This is a series of short polemical books on specific topics of current interest in the study of the Classical world. In "Leisured Resistance", Michael Dewar examines the varied ways in which cultured Roman aristocrats, of very different periods, used their country estates as retreats in which to compose literature and to escape from politics, while others adapted that same tradition of otium ('cultured leisure') to present radical and competing visions of society and literature alike. The first three chapters concentrate on material in both prose and verse from the time of Cicero to the last centuries of the Roman Empire in the west. A fourth chapter shows the adaptation of this tradition to the greatly changed world of the barbarian-ruled kingdoms that replaced direct Roman rule in Gaul in the 5th and 6th centuries, and a brief epilogue examines the use made of the classical tradition of villa-poetry by panegyrical poets in Rome in the early 16th century.

This textbook introduces the perturbation molecular orbital (PMO) th, eory of organic chemistry. Organic chemistry encompasses the largest body offactual information of any of the major divisions of science. The sheer bulk of the subject matter makes many demands on any theory that attempts to systematize it. Time has shown that the PMO method meets these demands admirably. The PMO method can provide practicing chemists with both a pictorial description of bonding and qualitative theoretical results that are well founded in more sophisticated treatments. The only requirements for use of the theory are high school algebra and a pencil and paper. The treatment described in this book is by no means new. Indeed, it was developed as a complete theory of organic chemistry more than twenty years ago. Although it was demonstrably superior to resonance theory and no more complicated to use, it escaped notice for two very simple reasons. First, the original papers describing it were very condensed, perhaps even obscure, and contained few if any examples. Second, for various reasons, no general account appeared in book form until 1969, * and this was still relatively inaccessible, being in the form of a monograph where molecular orbital (MO) theory was treated mainly at a much more sophisticated level. The generality of the PMO method is illustrated by the fact that all the new developments over the last two decades can be accommodated in i

This textbook introduces the perturbation molecular orbital (PMO) th, eory of organic chemistry. Organic chemistry encompasses the largest body of factual information of any of the major divisions of science. The sheer bulk of the subject matter makes many demands on any theory that attempts to systematize it. Time has shown that the PMO method meets these demands admirably. The PMO method can provide practicing chemists with both a pictorial description of bonding and qualitative theoretical results that are well founded in more sophisticated treatments. The only requirements for use of the theory are high school algebra and a pencil and paper. The treatment described in this book is by no means new. Indeed, it was developed as a complete theory of organic chemistry more than twenty years ago. Although it was demonstrably superior to resonance theory and no more complicated to use, it escaped notice for two very simple reasons. First, the original papers describing it were very condensed, perhaps even obscure, and contained few if any examples. Second, for various reasons, no general account appeared in book form until 1969, * and this was still relatively inaccessible, being in the form of a monograph where molecular orbital (MO) theory was treated mainly at a much more sophisticated level. The generality of the PMO method is illustrated by the fact that all the new developments over the last two decades can be accommodated in i

Claudian is often called the last poet of the classical tradition. This is the first ever English edition of his last extant work, with a full introduction, newly edited text, facing English translation, and commentary. It shows Claudian at the height of his considerable powers. A superb example of the literature of late antiquity, it records in exquisite and glittering verse the splendour of the western imperial court; but it is also a unique historical witness to the events and attitudes of the last years of the Roman empire. The poem celebrates the defeat of Alaric the Visigoth's first invasion of Italy (AD 402), and, ironically, predicts that he will never trouble the Romans again. Only a few years later (in 410), Alaric went on to capture Rome itself - the first capture of the city by a foreign army in eight centuries - shaking the ancient world's perception of Rome's imperial destiny to the foundations. This book provides a detailed analysis not only of the historical background but above all of Claudian's language, style, imagery, and impressive use of a wide range of other Greek and Latin sources.

BLWith Latin text and English translation The epic poem the Thebaid was composed by Statius about AD 80 to 92 in twelve books. The subject is the expedition of the Seven against Thebes in support of the attempt by Oedipus' son Polyneices to recover the throne from his brother Eteocles. Book IX is set in the midst of the fighting before the eventual death of the two brothers. In this new edition of Book IX Dr Dewar accompanies the Latin text with apparatus criticus, a translation, and an extensive introduction and commentary. The introduction contains sections on Statius' life and works, a summary of the epic, its themes and characters, and poetry, the textual tradition, and Statius' influence on later European literature. The commentary, the first on the ninth book to be published in Britain this century, is written in the light of recent scholarship. It examines in close detail Statius' style and language, use of models (especially Homer, Hellenistic Greek poetry, Virgil, Lucan, and Seneca), and literary intentions. It is Dr Dewar's hope that this edition will help to explain the poem's great popularity in the Middle Ages, and even restore something of its lost prestige.

This authored monograph presents the use of dynamic spatiotemporal modeling tools for the identification of complex underlying processes in conflict, such as diffusion, relocation, heterogeneous escalation, and volatility. The authors use ideas from statistics, signal processing, and ecology, and provide a predictive framework which is able to assimilate data and give confidence estimates on the predictions. The book also demonstrates the methods on the WikiLeaks Afghan War Diary, the results showing that this approach allows deeper insights into conflict dynamics and allows a strikingly statistically accurate forward prediction of armed opposition group activity in 2010, based solely on data from preceding years. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and practitioners in the involved fields but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

Leisured Resistance examines the varied ways in which cultured Roman aristocrats, of very different periods, used their country estates as a political and literary tool. While for some the villas were retreats in which to compose literature and to escape from politics, others adapted this same tradition of cultured otium (or deliberate retirement from everyday politics) to present radical and competing visions of society and literature alike. Examining in-depth sources from both prose and verse from the time of Cicero to the last centuries of the Roman Empire in the west, the title demonstrates how the traditional image of the Roman aristocrat on his country estate was politically and socially very flexible: allowing authors, as times and circumstances changed, to present themselves or their patrons and friends as being in retreat from politics, or alternatively, as providing a focus for political opposition through the deliberate embracing of cultural values and schools of philosophy that offered resistance to prevailing political orthodoxy. The title ends by exploring how this tradition was adapted in the greatly changed world of the barbarian-ruled kingdoms that replaced direct Roman rule in Gaul in the fifth and sixth centuries.