Literary Criticism : Ancient & Classical

Latin epics such as Virgil’s Aeneid, Lucan’s Civil War, and Statius’s Thebaid addressed Roman aristocrats whose dealings in gifts, favors, and payments defined their conceptions of social order. In The Commerce of War, Neil Coffee argues that these exchanges play a central yet overlooked role in epic depictions of Roman society. 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 Aeneid, customary gift and favor exchanges are undermined by characters who view human interaction as short-term and commodity-driven. The Civil War takes the next logical step, illuminating how Romans cope once commercial greed has supplanted traditional values. Concluding with the Thebaid, 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. more...

Price: $50.00

Reflects the directions and interpretations that have arisen in the field of classical historiography in the past few decades. This work features articles by scholars who communicate the results of research, and demonstrates the diversity of approaches towards the past in studies of the ancient world. more...

Price: $250.00

Pliny's letters provide a fascinating insight into Roman life in the period 97 to 112 AD. They document politics, social life, religion, the educational system, the treatment of slaves and include a vivid description of the eruption of Vesuvius. This is a lively and sympathetic new translation. - ;'Gaius Pliny sends greetings to his friend Septicius Clarus...'. In these letters to his friends and relations, Pliny provides a fascinating insight into Roman life in the period 97 to 112 AD. Part autobiography, part social history, they document the career and interests of a senator and leading imperial official whose friends include the historians Tacitus and Suetonius. Pliny's letters cover a wide range of topics, from the contemporary political scene to domestic affairs, the educational system, the rituals and conduct of Roman religion, the treatment. of slaves, and the phenomena of nature. He describes in vivid detail the eruption of Vesuvius which killed his uncle, and the daily routines of a well-to-do Roman in the courts, and at leisure, enjoying rural pursuits at his country estates. In the introduction to his lively and sympathetic new translation, P.G. Walsh examines the background to these often intimate and enthralling letters. - more...

Price: $8.95

This volume accompanies the new Oxford edition of Plato's Republic. It contains textual discussions of a large number of passages, in which problems of every kind are treated. more...

Price: $142.00

A translation, with detailed commentary, of Book 10 of Curtius Rufus' Histories, a major Roman source on the end of the reign of Alexander the Great. The Introduction establishes a profile of Curtius, and his agenda as a historian. Both translation and commentary are designed for the reader without Latin. - ;This book presents a translation, with commentary, of a major Roman source on the end of the reign of Alexander the Great. Book 10 of Curtius' Histories covers the reign of terror and mutiny that followed upon Alexander's return from India; and offers the fullest account of the power struggle that began in Babylon immediately after his death. The Introduction establishes a profile of Curtius Rufus (quite probably a Roman Senator of the first century AD), and his agenda as. a historian. John Yardley's translation and the commentary are designed for the reader without Latin. The Commentary provides detailed analysis of the historical events of the crucial period 325-3 BC covered by Curtius, and also tries to get behind the surface level of meaning to show how Curtius intended his. history to be a text for his time. Curtius' text is also examined as a literary achievement in its own right. - more...

Price: $55.00