Statius is now revered as the greatest poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature, whose epic poem, ‘The Thebaid’, is second only to Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’. Delphi’s Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the treasures of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Latin texts. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete works of Statius for the first time in digital publishing, with beautiful illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Del...

With the exception of a poem on the unscripted death of a lion in the Colosseum, Book II of Statius' Silvae is largely domestic in theme. It reflects the more private side of Roman culture, its pleasures, houses, gardens, friendships, and personal losses; it concludes with a provocative tribute to the poet Lucan. Despite its variety, the book is carefully constructed as a unit, and this edition, which is suitable for use with advanced students, puts the book into its context in the history...

A classical epic of fratricide and war, the Thebaid retells the legendary conflict between the sons of Oedipus—Polynices and Eteocles—for control of the city of Thebes. The Latin poet Statius reworks a familiar story from Greek myth, dramatized long before by Aeschylus in his tragedy Seven against Thebes. Statius chose his subject well: the Rome of his day, ruled by the emperor Domitian, was not too distant from the civil wars that had threatened the survival of the empir...

The Achilleid is the third and unfinished work by the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius. In its introduction, it promises to present the life of the hero Achilles from his youth as a pupil under the centaur Chiron to his death at Troy. The author died however before writing most of the poem, leaving only one and a half books completed. The part that remains though holds interest for being unusual, bringing an account of the hero's early life and an episode in which his mother, Thetis, di...

The Roman historian Velleius Paterculus lived during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, serving as a military tribune and later as a cavalry officer and legatus in Germany and Pannonia. Written in a highly rhetorical style, his ‘Compendium of Roman History’ is a summary of Roman history from the mythical fall of Troy to AD 29. As Paterculus approaches his own times, he becomes much fuller in his treatment of history, especially dealing with the years between the death of Julius Caesar in...

The Roman historian Eutropius flourished in the fourth century AD and is the author of ‘Breviarium historiae Romanae’, a compendium of ten books of Roman history, from the foundation of the city to the accession of Valens. It has come down to us complete and was compiled with considerable care and written with impartiality in a succinct style. It is particularly useful to historians for its account of the First Punic War, as Livy’s books spanning that period have not survived. Delphi’s Anc...

A rhetorician of the late second century, Athenaeus wrote ‘The Deipnosophistae’ (‘Dinner-Table Philosophers’), a fifteen-book encyclopaedia of information on the ancient world, preserving otherwise lost treasures from many important writers. The text is structured as a dialogue in the vein of Plato, offering an amusing account of a Greek symposium. ‘The Deipnosophistae’ details the many different cuisines and entertainments of ancient banquets, held together by the intellectual tal...

The thirteenth century Italian Dominican friar, Thomas Aquinas was a philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism. His two masterpieces, the Summa Theologiae and Summa contra Gentiles, helped develop the classical systematisation of Latin theology, while as a poet he produced some of the finest eucharistic hymns in the church’s liturgy. The foremost classical proponent of natural theology, Thomas had an immense influence on Western thought, as much of modern philoso...

A historian of the first century BC, Dionysius of Halicarnassus taught rhetoric in Rome while studying the Latin language, collecting material for his magnum opus, ‘Roman Antiquities’. Dionysius states that his objects in writing history were to please lovers of noble deeds and to repay the benefits he had enjoyed while living in Rome, though he wrote also to reconcile Greeks to Roman rule. Delphi’s Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, w...

A Greek Stoic philosopher of the first and second century, Epictetus settled permanently in Nicopolis in Epirus, where he founded his own school, which he called a ‘healing place for sick souls.’ There he taught a practical philosophy, which has been recorded by his principal student Arrian, the famous author of the historical work ‘Anabasis of Alexander’. The ‘Discourses’ present Epictetus’ Stoic ethics as broad and firm in method, and occasionally humorous and melancholic in spir...

Norse sagas concern tales of ancient Nordic and Germanic history, detailing early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during these voyages, exotic adventures in foreign lands and the migration to Iceland. These prose sagas were written in the Old Norse language, sharing similarities with epic poetry, telling of heroic deeds of days long gone. The tales offer an endless panorama of pagan chieftains, Viking warriors, historic saints, noble bishops and ordinary men and women, ...

Pindar, the greatest of the Greek lyric poets, is renowned for his consummate and intricate verses, composed in celebration of victors at the Panhellenic festivals of the ancient world. The Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Latin and Greek texts. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete extant works of Pindar, with beautiful illustrations, rare fragments, informative introductions and the ...