Masters of Roman Prose from Cato to Apuleius

Author: Michael von Albrecht
Publisher: Arca Classical and Medieval Te
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
In this commented anthology of Latin prose, Michael von Albrecht selects texts from a span of Roman literature covering four centuries. A summary of the contents will indicate its range and variety: M. Porcius Cato (the preface to De agricultura , a passage from the speech for the Rhodians of 167 B.C., and a section from the Origines ); republican oratory (C. Gracchus, from De legibus promulgatis of 122 B.C. and Cicero from In Verrem II ); Caesar as orator and historian; two passages of Sallust; a comparison of Claudius Quadrigarius and Livy as historiographers; philosophical texts from Cicero and the Younger Seneca; and chapters on Petronius, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Apuleius. The method of the book is practical, based on actual interpretation of specific texts rather than on literary theory (ancient or modern). Each text (printed first in Latin and then in English) is followed by a detailed and flexible discussion, somewhere between essay and commentary. No set pattern is imposed - rather the nature of the text governs the shape of its analysis - but Professor von Albrecht's vivid scholarly exposition covers most dimensions of the art of Latin prose-writing. The book's variety of texts and close treatment of specific Latin passages make it an ideal coursebook for the study of Latin prose. But behind its accessibility lies scholarship of the highest order: Professor von Albrecht's exemplary erudition reveals itself in the extensive annotation underpinning his main text; and researchers in any of the fields covered by Latin prose-writers - philosophy, politics, history, letters, practical handbooks, entertainment - will find this book a valuable resource. This book was originally published in German ( Meister römischer Prosa von Cato bis Apuleius , 1971). It has been accurately and sympathetically translated by Neil Adkin.

Two Centuries of Roman Poetry

Author: Arthur Robin Davis
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
ISBN: 9781853995279
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
First published by Macmillian in 1964, this volume is designed to introduce students to a wider range of Latin poetry than they would encounter in a simple author prescription. The first century BC is represented by Lucretius and Catullus, the Augustan era by Virgil, Horace and Ovid, and the Silver age by Juvenal and Martial. Passages are chosen for their own intrinsic interest - Ovid on Romulus and Remus, Juvenal on the dangers of Rome at night, the sheild of Aeneas from Virgil Aeneid VIII ; they cover a wide variety of genres and styles - both Satires and Odes of Horace, elegiacs from the Fasti and hexameters from the Metamorphoses of Ovid. There are extensive notes on language and content, an introduction on metre and a full vocabulary.

An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry

Author: Maxim D. Shrayer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317476956
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1186

Book Description
This definitive anthology gathers stories, essays, memoirs, excerpts from novels, and poems by more than 130 Jewish writers of the past two centuries who worked in the Russian language. It features writers of the tsarist, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods, both in Russia and in the great emigrations, representing styles and artistic movements from Romantic to Postmodern. The authors include figures who are not widely known today, as well as writers of world renown. Most of the works appear here for the first time in English or in new translations. The editor of the anthology, Maxim D. Shrayer of Boston College, is a leading authority on Jewish-Russian literature. The selections were chosen not simply on the basis of the author's background, but because each work illuminates questions of Jewish history, status, and identity. Each author is profiled in an essay describing the personal, cultural, and historical circumstances in which the writer worked, and individual works or groups of works are headnoted to provide further context. The anthology not only showcases a wide selection of individual works but also offers an encyclopedic history of Jewish-Russian culture. This handsome two-volume set is organized chronologically. The first volume spans the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth century, and includes the editor's extensive introduction to the Jewish-Russian literary canon. The second volume covers the period from the death of Stalin to the present, and each volume includes a corresponding survey of Jewish-Russian history by John D. Klier of University College, London, as well as detailed bibliographies of historical and literary sources.

Beyond Greek

Author: Denis Feeney
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674496043
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Book Description
A History Today Best Book of the Year A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Horace, and other authors of ancient Rome are so firmly established in the Western canon today that the birth of Latin literature seems inevitable. Yet, Denis Feeney boldly argues, the beginnings of Latin literature were anything but inevitable. The cultural flourishing that in time produced the Aeneid, the Metamorphoses, and other Latin classics was one of the strangest events in history. “Feeney is to be congratulated on his willingness to put Roman literary history in a big comparative context...It is a powerful testimony to the importance of Denis Feeney’s work that the old chestnuts of classical literary history—how the Romans got themselves Hellenized, and whether those jack-booted thugs felt anxiously belated or smugly domineering in their appropriation of Greek culture for their own purposes—feel fresh and urgent again.” —Emily Wilson, Times Literary Supplement “[Feeney’s] bold theme and vigorous writing render Beyond Greek of interest to anyone intrigued by the history and literature of the classical world.” —The Economist

Imagined Romes

Author: C. David Benson
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271083956
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
This volume explores the conflicting representations of ancient Rome—one of the most important European cities in the medieval imagination—in late Middle English poetry. Once the capital of a great pagan empire whose ruined monuments still inspired awe in the Middle Ages, Rome, the seat of the pope, became a site of Christian pilgrimage owing to the fame of its early martyrs, whose relics sanctified the city and whose help was sought by pilgrims to their shrines. C. David Benson analyzes the variety of ways that Rome and its citizens, both pre-Christian and Christian, are presented in a range of Middle English poems, from lesser-known, anonymous works to the poetry of Gower, Chaucer, Langland, and Lydgate. Benson discusses how these poets conceive of ancient Rome and its citizens—especially the women of Rome—as well as why this matters to their works. An insightful and innovative study, Imagined Romes addresses a crucial lacuna in the scholarship of Rome in the medieval imaginary and provides fresh perspectives on the work of four of the most prominent Middle English poets.

The Roman Conquest of Italy

Author: Jean-Michel David
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
The book opens with a description of the peoples of Italy at around the end of the fourth century B.C. It describes the early success of Roman diplomacy and force in creating client populations among the Etruscans, the Latins and the Hellenized populations of the south. At the beginning of the period the Italian peoples sought to preserve their independence and ethnic traditions. By its end those who had not achieved Roman citizenship were demanding it.

A Guide to Neo-Latin Literature

Author: Victoria Moul
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131684904X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 877

Book Description
Latin was for many centuries the common literary language of Europe, and Latin literature of immense range, stylistic power and social and political significance was produced throughout Europe and beyond from the time of Petrarch (c.1400) well into the eighteenth century. This is the first available work devoted specifically to the enormous wealth and variety of neo-Latin literature, and offers both essential background to the understanding of this material and sixteen chapters by leading scholars which are devoted to individual forms. Each contributor relates a wide range of fascinating but now little-known texts to the handful of more familiar Latin works of the period, such as Thomas More's Utopia, Milton's Latin poetry and the works of Petrarch and Erasmus. All Latin is translated throughout the volume.

War with Hannibal

Author: Brian Beyer
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030015206X
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 123

Book Description
This edition of Book III of Eutropius's Breviarium ab urbe condita is designed to be a student's first encounter with authentic, unabridged Latin prose. Written in a simple and direct style, the Breviarium covers the period of Roman history that students find the most interesting--the Second Punic War fought against Carthage--and the original Latin text is supplemented with considerable learning support. Full annotations on every page, detailed commentary on grammar and syntax, and a glossary designed specifically for the text allow students to build both their confidence and their reading skills. The commentary in the back of the book is cross-referenced to the following commonly used textbooks: • Wheelock's Latin, 6th Edition • Latin: An Intensive Course by Moreland and Fleischer • Ecce Romani II, 3rd Edition• Latin for Americans, Level 2 • Jenney's Second Year Latin • Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar Macrons have been added to the entire text in accordance with the vowel quantities used in the Oxford Latin Dictionary. Additional resources include an unannotated version of the text for classroom use, supplementary passages in English from other ancient authors, and appendixes with a timeline of events and maps and battle plans. The text may be used in secondary schools and colleges as early as the first year of study. The copious translation help, notes, and cross-references also make it ideal for independent learners.

The Fate of Rome

Author: Kyle Harper
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400888913
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Book Description
How devastating viruses, pandemics, and other natural catastrophes swept through the far-flung Roman Empire and helped to bring down one of the mightiest civilizations of the ancient world Here is the monumental retelling of one of the most consequential chapters of human history: the fall of the Roman Empire. The Fate of Rome is the first book to examine the catastrophic role that climate change and infectious diseases played in the collapse of Rome’s power—a story of nature’s triumph over human ambition. Interweaving a grand historical narrative with cutting-edge climate science and genetic discoveries, Kyle Harper traces how the fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians but also by volcanic eruptions, solar cycles, climate instability, and devastating viruses and bacteria. He takes readers from Rome’s pinnacle in the second century, when the empire seemed an invincible superpower, to its unraveling by the seventh century, when Rome was politically fragmented and materially depleted. Harper describes how the Romans were resilient in the face of enormous environmental stress, until the besieged empire could no longer withstand the combined challenges of a “little ice age” and recurrent outbreaks of bubonic plague. A poignant reflection on humanity’s intimate relationship with the environment, The Fate of Rome provides a sweeping account of how one of history’s greatest civilizations encountered and endured, yet ultimately succumbed to the cumulative burden of nature’s violence. The example of Rome is a timely reminder that climate change and germ evolution have shaped the world we inhabit—in ways that are surprising and profound.

Texts and Contexts

Author: Kenneth Quinn
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040105327
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Book Description
First published in 1979, Texts and Contexts identifies those classics of Roman literature which deserve to survive because of their intrinsic quality and their lasting significance. The most important of these texts are placed in the context of the tradition which each represents and which each group of texts, taken together, constitutes. Four main streams of tradition are identified: the poet as storyteller (narrative poetry and drama), the poet as teacher (didactic poetry), the poet as himself (personal poetry and the poetry of social comment), and Roman literary prose. Each major text is presented in the form of one or more passages of substantial length for analysis in detail and comparison with related works. The translations used include leading literary translations since the sixteenth century. The result is a history of Roman literature in which the emphasis is laid on the quality of the text discussed rather than on comprehensiveness of treatment, and on organic relationships rather than chronology. This book is the result of thirty years of teaching experience by the author and his conviction that existing books on the same subject are inadequate and misleading. It will be of particular interest to students taking classical literature and translation courses, to students of English literature and anyone who is interested in literature, even without a knowledge of Latin.