Loeb classical library

De architectura, or On Architecture in English (published as Ten Books on Architecture) is a treatise on architecture written around 15 BC by the Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio as a guide for building projects.

An detailed examination of what the best life might be for human beings. In order to anwer this question, Aristotle finds he also has to examine what virtue itself is and all of the various virtues that might make up the best life.

Nearly all the works Aristotle (384-322 BCE) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.

The odes of Pindar (518-438 B.C.), the most renowned of the ancient Greek poets, were choral songs extolling victories at the Games at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Corinth, that covered the specturm of Greek mythological and moral belief.

The Roman historian's account of the conquests of Alexander the Great is one of the primary sources of our knowledge of the Macedonian conquest and its leader.

History of the Wars by the Byzantine historian Procopius (late fifth century to after 558 CE) consists largely of sixth century CE military history, with much information about peoples, places, and special events. Powerful description complements careful narration. Procopius is just to the empire's enemies and boldly criticises emperor Justinian.

The earliest treatise on classical rhetoric c 86-82 BC

Varro (M. Terentius), 116-27 BC, of Reate, renowned for his vast learning, was an antiquarian, historian, philologist, student of science, agriculturist, and poet. He was a republican who was reconciled to Julius Caesar and was marked out by him to supervise an intended national library. Of Varro's seventy works involving hundreds of volumes we have only his treatise On Agriculture and part of his monumental achievement De Liingua Latina, On the Latin Language, a work typical of its author's interest not only in antiquarian matters but also in the collection of scientific facts. Originally it consisted of twenty-five books in three parts: etymology of Latin words (books 1-7); their inflexions and other changes (books 8-13); and syntax (books 14-25). Of the work survive (somewhat imperfectly) books 5 to 10. These are from the section (books 4-6) which applied etymology to words of time and place and to poetic expressions; the section (books 7-9) on analogy as it occurs in word formation; and the section (books 10-12) which applied analogy to word derivation. Varro's work contains much that is of very great value to the study of the Latin language. -- Jacket.

Enquiry into Plants and De Causis Plantarum by Theophrastus (c. 370-c. 285 BCE) are a counterpart to Aristotle's zoological work and the most important botanical work of antiquity now extant. In the latter Theophrastus turns to plant physiology.

Aelian's Historical Miscellany is a pleasurable example of light reading for Romans of the early third century. Offering engaging anecdotes about historical figures, retellings of legendary events, and descriptive pieces - in sum: amusement, information, and variety - Aelian's collection of nuggets and narratives could be enjoyed by a wide reading public. A rather similar book had been published in Latin in the previous century by Aulus Gellius; Aelian is a late, perhaps the last, representative of what had been a very popular genre. Here then are anecdotes about the famous Greek philosophers, poets, historians, and playwrights; myths instructively retold; moralizing tales about heroes and rulers, athletes and wise men; reports about styles in dress, foods and drink, lovers, gift-giving practices, entertainments, religious beliefs and death customs; and comments on Greek painting. Some of the information is not preserved in any other source. Underlying it all are Aelian's Stoic ideals as well as this Roman's great admiration for the culture of the Greeks (whose language he borrowed for his writings).

In History of Animals Aristotle analyzes "differences" -- in parts, activities, modes of life, and character -- across the animal kingdom, in preparation for establishing their causes, which are the concern of his other zoological works. Over 500 species of animals are considered: shellfish, insects, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals -- including human beings. In books I-IV Aristotle gives a comparative survey of internal and external body parts, including tissues and fluids and of sense faculties and voice. Books V-VI study reproductive methods, breeding habits, and embryogenesis as well as some secondary sex differences. In Books VII-IX, Aristotle examines differences among animals in feeding; in habitat, hibernation, migration; in enmities and sociability; in disposition (including differences related to gender) and intelligence. Here too he describes the human reproductive system, conception, pregnancy, and obstetrics. Book X establishes the female's contribution to generation. The Loeb edition of History of Animals is in three volumes. A full index to all ten books is included in Volume Three. D.M. Balme was, at the time of his death, Professor Emeritus of Classics, Queen Mary College, London; his edition of Books VII-X has been prepared for publication by Allan Gotthelf. Aristotle's biological corpus includes not only History of Animals, but also Parts of Animals, Movement of Animals, Progression of Animals, Generation of Animals, and significant parts of On the Soul and Parva Naturalia. Aristotle's general methodology -- "first we must grasp the differences, then try to discover the causes" (HA 1.6) -- is applied to the study of plants by his younger co-worker and heir to his school, Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants studies differences across the plant kingdom, while De Causis Plantarum studies their causes. In the later ancient world, both Pliny's Natural History and Aelian's On the Characteristics of Animals draw significantly on Aristotle's biological work. The only work by a classical author at all comparable to Aristotle's treatises on animals is Xenophon's On Horses (included in Volume VII of the Loeb edition of Xenophon). -- Jacket.

"Cicero had an affectionate relationship with his only brother, Quintus, down to the closing years of their lives. The letters from Cicero to him in this collection offer an intimate look at their world. Cicero's close friendship with the intensely intellectual Brutus was signalized by Cicero's dedication of his prized Orator to Brutus. The correspondence between the two collected here dates from the spring and summer of 43, and it conveys some of the drama of the period following the assassination of Julius Caesar."--BOOK JACKET.

Latin/English texts.

Quintilian, born in Spain about 35 CE, became a renowned and successful teacher of rhetoric in Rome. In The Orator's Education (Institutio Oratoria), a comprehensive training program in twelve books, he draws on his own rich experience. It provides not only insights on oratory, but also a picture of Roman education and social attitudes.

If the work of Hippocrates be taken as representing the foundation upon which the edifice of historical Greek medicine was reared, then the work of GALEN, who lived some six hundred years later, may be looked upon as the summit of the same edifice. He was born in Pergamum A.D. 129, and both there and in other academic centres of the Aegean pursued his medical studies before being appointed physicial to the Pergamene gladiators in 157. Becoming dissatisfied with this type of practice he emigrated to Rome, where he soon won acknowledgement as the foremost medical authority of his time and where, with one brief interruption, he remained until his death in 199. His writings were so numerous and his reputation so influential that he was obliged to furnish his disciples with two handbooks, still extant, On the order of my writings and On my genuine works. Though the standard edition (by C.G. Kühn, 1821-33) runs to twenty-two volumes, On the Natural Faculties is still the only medical treatise of his available in English. Galen's merit is to have crystallised or brought to focus all the best work of the Greek medical schools which had preceded his own time. It is essentially in the form of Galenism that Greek medicine was transmitted to after ages. -- JACKET.

Nearly all the works Aristotle (384-322 BCE) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.