This study is designed to make the Meditations more accessible to the modern reader. Rutherford carefully explains the historical and philosophical background, charts the main themes and tendencies of Marcus's thought, and relates stylistic detail to the intellectual and moral outlook of the author. His goal is to define Marcus's aims, attitudes, and styles more precisely and restore his work to the position it held in the past, that of a spiritual classic which can be read and enjoyed by people who are not professional scholars.

The Odyssey, besides being one of the world's first adventure stories, is a poem of great subtlety, rich in irony and sophisticated characterization. The poet's art is amply illustrated by books XIX and XX, in which Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, spends the night in his own palace and lays plans for his awesome revenge. Particularly memorable is the episode in which Penelope converses with her husband without suspecting his identity. In this edition, Richard Rutherford provides not only detailed comment on the action, characterization, and style of the books in question, but also, in an...

This accessible one-volume survey of the literature of Greece and Rome covers the period between Homer around 700 BC and Augustine around AD 410.

• Highlights what is important historically and of continuing interest and value in classical literature.
  
• An introduction by the editor presents essential information in a concise, accessible way.
  
• Each chapter focuses on a particular genre or area of literature.
  
• This structure allows readers to see continuities between different periods and to move easily between the Greek...

Greek tragedy is widely read and performed, but outside the commentary tradition detailed study of the poetic style and language of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides has been relatively neglected. This book seeks to fill that gap by providing an account of the poetics of the tragic genre. The author describes the varied handling of spoken dialogue and of lyric song; major topics such as vocabulary, rhetoric and imagery are considered in detail and illustrated from a broad range of plays. The contribution of the chorus to the dramas is also discussed. Characterisation, irony and generalising...