1989
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In this commented anthology of Latin prose, Michael von Albrecht selects texts from a span of Roman literature covering four centuries. A summary of the contents will indicate its range and M. Porcius Cato (the preface to De agricultura, a passage from the speech for the Rhodians of 167 B.C., and a section from the Origines ); republican oratory (C. Gracchus, from De legibus promulgatis of 122 B.C. and Cicero from In Verrem II ); Caesar as orator and historian; two passages of Sallust; a comparison of Claudius Quadrigarius and Livy as historiographers; philosophical texts from Cicero and the Younger Seneca; and chapters on Petronius, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Apuleius. The method of the book is practical, based on actual interpretation of specific texts rather than on literary theory (ancient or modern). Each text (printed first in Latin and then in English) is followed by a detailed and flexible discussion, somewhere between essay and commentary. No set pattern is imposed - rather the nature of the text governs the shape of its analysis - but Professor von Albrecht's vivid scholarly exposition covers most dimensions of the art of Latin prose-writing. The book's variety of texts and close treatment of specific Latin passages make it an ideal coursebook for the study of Latin prose. But behind its accessibility lies scholarship of the highest Professor von Albrecht's exemplary erudition reveals itself in the extensive annotation underpinning his main text; and researchers in any of the fields covered by Latin prose-writers - philosophy, politics, history, letters, practical handbooks, entertainment - will find this book a valuable resource. This book was originally published in German ( Meister römischer Prosa von Cato bis Apuleius, 1971). It has been accurately and sympathetically translated by Neil Adkin.
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Author
Michael von Albrecht
Author · 1 books
The son of the composer Georg Albrecht first attended the Music Academy in Stuttgart, where he graduated in 1955 after taking the state examination. In Tübingen and Paris, he then studied classical philology and Indology in 1959. In 1964, Albrecht was appointed professor of classical philology at the University of Heidelberg, where he remained until his retirement in 1998. He was also the Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam and a visiting member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1981. Michael von Albrecht's research focuses on ancient music, Roman literature and its reception, history, and comparative literature . His two-volume history of Roman literature, which has been translated into eight languages, is as much a standard work as the masters of Roman prose. He also went through translations from the Latin, especially from Virgil and Ovid . In 1998 he received an honorary doctorate from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki . For his translations of Latin, he was awarded with the Johann Heinrich Voss Award for translation excellent, in 2004.
