'A systematic study of all the Satires, this book includes] for each Satire an exposition of argument and structure illustrated by pieces of either idiomatic translation of paraphrase, a description ofhistorical and social background, and comments on the quality of the poem ... this happy blend of historical scholarship and literary criticism is aimed at a wide audience.' Michael Coffey, Classical Review

This volume presents a selection from Pope's celebrated translation of Homer's Iliad, edited and arranged so as to concentrate on the central core of the story and thus to be readable as a continuous narrative. Also included is a section of the best of Pope's notes to his own translation;these illuminate his principles as a translator and transmit his intelligent and penetrating assessments of the Iliad's poetic qualities. It will enable students of English literature to sample a neglected poem written by Pope at the height of his powers, once thought to contain some of his finest writing...

As fewer and fewer people learn to read ancient Greek, there is a need for a critical study of the most influential translations that have been made from the major works of ancient Greek literature. Mason's monograph offers exactly that for readers of the Iliad and the Odyssey. More particularly, he presents a persuasive argument for reading Alexander Pope's translation, his accompanying notes, and his Essay on Criticism. These merit careful study, for they illuminate Pope's principles as a translator and constitute one of the most intelligent and penetrating commentaries on the poetic...

In the wake of Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey," poets of the seventh and sixth centuries BC composed epics which covered other parts of the Trojan War story or different areas of Greek mythology. Quotations from them and other testimonies as to their content survive in later authors and the evidence thus assembled allows us to reconstruct something of the poems' contents. Collectively these poems came to be known by Hellenistic scholars in Alexandria as 'The Epic Cycle'. With their often grotesque and fantastic tales, the cyclic poems were an important source for later writers of epic. Yet...

"The Satyricon" of Petronius and the "Metamorphoses" (or "The Golden Ass") of Apuleius are the only novels written at Rome before AD 200 to have survived. The genre is the comic romance, the literature of relaxation in the ancient world. This study defines the genre and sets it in the context of other forms of fiction of the period. It shows that both Petronius and Apuleius introduced important innovations into the traditional comic romance. A critical study of "The Satyricon" is included, with a separate chapter on Trimalchio's feast, a central comic episode of the book. "The Golden Ass"...

The remains of classical literature contain a good deal of scattered literary theory, however difficult it may be to divine a consistent view among the conflicting interests of scholars, moralists and teachers of rhetoric. This book attempts to analyze the main themes against their historical background. It discusses ancient beliefs and theories relating to inspiration, the poet's message, imitation, the rhetorical approach to literature, classification of literary genres and the ancient sense of literary history. Aristotle, the Alexandrians, Longinus, Horace and other ancient critics have...

This volume, published in 1968, was the first critical study of Persius in English. This new edition offers a close reading within the framework of criticism which led classics in the 1960s. Cynthia Dessen emphasizes the distinction between persona and poet and argues that Persius's satires, far from being "difficult" are unified and comprehensible through their controlling metaphors, their dominant imagery and word-repetition.

Historian, soldier, huntsman, economist, farmer, philosopher and author, Xenophon is one of the most versatile yet most accessible of the classical Greeks. Born at the start of the Peloponnesian War in Athens, he joined the outer circle of Socrates' young admirers and wrote affectionately of his mentor in a manner which contrasts strongly with that of Plato. In his "Hellenika" he composed a history of his own times beginning at the point where Thucydides broke off and taking the story down to 403 BC. In 401 he joined the Greek mercenary force abetting Cyrus' ill-fated coup against king...

Propertius' four books of love-elegies (c. 32-12 BC) were produced during the heyday of Augustan literature. His poetry has been noted by modern critics for its striking forms of expression, sometimes tortured syntax, sudden transitions and abstruse allusiveness. Much of this "difficulty," Hubbard argues, may stem as much from the many impenetrable corruptions in our surviving, comparatively late manuscripts as from Propertius himself. For ancient critics, in contrast with the modern, read him as polished, elegant and amusing. This book presents a Propertius along these latter lines. The...

The Piraeus was one of the largest and most impressive ancient ports in the Mediterranean. During the fifth century BC it was laid out on a grid pattern by the urban planner Hippodamos and linked by the Long Walls with the city of Athens, some 8km away. It served as headquarters for the Athenian navy during the time of Athens' Aegean empire. Its emporion or commercial sector handled the bulk of Athenian imports, especially the grain on which the Athenians were wholly dependent. In conventional histories the story of the Piraeus is mostly hidden amidst material centred almost exclusively on...