A fascinating and almost fantastic chapter in the history of Virgil's reception concerns the 'Thirteenth Book of the Aeneid' written at Pavia in 1428 by Maphaeus Vegius, then a mere lad of twenty-two. For a century and a half after the invention of printing, this book was invariably placed alongside the Aeneid as though an integral part of it, but much more rarely thereafter and now it is seldom available in print. In it the Rutulians surrender to Aeneas; Latinus returns Turnus' body to his father, who performs the burial with due ceremony; Aeneas marries Lavinia and founds a city named...

Of all the philosophical and rhetorical treatises of Cicero, his three books "On the Orator" (de Oratore) represent perhaps the most polished and appealing. Here is Rome's consummate orator and composer of forensic and political speeches, at the height of his powers, giving the considered results of his personal experience - not the dry theorising and bickering of different schools of declamation - in a way which continually keeps in view the practical needs of one who wishes to play the part of a true Roman citizen in the contests of the popular assemblies and the law-courts.

Demosthenes was punched in the face by Meidias in the theatre at Athens in 348 BC. His prosecution - a masterpiece of Greek oratorical prose - is one of the most intriguing forensic speeches to survive. It not only details Demosthenes' personal feud with Meidias but, in passing, gives valuable information about Athenian law and festivals, and especially about the Greek concept of hubris (insolent behaviour). This edition, originally published in 1990, represents the latest scholarship on the text, collating a larger number of MSS than hitherto. It includes a very full introduction on...