On 9 January 1632, at the inauguration of the Amsterdam Illustrious School - the predecessor of the city's university - Caspar Barlaeus delivered a speech that has continued to arouse the curiosity of researchers and the general public alike: Mercator sapiens. This famous oration on the wise merchant is now considered a key text of the Dutch Golden Age. At the same time it is surrounded by misunderstandings regarding Barlaeus himself, the nascent Illustrious School and Amsterdam's...

Timeless techniques of effective public speaking from ancient Rome's greatest oratorAll of us are faced countless times with the challenge of persuading others, whether we're trying to win a trivial argument with a friend or convince our coworkers about an important decision. Instead of relying on untrained instinct—and often floundering or failing as a result—we’d win more arguments if we learned the timeless art of verbal persuasion, rhetoric. How to Win an A...

Timeless wisdom on growing old gracefully from one of ancient Rome's greatest philosophersWorried that old age will inevitably mean losing your libido, your health, and possibly your marbles too? Well, Cicero has some good news for you. In How to Grow Old, the great Roman orator and statesman eloquently describes how you can make the second half of life the best part of all—and why you might discover that reading and gardening are actually far more pleasur...

The fourth century soldier Ammianus Marcellinus’ book of Roman history provides a remarkably accurate and impartial record, giving readers a succinct understanding of the fall of the Roman Empire. Delphi’s 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 Ammianus’ complete extant works, with beautiful illustrations, informative introductions and ...

Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest statesman and orator, was elected to the Roman Republic's highest office at a time when his beloved country was threatened by power-hungry politicians, dire economic troubles, foreign turmoil, and political parties that refused to work together. Sound familiar? Cicero's letters, speeches, and other writings are filled with timeless wisdom and practical insight about how to solve these and other problems of leadership and politics. How to Run a Country collect...

Timeless advice about how to use humor to win over any audienceCan jokes win a hostile room, a hopeless argument, or even an election? You bet they can, according to Cicero, and he knew what he was talking about. One of Rome’s greatest politicians, speakers, and lawyers, Cicero was also reputedly one of antiquity’s funniest people. After he was elected commander-in-chief and head of state, his enemies even started calling him “the stand-up Consul.” How to Tell ...

The friend of Cicero, Atticus and Catullus, Cornelius Nepos wrote short popular biographies of Greek and Roman commanders. The lives are composed in a concise, readable style and they are invaluable for their use of reliable sources. Delphi’s Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Latin texts. This comprehensive eBook presents Nepos’ complete extant works, with relevant illustrations, informa...

Originally published in 1957, this classic work has guided generations of scholars through the arcane mysteries of medieval political theology. Throughout history, the notion of two bodies has permitted the postmortem continuity of monarch and monarchy, as epitomized by the statement, “The king is dead. Long live the king.” In The King’s Two Bodies, Ernst Kantorowicz traces the historical dilemma posed by the “King’s two bodies”—the body natural and the body politic—back to the Mi...

As consul in 63 BC Cicero faced a conspiracy to overthrow the Roman state launched by the frustrated consular candidate Lucius Sergius Catilina. Cicero's handling of this crisis would shape foreverafter the way he defined himself and his statesmanship. The four speeches he delivered during the crisis show him at the height of his oratorical powers and political influence. Divided between deliberative speeches given in the senate (1 and 4) and informational speeches delivered before the gen...

The "Magna Carta" is one of the most famous constitutional documents in the world. To the Americans, it has a sacrosanct bearing and it is seen as a major source of inspiration for the US Constitution. To the British, it is a 1215 charter which twenty-five feisty Barons forced on a hated King, and it represents an important milestone in a long series of documents (Charter of Liberties, Charter of the Forest, Habeas Corpus, Petition of Right, the Bill of Right, Act of Settlement...) which t...

From the late fifteenth century onwards, scholars across Europe began to write books about how to read and evaluate histories. These pioneering works grew from complex early modern debates about law, religion and classical scholarship. Anthony Grafton's book is based on his Trevelyan Lectures of 2005, and it proves to be a powerful and imaginative exploration of some central themes in the history of European ideas. Grafton explains why so many of these works were written, why they attained...

In "The Treatise of Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine," Valla employs incisive philological scrutiny to dismantle the legitimacy of one of the most significant documents in medieval Christendom. Written in the 15th century, the treatise exemplifies Valla's Renaissance humanism, characterized by an eloquent prose style that marries literary flair with rigorous analytical rigor. Through meticulous examination of the text's language and historical context, Valla reveals the donatio...