excitement, tension and intrigue of politics and the part he played in the turmoil of the time. Of about 106 speeches, delivered before the Roman people and the Senate if they were political, before jurors if judicial, 58 survive, a few of them incompletely. In the fourteenth century, Petrarca discovered manuscripts containing more than 900 letters of which more than 800 were written by Cicerone and nearly 100 by others to him. These afford a revelation of the man all the more striking because most were not written for publication.  6 rhetorical works survive and another in fragments. Philosophical works include 7 extant major compositions. There is also poetry.

12) CLAUDIANO (CLAUDIANA)  -- 2 vols. -- was a poet of great affairs, who flourished during the reign of Onorio, 394 d.C.. He lived in Rome and was a pagan, and the court-poet. He wrote a panegyric on consuls Probino and Olibrio, hexameters in praise of consulships of Onorio (395, 398, 404 CE), against the Byzantine ministers Rufino (396) and Eutropio (399), in praise of the consulship (400) of Stilicho (Honorius’s guardian, general, and minister), in praise of Stilicho’s wife Serena, mixed metres on the marriage of Onorio to their daughter Maria, on the war with the rebel Gildo in Africa (398), on the Getic or Gothic war (402), on Stilicho’s success against Alarico (403), on the consulship of Manlio Theodoro (399), on the wedding of Palladio and Celerina. Less important are his "Rape of Proserpina". Noteworthy are Phoenix, Senex Veronensis, elegiac prefaces, and the epistles, epigrams, and idylls. Through the patronage of Stilicho or through Serena, married well and was granted a statue! Nothing is known of him after 404. In his poetry are true poetic as well as rhetorical skill, command of language, polished style, diversity, vigour, satire, dignity, bombast, artificiality, flattery, and other virtues and faults of the earlier “silver” age in Latin.

13) COLUMELLA (COLLUMELLIANA) -- 3 vols -- lived in the reigns of the first emperors to about 70 d.C. He owned farms and lived near Rome. He  did military service overseas and died in Tarentum. His “De Re Rustica” is the most comprehensive, systematic and detailed of Roman agricultural works. It covers choice of farming site; water supply; buildings; staff (I), ploughing; fertilizing; care of crops (II), cultivation, grafting and pruning of fruit trees, vines, and olives (III, IV, V),  acquisition, breeding, and rearing of oxen, horses, and mules; veterinary medicine (VI), sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs (VII), poultry; fish ponds (VIII), bee-keeping (IX), gardening (X), duties of the overseer of a farm, a calendar for farm work; more on gardening (XI), and duties of the overseer’s wife; manufacture of wines; pickling; preserving (XII). There is also a separate treatise on Trees ("De Arboribus"), on vines and olives and various trees, perhaps part of an otherwise lost work written before "De re rustica".

 

14) Curtius (CURZIO, CURZIANA) -- 2 vols --was a rhetorician who lived in the first century of the Roman empire, who, early in the reign of Claudio (41–54 CE), wrote a history of Alessandro the Great in 10 books in clear and picturesque style. The first 2 books have not survived. The narrative begins with events in 333 a.C.—and there is material missing from books V, VI and X. One of Curzio’s main sources is Cleitarco who, about 300 a.C., had made Alessandro’s career a matter of marvelous adventure. In his desire to entertain and to stress the personality of Alessandro, Curzio elaborates effective scenes, omits much that is important for history, and does not worry about chronology. But he does not invent things, except speeches and letters inserted into the narrative by traditional habit. “I copy more than I believe,” he says. Three features of Curzio’s story are narrative of exciting experiences, development of a hero’s character, and a disposition to moralize. Curzio’s history is one of the five extant works on which we rely for the career of Alexander the Great.

15) Flaccus (FLACCO, FLACCIANA) – was a poet who flourished in the period ca. 70–90 d.C., and composed in smooth and sometimes obscure style an incomplete epic “Argonautica” in 8 books, on the quest for the Golden Fleece. The "Argonautica" is typical of his age, being a free rehandling of the story already told by Apollonio, to whom he is superior in arrangement, vividness, and description of character. Flacco’s poem shows much imitation of the language and thought of Virgilio, and much learning. The chief interest of the epic lies in the relationship between Medea and GIASONE, especially the growth of Medea’s love, where Flacco is at his best. The long series of adventures and various Roman allusions suggest that that FLACCO meant to do honour to Vespasiano (to whom the epic is dedicated) with special reference to that emperor’s ships in waters around Britain.

16) Florus (FLORO, FLORIANA) lived in Rome in Adriano’s time. He wrote, in brief pointed rhetorical style, an Epitome of Roman history (especially wars) in 2 books in order to show the decline of Roman morals. His history is based chiefly on Livio. Floro’s history was perhaps planned to reach his own times, but the work ends with Augusto’s reign, 30 a.C.–14 d.C.. The Epitome is a useful rapid sketch of Roman military history.

17) Frontinus -- (FRONTINO, FRONTINIANA) 35 circa –103 d.C., was a capable soldier officer, praetor of ROMA in 70 and consul in 73 or 74, 98 and 100, Frontino was, about the year 76, sent to Britannia as governor. Frontino quelled the Silures of Wales, and began to build a road through their territory. Frontino's place was taken by Agricola in 78. In 97 Frontino was given the highly esteemed office of manager of Aqueducts in Rome. Frontino is known to have been an augur, being succeeded by his friend Plinio il Giovane. The two sides of Frontino’s public career are reflected in his two surviving works. “Stratagemi” (in 4 books) ( 84 d.C.) gives examples of military stratagems from Roman history (I, II, III) and military discipline (IV). " De Aquis urbis Romae", written in 97 d.C. gives some historical details and a description of the aqueducts for the water supply of Rome,

 

18) Fronto (FRONTONE, FRONTONIANA) -- 2 vols. --, 100 -- 176 d.C., was a much admired rhetorician who was befriended by Antonino Pio and taught his sons Marcaurelio and Lucio Vero —. His correspondence offers an invaluable picture of culture in the second century. Frontone’s letters reveal his strong stylistic views and dislike of Stoicism as well as his family joys and sorrows. The letters portray the successes and trials of a prominent figure in the palace, literary salons, the s enate, and law courts, and they give a fascinating record of the relationship between the foremost teacher of his time and his illustrious student Marcaurelio, his chief correspondent.

19) Jerome (GIROLAMO, GIROLAMIANA), 345–420, of Stridon, Dalmazia, son of Christian parents, at Rome listened to rhetoricians, legal advocates, and philosophers, and in 360 was baptized by Pope Liberio. Girolamo travelled widely in Gaul and in Asia Minor; and turned in the years 373–379 to hermetic life in Syria. Ordained presbyter at Antioch in 379 GIROLAMO went to Constantinople, met Gregory of Nazianzus and advanced greatly in scholarship. Girolamo was called to Rome in 382 to help Pope Damaso, at whose suggestion he began his revision of the Latin translation of the Bible (which came to form the core of the “Vulgata” version). Meanwhile Girolamo taught scripture and Hebrew and monastic living to Roman women. Wrongly suspected of luxurious habits, Girolamo left Rome (now under Pope Siricius) in 385, toured Palestine, visited Egypt, and then settled in Bethlehem, presiding over a monastery and (with help) translating the Old Testament from Hebrew. About 394 he met Augustine. Girolamo died on 30 September 420. Girolamo’s letters constitute one of the most notable collections in Latin literature. Girolamo’s letters are an essential source for our knowledge of Christian life in the fourth–fifth centuries; they also provide insight into one of the most striking and complex personalities of the time. Seven of the eighteen letters in this selection deal with a primary interest of Jerome’s: the morals and proper role of women. The most famous letter here fervently extols virginity.

20) Juvenal (GIOVENALE, GIOVANALIA), 120 d.C., the bite and wit of two of antiquity’s best satirist are captured here. Giovenale and Persio (34--62 d.C). were heirs to Lucilio and Orazio, with literary and historical allusions that pepper the satirical poems—which were clearly aimed at a sophisticated audience. Both  GIOVENALE and PERSIO adopt the mask of an angry man, and sharp criticism of the society in which they live is combined with flashes of sardonic humor in their satires. Whether targeting common and uncommon vices, the foolishness of prayers, the abuse of power by emperors and the Roman elite, the folly and depravity of Roman wives, or decadence, materialism, and corruption, their tone is generally one of righteous indignation. Giovenale and Persio are seminal as well as stellar figures in the history of satirical writing. Giovenale especially had a lasting influence on English writers of the Renaissance and succeeding centuries.

21) Scriptores -- SCRITTORI della STORIA AUGUSTA -- 3 vols. -- is a collection of biographies of Roman emperors, heirs, and claimants from Adriano to Numeriano, 117–284 d.C. The "Storia" is modeled on Svetonio’s "Vite dei dodici cesari" and purports to be written by 6 different 'scrittori' and quotes documents and public records extensively. Since we possess no continuous account of the emperors of the second and third centuries, this "Storia" has naturally attracted keen attention. In the last century it has also generated the gravest suspicions. Present opinion holds that the whole is the work of a single author who lived in the time of Theodosius and contains much that is plagiarism and even downright forgery.

22) Livy (LIVIO, LIVIANA) -- 14 vols -- is the great Roman historian. He was born at Padova in 64 a. C. but he lived mostly in Rome. Livio’s work is a history of Rome from the foundation of the city to 9 a.C.  Only 35 survive, and short summaries of all the rest except two. The whole "Storia" was, long after his death, divided into “decades”. Books 1–10 we have entire. Books 11–20 are lost. Books –45 are entire, except parts of 41 and 43–45. Of the rest only fragments and the summaries remain. In splendid style, Livio — a man of wide sympathies and proud of Rome’s past—presented an uncritical but clear and living narrative of the rise of Rome to greatness.

23) Lucan (LUCANO, LUCANIANA) -- 39–65 d.C., was the son of a wealthy man and nephew of Seneca. In 60 d.C. at a festival in Nerone's honour Lucano praised him in a panegyric and was promoted to one or two minor offices. But having defeated Nero in a poetry contest, Lucano was interdicted from further recitals or publication, so that 3 books of his "The Civil War" were not issued in 61 when they were finished. By 65, Lucano was composing the Book X, but then became involved in the unsuccessful plot of Pisone and by order took his own life. Quintilian called Lucan a poet “full of fire and energy and a master of brilliant phrases.” Lucano’s "The civil war" stands next after Virgil’s "Eneide". Giulio Cesare looms as a sinister character in a stormy chronicle in verse of the war between him and the Republic’s forces under Pompeo, and later under Catone in Africa — a chronicle of dramatic events carrying us from Cesare’s fateful crossing of the Rubicon, through the Battle of Farsalia and the death of Pompeo, to Cesare victorious in Egypt.

24) Lucretius (LUCREZIO, LUCREZIANA) -- 99–55 a.C.. The details of his career are unknown. Lucrezio is the author of "De Rerum Natura", in 6 books compounded of solid reasoning, brilliant imagination, and noble poetry, Lucrezio expounds the scientific theories of the philosopher Epicuro, with the aim of dispelling fear of the gods and fear of death and so enabling man to attain peace of mind and happiness.  Lucrezio establishes the general principles of the atomic system, refutes the views of rival physicists, and proves the infinity of the universe and of its two ultimate constituents, matter and void (I),  explains atomic movement, the variety of atomic shapes, and argues that the atoms lack colour, sensation, and other secondary qualities (II), expounds the nature and composition of mind and spirit, proves their mortality, and argues that there is nothing to fear in death (III), explains the nature of sensation and thought, and ends with an impressive account of sexual love (IV), describes the nature and formation of our world, astronomical phenomena, the beginnings of life on earth, and the development of civilization (V), and explains various atmospheric and terrestrial phenomena, including thunder, lightning, earthquakes, volcanoes, the magnet, and plagues (VI).

 

25) Macrobius (MACROBIO, MACROBIANA) -- 3 vols -- His Saturnalia is an encyclopedic celebration of Roman culture written in the early fifth century d.C., which has been prized since the Renaissance as a treasure trove of otherwise unattested lore. Cast in the form of a dialogue, ut treats subjects as diverse as the divinity of the Sun and the quirks of human digestion while showcasing Virgilio as the master of all human knowledge from diction and rhetoric to philosophy and religion. A full introduction places the work in its cultural context and analyzes its construction, while indexes of names, subjects, and ancient works cited in both text and notes make the work more readily accessible.

 

26) Manilius (MANILIO, MANILIANA) lived in the reigns of Augusto and Tiberio, and is the author of the earliest treatise on astrology we possess. His "Astronomica" is  a didactic poem in 5 books, which begins with an account of celestial phenomena, and proceeds to treat of the signs of the zodiac and the twelve temples. There follow instructions for calculating the horoscoping degree, and details of chronocrators, decans, injurious degrees, zodiacal geography, paranatellonta, and other technical matters. Besides exhibiting great virtuosity in rendering mathematical tables and diagrams in verse form, the poet writes with some passion about his Stoic beliefs and shows much wit and humour in his character sketches of persons born under particular stars. Perhaps taking a lead from Virgil in his "Georgics", the "Astronomica" abandons the proportions of his last book to narrate the story of Perseo  and Andromeda at considerable length. The "Astronomica" is a difficult work, and this edition provides copious explanatory notes.

26) Marcellinus (MARCELLINO, MARCELLINIANA) -- 3 vols -- 325–395 d.C., was a soldier who served under the governor Ursicino and the emperor Constanzo II, and later under the emperor Giuliano, whom he admired and accompanied against the Alamanni and the Persians. He settled in Roma, where he wrote in a history of the Roman empire, "Rerum Gestsarum Libri XXXI" in the period 96–378 d.C.. Of these 31 books, only 14–31 (353–378 d.C.) survive, a remarkably accurate and impartial record of his own times. Soldier though he was, Marcellino includes economic and social affairs. He was broad-minded towards non-Romans and towards Christianity. We get from him clear indications of causes of the fall of the Roman empire.

27) Martial (MARZIALE, MARZIALIANA) -- 3 vols -- published a book of poems to celebrate the opening of the Flavian amphitheatre in 80 d.C., “On the Spectacles.” Written with satiric wit and a talent for the memorable phrase, the poems record the broad spectacle of shows in the new arena.

The great Latin epigrammist’s 12 subsequent books capture the spirit of Roman life — both public and private — in vivid detail. Fortune hunters and busybodies, orators and lawyers, schoolmasters and street hawkers, jugglers and acrobats, doctors and plagiarists, beautiful slaves, and generous hosts are among the diverse characters who populate his verses. Marziale is a keen and sharp-tongued observer of Roman society. His pen brings into crisp relief a wide variety of scenes and events: the theater and public games, life in the countryside, a rich debauchee’s banquet, lions in the amphitheater, the eruption of Vesuvius. The epigrams are sometimes obscene, in the tradition of the genre, sometimes warmly affectionate or amusing, and always pointed. Like his contemporary Stazio, though, Martial shamelessly flatters his patron Domitian, one of Rome’s worst-reputed emperors. The Loeb now gives us, in three volumes, a reliable modern translation of Martial’s often difficult Latin, eliminating many misunderstandings in previous versions. The text is mainly that of his highly praised Teubner edition of 1990.

28) Maximus -- MASSIMO. MASSIMIANA -- 2 vols -- compiled his hand-book of notable deeds and sayings during the reign of Tiberio, 14–37 d.C.. The collection was very popular in the Renaissance. Massimo arranges his examples in short chapters, each focused on a particular virtue, vice, religious practice, or traditional custom. They include omens, dreams, anger, cruelty, bravery, fidelity, gratitude, friendship, and parental love. The moral undercurrent of this collection is apparent. But Massimo tells us that the book’s purpose is practical. He decides to select worthwhile material from famous writers so that people looking for illustrative examples might be spared the trouble of research. The book is an interesting source of information on Roman attitudes toward religion and moral values in the first century.

29) MINOR LATIN POETS -- 2 vols -- The anthology covers a period of four and a half centuries, It begins with Publilio Siro (who flourished ca. 45 a.C.) and ends with Rutilio Namatiano recording a sea voyage from Rome to Gaul in 416 d.C.. A wide variety of theme gives interest to the poems: hunting in a poem of Grattio; an inquiry into the causes of volcanic activity by the author of Aetna; pastoral poems by Calpurnio Siculo and by Nemesiano; fables by Aviano; a collection of Dicta, moral sayings, as if by the elder Catone; eulogy in Laus Pisonis; and the legend of the Fenice, a poem of the fourth century. 

 

30) NEPOTE was born in Ostiglia, but lived in Rome and was a friend of Cicerone, Attico, and Catullo. Most of his writings — poems, moral examples from history, a chronological sketch of general history, a geographical work, and lives of Catone the Elder and Cicerone and other biographies—are lost. Extant is a portion of his “De Viris Illustribus”: (i) part of his parallel lives of Roman and non-Roman famous men, namely the portion containing lives of non-Roman generals (all Greeks except three) and a chapter on kings; and (ii) two lives from the class of historians. The lives are short popular biographies of various kinds, written in a usually plain readable style, of value today because of Nepote’s use of many good sources.

31) Horace (ORAZIO, ORAZIANA), b. 65 a.C., his poetry is richly varied, its focus moving between public and private concerns, urban and rural settings, Stoic and Epicurean thought. There's the Odes and Epodes, Orazio took pride in being the first Roman to write a body of lyric poetry. His poems are set in a Roman context. His four books of “Odes” cover a wide range of moods and topics. Some are public poems, upholding the traditional values of courage, loyalty, and piety; and there are hymns to the gods. But most of the odes are on private themes: chiding or advising friends; speaking about love and amorous situations, often amusingly. Orazio’s 17 “Epodes”, which he called "iambi", were also an innovation for Roman literature. Love and political concerns are frequent themes; here the tone is generally that of satirical lampoons. “In his language he is triumphantly adventurous,” Quintilian said of Horace; this new translation reflects his different voices.

 32) Ovid (OVIDIO, OVIDIANA) -- 6 vols -- 43 a.C.–17 d.C., born at Sulmo, studied rhetoric and law in Roma. Later he did considerable public service there, and otherwise devoted himself to poetry and to society. Famous at first, Ovidio offended Augusto with his "Ars Amatoria". Ovidio was banished because of this and dwelt in the cold and primitive town of Tomis on the Black Sea. Ovidio continued writing poetry and died in exile. Ovid’s main surviving works are: the "Metamorphoses", a source of inspiration to artists and poets including Chaucer and Shakespeare, the "Heroides", fictitious love letters by legendary women to absent husbands and lovers, the "Amores" (elegies ostensibly about the poet’s love affair with his mistress Corinna), the "Ars Amatoria", not moral, but clever—and in parts, beautiful, the "Fasti" (a poetic treatment of the Roman year of which Ovid finished only half) and the dismal works written in exile: the "Tristia" (which appeals to persons including his wife and also the emperor) and the " Epistulae ex Ponto". Poetry came naturally to Ovid, who at his best is lively, graphic and lucid. The Metropolitan Museum has a painting, “Ovid among the Scythians”.

33) Paterculus (PATERCOLO, PATERCOLIANA) lived in the reigns of Augusto and Tiberio (30 a.C.–37 d.C.). He served as a military tribune in Thrace, Macedonia, Greece and Asia Minor, and later, from 4 CE to 12 or 13, as a cavalry officer and legatus in Germany and Pannonia. He was quaestor in 7 CE, praetor in 15. His “Compendium of Roman History”, in 2 books, is a summary of Roman history from the fall of Troy to 29 d.C. As he approached his own times Patercolo becomes much fuller in his treatment, especially between the death of Giulio Cesare in 44 a.C. and that of Augusto in 14 d.C.. His work has useful concise essays on Roman colonies and provinces and some effective compressed portrayals of characters. In his 76th year (13–14 d.C.), the emperor Augusto wrote a dignified account of his public life and work, the “Res Gestae Divi Augusti”, of which the best preserved copy was engraved on the walls of his temple. The “Res Gestae Divi Augusti” is a unique document giving short details of his public offices and honours; his benefactions to the empire, to the people, and to the soldiers; and his services as a soldier and as an administrator.
 

34) Petronius (PETRONIO, PETRONIANA), who is reasonably identified with the author of the famous satyric and satiric novel Satyricon, was a man of pleasure and of good literary taste who flourished in the times of Claudio (41–54 d.C.) and Nerone (54–68 d.C.). As Tacito describes him, Petronio used to sleep by day and attend to official duties or to his amusements by night. At one time Petronio was governor of the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor and was also a consul, showing himself a man of vigour when this was required. Later he lapsed into indulgence (or assumed the mask of vice) and became a close friend of Nerone. Accused by jealous Tigellino of disloyalty and condemned, with self-opened veins he conversed lightly with friends, dined, drowsed, sent to Nerone a survey of Nerone’s s sexual deeds, and so died, 66 d.C..The surviving parts of Petronio’s romance Satyricon mix philosophy and real life, prose and verse, in a tale of the disreputable adventures of Encolpione and two companions, Ascylto and Gitone. In the course of their wanderings the three attend a showy and wildly extravagant dinner given by a rich freedman, Trimalchione, whose guests talk about themselves and life in general. Other incidents are a shipwreck and somewhat lurid proceedings in South Italy. The work is written partly in pure Latin, but sometimes purposely in a more vulgar style. It parodies and otherwise attacks bad taste in literature, pedantry and hollow society. Apocolocyntosis (Pumpkinification) (as opposed to deification), is probably by the wealthy philosopher and courtier Seneca (ca. 4 BCE–65 CE). It is a medley of prose and verse and a political satire on the Emperor Claudius, written soon after he died in 54 CE and was deified.

35) Plautus (PLAUTO, PLAUTONIANA) -- his rollicking comedies of Plauto, who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences c. 205–184  a.C., are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and are cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Molière to modern times. The edition of all 21 of Plautus’s extant comedies (including "Casina", "Cistellaria", "Curculio", "Epidicus", and "Menaechmi") are presented with ample explanatory notes.

36) Pliny -- PLINIO il vecchio -- 10 vols -- Plinio  (23–79 d.C.), tireless researcher and writer, is author of the encyclopedic Natural History, in 37 books, an unrivaled compendium of Roman knowledge. The contents of the books are as follows: Book 1: Table of contents of the others and of authorities; Book 2: Mathematical and metrological survey of the universe; Books 3–6: Geography and ethnography of the known world; Book 7: Anthropology and the physiology of man; Books 8–11: Zoology; Books 12–19: Botany, agriculture, and horticulture; Books 20–27: Plant products as used in medicine; Books 28–32: Medical zoology; Books 33–37: Minerals (and medicine), the fine arts, and gemstones.

 37) Pliny -- PLINIO il giovane -- 2 vols. Born in 61 d.C., he was the son of Lucio Cecilio of Como and the sister of Plinio il vecchio. Plinio il giovane was educated at home and then in Roma under Quintiliano. Plinio il giovane was at Misenum at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 (described in two famous letters) when Plinio il vecchio died. Plinio il giovane started his career at the Roman bar at the age of eighteen. He moved through the regular offices in a senator’s career, held two treasury appointments and a priesthood, and was consul in September and October 100. On this occasion he delivered the speech of thanks to the Emperor Traiano which he afterwards expanded and published as the Panegyricus. After his consulship he returned to advocacy in the court and Senate, and was also president of the Tiber Conservancy Board. His hopes of retirement were cut short when he was chosen by Trajan to go out to the province of Bithynia and Pontus on a special commission as the Emperor’s direct representative. He is known to have been there two years, and is presumed to have died there before the end of 113. Book X of the Letters contains his correspondence with Trajan during this period, and includes letters about the early Christians.Pliny’s Letters are important as a social document of his times. They tell us about the man himself and his wide interests, and about his many friends, including Tacitus, Martial, and Suetonius. Pliny has a gift for description and a versatile prose style, and more than any of his contemporaries he gives an unprejudiced picture of Rome as he knew it. The second volume contains Books VIII–X of his Letters as well as the Panegyricus.

38) PROPERZIO. His passionate and dramatic elegies gained him a reputation as one of Rome’s finest love poets. Here Properzio portrays the exciting, uneven course of his love affair with Cintia and tells us much about his contemporaries and the society in which he lives, while in later poems he turns to mythological themes and the legends of early Rome. Born in Assisi about 50 a.C., Properzio moved to Roma, where he came into contact with a coterie of poets, including Virgilio, Tibullo, Orazio, and Ovidio. Publication of his first book brought immediate recognition and the unwavering support of Mecenate, the influential patron of the Augustan poets. He died perhaps in his mid-thirties, leaving us four books of elegies that have attracted admirers throughout the ages.In this new edition of Properzio, we solve some longstanding questions of interpretation and gives us a faithful and stylish prose translation. The explanatory notes and glossary, and index offer steady guidance and a wealth of information.

39) PRUDENZIO -- 2 vols -- was born in 348 d.C., probably at Caesaraugusta (Saragossa), and lived mostly in northeastern Spain, but visited Rome between 400 and 405. Prudenzio’s parents, presumably Christian, had him educated in literature and rhetoric. Prudenzio became a barrister and at least once later on an administrator; he afterwards received some high honor from Emperor Theodosius. Prudenzio was a strong Christian who admired the old pagan literature and art, especially the great Latin poets whose forms he used. He looked on the Roman achievement in history as a preparation for the coming of Christ and the triumph of a spiritual empire.The first volume presents: Preface (Praefatio); The Daily Round (Liber Cathemerinon); 12 literary and attractive hymns, parts of which have been included in the Breviary and in modern hymnals; The Divinity of Christ (Apotheosis), which maintains the Trinity and attacks those who denied the distinct personal being of Christ; The Origin of Sin (Hamartigenia), attacking the separation of the “strict” God of the Old Testament from the “good” God revealed by Christ; Fight for Mansoul (Psychomachia), which describes the struggle between (Christian) virtues and (pagan) vices; and the first book of Against the Address of Symmachus (Contra Orationem Symmachi), in which pagan gods are assailed. The second volume contains the second book of Against the Address of Symmachus, opposing a petition for the replacement of an altar and statue of Victory; Crowns of Martyrdom (Peristephanon Liber), 14 hymns to martyrs (mostly of Spain); Lines To Be Inscribed under Scenes from History (Tituli Historiarum), 49 four-line stanzas which are inscriptions for scenes from the Bible depicted on the walls of a church; and an Epilogue.

40) QUINTILIANO -- 10 vols -- born in 35 d.C., became a widely known and highly successful teacher of rhetoric in Roma. The Institutio Oratoria, a comprehensive training program in 12 books, draws on his own rich experience. It is a work of enduring importance, not only for its insights on oratory, but for the picture it paints of education and social attitudes in the Roman world. Quintilian offers both general and specific advice.  He gives guidelines for proper schooling (beginning with the young boy); analyzes the structure of speeches; recommends devices that will engage listeners and appeal to their emotions; reviews a wide range of Greek and Latin authors of use to the orator; and counsels on memory, delivery, and gestures. The Lesser Declamations, dating perhaps from the second century d.C. and attributed to Quintiliano, might more accurately be described as emanating from “the school of Quintilian.” The collection represents classroom materials for budding Roman lawyers. The instructor who composed these specimen speeches for fictitious court cases adds his comments and suggestions concerning presentation and arguing tactics, thereby giving us insight into Roman law and education. A wide range of scenarios is imagined. Some evoke the plots of ancient novels and comedies: pirates, exiles, parents and children in conflict, adulterers, rapists, and wicked stepmothers abound. Other cases deal with such matters as warfare between neighboring cities, smuggling, historical (and quasi-historical) events, tyrants and tyrannicides. Two gems are the speech opposing a proposal to equalize wealth, and the case of a Cynic youth who has forsworn worldly goods but sues his father for cutting off his allowance. Of the original 388 sample cases in the collection, 145 survive. These are now added to the Loeb Library in a 2-volume edition.The new 5-volume Loeb edition of The Orator’s Education provides a text and facing translation fully up to date in light of current scholarship and well tuned to today’s taste. There are also rich explanatory notes, which enable full appreciation of this central work in the history of rhetoric.

41) SALLUSTIO (86–35 a.C.), a Sabine from Amiternum, acted against Cicero and Milo as tribune in 52, joined Caesar after being expelled from the Senate in 50, was restored to the senate by Caesar and took part in his African campaign as praetor in 46, and was then appointed governor of New Africa (Numidia). Upon his return to Rome Sallustio narrowly escaped conviction for malfeasance in office, retired from public life, and took up historiography. Sallustio’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 Sallustio is decidedly unsubtle and partisan in analyzing people and events, his works are important and significantly influenced later historians, notably Tacitus. Taking Tucidide as his model but building on Roman stylistic and rhetorical traditions, Sallustio achieved a distinctive style, concentrated and arresting; lively characterizations, especially in the speeches; and skill at using particular episodes to illustrate large general themes. For this edition, the text and translation of the Catiline and Jugurtha have been thoroughly revised in line with the most recent scholarship.

42) SENECA the Elder -- 2 vols -- Roman education aimed principally at training future lawyers and politicians. Under the late Republic and the Empire, the main instrument was an import from Greece: declamation, the making of practice speeches on imaginary subjects. There were two types of such speeches: controversiae on law-court themes, suasoriae on deliberative topics. On both types a prime source of our knowledge is the work of Lucio AnSeneca, from Cordoba, father of the distinguished philosopher. Towards the end of his long life (55 a.C.–40 d.C.) he collected together ten books devoted to controversiae (some only preserved in excerpt) and at least one (surviving) of suasoriae.These books contained his memories of the famous rhetorical teachers and practitioners of his day: their lines of argument, their methods of approach, their idiosyncrasies, and above all their epigrams. The extracts from the declaimers, though scrappy, throw invaluable light on the influences that coloured the styles of most pagan (and many Christian) writers of the Empire. Unity is provided by Seneca’s own contribution, the lively prefaces, engaging anecdote about speakers, writers and politicians, and brisk criticism of declamatory excess.

43) SENECA -- 10 vols --, born at Corduba, 4 circa a. C., of a prominent and wealthy family, spent an ailing childhood in Roma in an aunt’s care. Seneca became famous in rhetoric, philosophy, money-making, and imperial service. After some disgrace during Claudio’s reign Seneca became tutor and then, in 54 d.C., advising minister to Nerone, some of whose worst misdeeds he did not prevent. Involved in a conspiracy, Seneca killed himself by order in 65. Wealthy, he preached indifference to wealth; evader of pain and death, he preached scorn of both; and there were other contrasts between practice and principle.We have Seneca’s philosophical or moral essays (ten of them traditionally called “Dialogues”) — on providence, steadfastness, the happy life, anger, leisure, tranquility, the brevity of life, gift-giving, forgiveness — and treatises on natural phenomena. Also extant are 124 epistles, in which he writes in a relaxed style about moral and ethical questions, relating them to personal experiences; a skit on the official deification of Claudius, Apocolocyntosis (in Loeb no. 15). Also extant are 9 tragedies on ancient mythological themes. Many epistles and all his speeches are lost. Seneca’s moral essays are collected in Volumes I–III; the 124 epistles in Volumes IV–VI; the tragedies in Volumes VIII and IX; and the treatises on natural phenomena, Naturales Quaestiones, in Volumes VII and X.

44) SIDONIO -- 2 vols -- was born at Lugdunum about 430 d.C. He married Papianilla, daughter of the Emperor Avitus in whose honour he recited at Rome on 1 January 456 a panegyric in verse. Sidonius later joined a rebellion, it seems, but was finally reconciled to the emperor Majorian and delivered at Lyon in 458 a panegyric on him. After some years in his native land, in 467 he led a Gallo-Roman deputation to the Emperor Anthemius, and on 1 January 468 recited at Rome his third panegyric. He returned to Gaul in 469 and became Bishop of Auvergne with seat at Clermont-Ferrand. He upheld his people in resisting the Visigoths. After Auvergne was ceded to them in 475, he was imprisoned but soon resumed his bishopric. He was canonized after his death.The first volume contains his poetry: the three long panegyrics as well as poems addressed to or concerned with friends, apparently written in his youth. Volume I also contains two of the nine books of letters (all dating from before his episcopate). Volume II contains books 3–9. Sidonius’s writings shed valued light on Roman culture in the fifth century.
 

45) Silius -- SILIO -- 2 vols -- 25–101 d.C., was consul in 68 and governor of the province of Asia in 69. Silio sought no further office but lived thereafter on his estates as a literary man and collector. Silio revered the work of Cicerone, whose Tusculan villa he owned, and that of Virgilio, whose tomb at Napoli he likewise owned and near which he lived. His “Le guerre puniche” , on the war with Carthage (218–202 a.C.), is based for facts largely on Livio’s account. Conceived as a contrast between two great nations (and their supporting gods), championed by the two great heroes Scipione and Annibale, “Le guerre puniche” is written in pure Latin and smooth verse filled throughout with echoes of Virgilio above all (and other poets); it exploits with easy grace all the devices and techniques of traditional Latin epic. The Metropolitan Museum has an oil by Joseph of Wright, showing Stazio reading Virgil in Virgil’s tomb.

46) STAZIO -- Statius -- 2 volumes -- published his Tebaide in the last decade of the first century. This epic, recounting the struggle between the two sons of Edipo for the kingship of Tebe, is his masterpiece, a stirring exploration of the passions of civil war. The extant portion of his unfinished Achilleide is strikingly different in tone: this second epic begins as a charming account of Achille’s life.Stazio was raised in the cultural milieu of the bay of Napoli, and his literary education is reflected in his poetry. The political realities of Rome in the first century are also evident in the Tebaide, in representations of authoritarian power and the drive for domination

47) SVETONIO -- Suetonius -- 2 volumes -- (70 d.C.), son of a military tribune, was at first an advocate and a teacher of rhetoric, but later became the emperor Adriano’s private secretary, 119–121.  Svetonio dedicated to C. Septicio Claro, prefect of the praetorian guard, his “Lives of the 12 Caesars”. After the dismissal of both men for some breach of court etiquette, Svetonio apparently retired and probably continued his writing. His other works, many known by title, are now lost except for part of the “Lives of Illustrious Men of letters”. Friend of Plinio il Giovane, Svetonio was a studious and careful collector of facts, so that the extant lives of the emperors (including Giulio Cesare the dictator) to Domiziano are invaluable. His plan in Lives of the Caesars is: the emperor’s family and early years; public and private life; death. We find many anecdotes, much gossip of the imperial court, and various details of character and personal appearance. Svetonio’s account of Nero’s death is justly famous. Both volumes were revised throughout in 1997–98, and a new Introduction added. Vite dei dodici cesari Volume I: 1) Giulio Cesare, 2) Augusto, 3) Tiberio and 4) Caligola. Volume II: 5) Claudio 6) Nerone. 7) Galba, 8) Otone, 9) Vitellio 10) Vespasiano. 11) Tito, 12) Domiziano. Followed by: Lives of Illustrious Men: Grammarians and Rhetoricians. Poets (Terenzio, Virgilio, Orazio, Tibullo, Persio, Lucano). Lives of Plinio il vecchio   and Passienus Crispus There is an interesting series of engravings by Antonio Tempesta on each of the twelve Caesars.

48) TACITO -- 5 volumes -- was born in 55, 56, or 57 d.C. and lived to about 120. Tacito became an orator, married in 77 a daughter of Giulio Agricola before Agricola went to Britain, was quaestor in 81 or 82, a senator under the Flavian emperors, and a praetor in 88. After four years’ absence Tacito experienced the terrors of Emperor Domiziano’s last years and turned to historical writing. Tacito was a consul in 97. Close friend of Plinio il giovane, with him he successfully prosecuted Mario Prisco. Tacito’s works include (a) The Life and Character of Agricola, written in 97–98, specially interesting because of Agricola’s career in Britain;(b)  the Germania (98–99), an equally important description of the geography, anthropology, products, institutions, and social life and the tribes of the Germans as known to the Romans; (c) the Dialogue on Oratory (Dialogus), of unknown date; a lively conversation about the decline of oratory and education., and the Histories (in 3 volumes), probably issued in parts from 105 onwards. A great work that originally consisted of at least 12 books covering the period 69–96 d.C., only Books I–IV and part of Book V survive, dealing in detail with the dramatic years 69–70. Annals (in Loeb volumes 249, 322, and 312), Tacitus’s other great work, originally covering the period 14–68 CE (Emperors Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, Nero) and published between 115 and about 120. Of sixteen books at least, there survive Books I–IV (covering the years 14–28); a bit of Book V and all Book VI (31–37); part of Book XI (from 47); Books XII–XV and part of Book XVI (to 66). Tacitus is renowned for his development of a pregnant concise style, character study, and psychological analysis, and for the often terrible story which he brilliantly tells. As a historian of the early Roman empire he is paramount.

49) TERENZIO -- Terence -- 2 volumes -- brought to the Roman stage a bright comic voice and a refined sense of style. Terenzio’s 6 comedies — first produced in the half dozen years before his premature death in 159 a.C. — were imaginatively reformulated in Latin plays written by Greek playwrights, especially Menander. For this new Loeb Classical Library edition of Terenzio, we give  a faithful and lively translation with full explanatory notes, facing a freshly edited Latin text. Volume I contains a substantial introduction and three plays: The Woman of Andros, a romantic comedy; The Self-Tormentor, which looks at contrasting father-son relationships; and The Eunuch, whose characters include the most sympathetically drawn courtesan in Roman comedy. In Volume II are: Phormio, a comedy of intrigue with an engaging trickster; The Mother-in-Law, unique among Terence’s plays in that the female characters are the admirable ones; and The Brothers, which explores contrasting approaches to parental education of sons. The Romans highly praised Terenzio—“whose speech can charm, whose every word delights,” in Cicero’s words. This new edition of his plays, which replaces the now outdated Loeb translation by John Sargeaunt (first published in 1912), succeeds in capturing his polished style and appeal.

50) TERTULLIANO -- Tertullian (ca. 150–222 a.C.) was born a soldier’s son at Carthage, educated in Roman literature, philosophy, and medicine, studied law, and became a pleader, remaining a clever and often tortuous arguer. After a visit to churches in Greece he returned to Carthage and in his writings there founded a Christian Latin language and literature, toiling to fuse enthusiasm with reason; to unite the demands of the Bible with the practice of the Church; and to continue to vindicate the Church’s possession of the true doctrine in the face of unbelievers, Jews, Gnostics, and others. In some of his many works he defended Christianity, in others he attacked heretical people and beliefs; in others he dealt with morals. In this volume we present Apologeticus and De Spectaculis.Of Minuzio, an early Christian writer of unknown date, we have only Ottavio, a vigorous and readable debate between an unbeliever and a Christian friend of Minucius, Ottavio Ianuarius, a lawyer sitting on the seashore at Ostia. Minucius himself acts as presiding judge. Octavius wins the argument. The whole work presents a picture of social and religious conditions in Rome, apparently about the end of the second century.

51) VARRONE, 116–27 a.C, of Reate, renowned for his vast learning, was an antiquarian, historian, philologist, student of science, agriculturist, and poet. He was a republican who was reconciled to Giulio Cesare and was marked out by him to supervise an intended national library. Of Varro’s more than 70 works involving hundreds of volumes we have only his treatise On Agriculture (in Loeb no. 283, under “C”, Catone, Cato) and part of his monumental achievement, “De Lingua Latina”, a work typical of its author’s interest not only in antiquarian matters but also in the collection of scientific facts. Originally, De lingua latina consisted of 25 books in 3 parts: etymology of Latin words (1–7); their inflexions and other changes (8–13); and syntax (14–25).  Of the whole work survive (somewhat imperfectly) books 5 to 10. These are from the section which applied etymology to words of time and place and to poetic expressions (4–6); the section on analogy as it occurs in word formation (7–9); and the section which applied analogy to word derivation (10–12). Varro’s work contains much that is of very great value to the study of the Latin language.

52) VIRGILIO -- 2 volumes -- was born in 70 BCE near Mantua and was educated at Cremona, Milan and Rome. Slow in speech, shy in manner, thoughtful in mind, weak in health, he went back north for a quiet life. Influenced by the group of poets there, he may have written some of the doubtful poems included in our Virgilian manuscripts. All his undoubted extant work is written in his perfect hexameters. Earliest comes the collection of ten pleasingly artificial bucolic poems, the Eclogues, which imitated freely Theocritus’s idylls. They deal with pastoral life and love. Before 29 BCE came one of the best of all didactic works, the four books of Georgics on tillage, trees, cattle, and bees. Virgil’s remaining years were spent in composing his great, not wholly finished, epic the Aeneid, on the traditional theme of Rome’s origins through Aeneas of Troy. Inspired by the Emperor Augustus’s rule, the poem is Homeric in metre and method but influenced also by later Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, and learning, and deeply Roman in spirit. Virgil died in 19 BCE at Brundisium on his way home from Greece, where he had intended to round off the Aeneid. He had left in Rome a request that all its twelve books should be destroyed if he were to die then, but they were published by the executors of his will.
 

53) VITRUVIO  -- Vitruvius -- 2 volumes -- Il classico di Vitruvio e “Della archittetura”. He is famous for the “Uomo vitruviano”. Vitruvio Pollione, Roman architect and engineer, studied philosophy and science and gained experience in the course of professional work. Vitruvio was one of those appointed to be overseers of imperial artillery or military engines, and was architect of at least one unit of buildings for Augusto in the reconstruction of Roma. Late in life and in ill health he completed, sometime before 27 a.c., De Architectura which, after its rediscovery in the fifteenth century, was influential enough to be studied by architects from the early Renaissance to recent times. In On Architecture, Vitruvius adds to the tradition of Greek theory and practice the results of his own experience. The contents of this treatise in 10 books are as follows: requirements for an architect; town planning; design, cities, aspects; temples (1) materials and their treatment (2); Greek systems; Book 3: Styles: forms of Greek temples: Ionic; Book 4: Styles: Doric, Corinthian; Tuscan; altars; Book 5: Other public buildings (fora, basilicae, theatres, colonnades, baths, harbours); Book 6: Sites and planning, especially of houses; Book 7: Construction of pavements, roads, mosaic floors, vaults; decoration (stucco, wall painting, colours); Book 8: Hydraulic engineering; water supply; aqueducts; Book 9: Astronomy; Greek and Roman discoveries; signs of the zodiac, planets, moon phases, constellations, astrology, gnomon, sundials and Book 10: Machines for war and other purposes.