The Loeb Classical Library series Fragmentary Republican Latin continues with three highly influential pioneers in the creation and development of Latin poetry. Livius Andronicus (born ca. 292 BC) was regarded by the Romans as the founder of Latin literature, introducing tragedy and comedy, adapting Homer's Odyssey into Saturnian verse, and composing a nationally important hymn for Juno. A meeting place for writers and actors was established in the temple of Minerva on the Aventine in recognition of his poetic achievements. Naevius (born ca. 280-260), though most famous for his comedies, also wrote tragedy and epic. He innovated by incorporating Roman material into his Greek models and writing on Roman subjects independently. The inventor of the fabula praetexta, drama on a Roman theme, he also introduced new topics to Roman tragedy, especially those relating to Troy, and his Punic War, the first epic on a Roman historical subject, was a longtime school text and a favorite of Augustus. Caecilius (born probably in the 220s), a friend of the older Ennius, excelled at comedy, of which he was Rome's leading exponent during his career, and was so considered by posterity. Caecilius continued the Naevian practice of inserting Roman allusions into his works and was admired by later critics particularly for his substantive and well-constructed plots, and for his ability to arouse emotion. The texts are based on the most recent and reliable editions of the source authors and have been revised, freshly translated, and amply annotated in light of current scholarship.

Latin poets and prose writers of the classical period and later used - and withheld - names subtly and to important effect. Here, in eleven new essays, an eminent international cast explore themes which include 'speaking' names, often involving bilingual Latin/Greek play; the ways in which persons and objects are named in contexts of invective or endearment; the significant suppression or changing of names; the religious and historical significances of names; the uses of names in literary catalogues; names as devices to structure a group of shorter poems.

'Delia, when flames engulf my bier you'll weep for me, and then you'll mix your kisses with sad tears.' Tibullus (?55-18 BC) was one of a group of poets known as the Latin elegists, whose number included Ovid and Propertius. Living in the age of Augustus, his poems reflect Augustan ideals, but they are above all notable for their emphasis on the personal, and for their subject-matter, love. Tibullus' elegies are addressed to two different mistresses, Delia and Nemesis, and a boy, Marathus. His pious and idealistic love for Delia is replaced by a more tortured affair with the cruel Nemesis, and the poet's elegies to Marathus give a broader perspective to his treatment of the subject. Anguish and betrayal characterize Tibullus' depiction of love's changing fortunes, in poetry that is passionate, vivid, and sometimes haunting. In this parallel text edition, A. M. Juster's eloquent translations are accompanied by an introduction and notes from Robert Maltby which discuss Tibullus' work in its literary and historical context. Together they demonstrate the achievements of this fine Roman poet. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Terence's Phormio , based on a Greek original by Apollodorus of Carystus, was produced towards the end of his short dramatic career in 161 BC. With its lively action, based on the traditional elements of love, deception and mistaken identity, the play provides an ideal introduction to the genre of New Comedy. What makes the Phormio unique amongst Terence's works is the central importance of the witty and scheming parasite who gives his name to the play and directs and controls its action throughout, even when absent from the stage. The use of the 'double' plot with its two young men in love and two contrasting fathers provides ample scope for depth and variety of characterisation. The aim of the present edition is to bring out to the full Terence's skill in plot development and character portrayal which was to make the Phormio one of his most entertaining plays. Latin text with facing-page translation, introduction and commentary.

This book presents the first commentary on the whole of [Tibullus] 3 in English. It consists of a text, translation, introduction and commentary. The text rests on the author's autopsy of the most important manuscripts of [Tibullus]. The prose translation is as literal as possible, in order to bring out clearly the meaning of the Latin. The detailed line-by-line commentary serves to clarify the language and literary associations of the poems and to back up the theory that the whole work was composed by a single unitary author. It argues that what were previously thought of as separate sections of the book, composed by different authors at different times, were in fact the product of a single anonymous poet impersonating, or adopting the mask of, different characters in each section: Lygdamus (poems 1-6), a young Tibullus (7), a commentator on Sulpicia's affair with Cerinthus (8-12), Sulpicia (13-18) and Tibullus (19-20). The close connections and associations between these different sections and their use of the same Augustan intertexts are shown to favour a unitary interpretation of the work. The main literary inspiration for the work, this volume argues, comes from the elegists of the Augustan period, but its date of composition could have been late in the first century AD, linking it with the other pseudepigraphical writings of this century such as the Virgilian and Ovidian Appendices.