Michael Marullus (c. 1453/4-1500), born in Greece, began life as a mercenary soldier but became a prominent Neo-Latin poet and scholar who worked in Florence and Naples. He married the beautiful and learned Alessandra Scala, daughter of the humanist Bartolomeo Scala, chancellor of Florence, and his Epigrams bring alive the circle of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de'Medici. Among Marullus' influences were ancient Greek texts such as the Homeric and Orphic hymns, the Corpus Hermeticum, the hymns of Proclus, Cleanthes, and Callimachus, and Julian the Apostate's Hymn to the Sun. Marullus was particularly important, however, as one of the first Renaissance poets to imitate the works of Lucretius, and one witness reported that, after his death by drowning, a copy of the Roman poet's works was found in his saddlebag. Later poets imitated him in vernacular love poetry, especially Ronsard; he even appears as a shadowy figure in the pages of George Eliot's Romola, where he is depicted as a confirmed pagan. This edition contains Marullus' complete Latin poetry. All of these works appear in English translation for the first time.

Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494) was one of the great scholar-poets of the Renaissance and a leading figure in the circle of Lorenzo de'Medici "il Magnifico" in Florence. His "Silvae" are poetical introductions to his courses in literature at the University of Florence, written in Latin hexameters. They not only contain some of the finest Latin poetry of the Renaissance, but also afford unique insight into the poetical credo of a brilliant scholar as he considers the works of his Greek and Latin predecessors as well as of his contemporaries writing in Italian.

Erasmus’ thorough engagement with the New Testament, in particular his revision of the Vulgate translation, aroused much controversy, especially in the orthodox Roman Catholic country of Spain. Erasmus had to fight fierce polemics with several people, including two Spanish scholars, Diego López Zúñiga and Sancho Carranza de Miranda, who were both connected to the University of Alcalà. This quarrel lasted from 1520 to 1524, with a late response by Erasmus in 1529. The discussion started as a philological one, regarding "correct" Latin, but turned into a dogmatic-theological fight over the issues of whether the New Testament speaks of Christ as God, whether one can apply the term servus (servant) to Christ, and whether the sacramental character of matrimony can be deduced from Ephesians 5:32. The six texts in this volume are here translated and annotated for the first time. With elucidating notes and an introduction, the volume offers wonderful insight into a fierce and fundamental polemic over the New Testament

"From meetings and conversation with men, love affairs arise. In the midst of pleasures, banquets, dances, laughter, and self-indulgence, Venus and her son Cupid reign supreme. . . . Poor young girl, if you emerge from these encounters a captive prey! How much better it would have been to remain at home or to have broken a leg of the body rather than of the mind!" So wrote the sixteenth-century Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives in a famous work dedicated to Henry VIII's daughter, Princess Mary, but intended for a wider audience interested in the education of women.
Praised by Erasmus and Thomas More, Vives advocated education for all women, regardless of social class and ability. From childhood through adolescence to marriage and widowhood, this manual offers practical advice as well as philosophical meditation and was recognized soon after publication in 1524 as the most authoritative pronouncement on the universal education of women. Arguing that women were intellectually equal if not superior to men, Vives stressed intellectual companionship in marriage over procreation, and moved beyond the private sphere to show how women's progress was essential for the good of society and state.