The Classical Roman Reader: New Encounters With Ancient Rome

Presents historical accounts, speeches, plays, instructional texts, and poetry from ancient Rome

Most libraries ought to stock an anthology of Roman literature, and Atchity's reader ably fills the bill. Excerpts by well-known authors are here--Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Juvenal--but so too are nonartistic authors who exemplify Rome's characteristic emphasis on the practical over the abstract. Cato the Elder instructs on running a farm; Vitruvius explains how to design classical buildings in his still-influential textbook; a cook lists recipes; and a doctor teaches about gynecology. The items about literature and living are arranged in chronological order, as are Atchity's selection of works of politics and history. Sensing a need to excite newcomers to the subject, he chooses such interesting extent pieces as Caesar's account of conquering Gaul, Augustus' bragging of his accomplishments, and the histories by Sallust, Tacitus, and Suetonius. For those uninitiated to Rome's written legacy but eager to meet it, this varied set of readings makes a memorable match. Gilbert Taylor