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Golden Prose in the Age of Augustus

Golden Prose in the Age of Augustus

Paul T. Alessi

University of Texas, San Antonio

2004 • 1-58510-125-7 • paper • 280 pages • 6 x 9 • $19.95

| About the Author | Contents | Preface |

Description

A new anthology containing fresh, accurate and readable translations of the seven great prose writers from the Augustan period. Covering a broad range of prose writing with introduction, maps, chronology, glossary, bibliography and notes. Golden Prose contains a complete set of writings for the period, and all translations are close to the originals, made readable for the modern student, and with notes where appropriate.

As with all Focus Classical Library titles, Alessi's text is designed specifically for the college market, providing students with access to the thought and context at the roots of our culture.

Golden Prose is designed specifically for college courses in Augustan literature, courses in translation in Classical Civilization, or courses in Augustan and Roman history with an emphasis on literature. The book is also an accessible and complete work for the general reader interested in Roman history and thought.

Author

Paul T. Alessi is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He earned his PhD at the University of Missouri. He has published on the poet Propertius, and his research and interests are with Augustan literature, Roman culture and Etruscan archaeology.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Chronology
Maps
Res Gestae
Cicero
    Letters
    Philippic I
Sallust
Cornelius Nepos
Marcus Terentius Varro
    On Agriculture
Vitruvius
    On Architecture
Livy
    The History of Rome
Glossary
Suggested Further Reading

From the Preface

As in the case of my previous volume, Golden Verses, this book is designed for the general reading public and for students and teachers in courses on the literature of the Augustan Age. Although many anthologies exist that include one or two of the prose authors of the Augustan period, I do not know of any collection that concentrates solely on the writers in prose who belong strictly to the age. It is my hope that this volume, as the first, will fill a void and be useful in the classroom and be appealing to the public in its own right.

I have tried to offer translations that are accurate, idiomatic, and readable. They are for the most part literal, but not so literal as to be stilted or dry nor too free to frustrate the reader of Latin. I have felt that it is more important to keep the phraseology and metaphors—where possible—of the ancient author than to soar off into a faddish colloquial style filled with slangy expressions. I believe that readers want to feel as if they are encountering the words of the writer rather than the quirks and idiosyncrasies in phraseology of Alessi. Since it is impossible to reproduce the sounds of the original Latin in the English, in these translations I have striven to capture the tone of the original. I offer complete sections, books, or individual works, believing that a snippet here and there does not provide enough context and the proper “feel” of the author. Notes have been kept to a minimum. For the most significant names, places, and terms the reader is advised to consult the glossary. I hope that the modern reader of this volume can identify with the works and authors here presented and can feel for themselves the passions and emotions evoked by the words.

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