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may justly claim for it what Tacitus has said of his own age: Non omnia apud priores meliora sed nostra quoque aetas multa laudis et artium imitanda posteris tulit; and I have always felt that the introduction of the works of later authors in suitable selections cannot but infuse fresh life into classical studies, and widen the literary horizon of both pupil and teacher.

The present collection is the outcome of this longcherished conviction. As readers, I have had particularly in mind the students of the higher classes in colleges, but these selections will also be found most useful as collateral reading for lectures on post - Augustan literature in universities; they will furnish suitable material for sightreading; and, finally, they may possibly be welcomed by many a classical scholar whose lack of leisure or opportunity has hitherto prevented him from acquiring an adequate acquaintance with the literary masterpieces of the period in which they were written.

animo est.

The selections themselves, while naturally not including everything that is best, will, I am confident, be found to contain nothing that is not eminently worthy of perusal; for, if I be permitted to alter slightly the words of Quintilian, pauca (sunt enim eminentissima) excerpere in Facile est autem studiosis quae sunt his simillima iudicare: ne quisquam queratur omissa forte quae ipse valde probet. Mere brief lumina ingenii et artis' have however, with one or two exceptions, been rigidly excluded, the selections being in every case made sufficiently extensive to give a continuous and coherent story which at the same time exhibits the author at his best.

The text follows the best modern editions, but I have availed myself of the opportunity to consult the latest critical contributions of importance, so far as they were accessible to me. The deviations from the standard texts

have been briefly recorded in a Critical Appendix, but their detailed justification must be reserved for some future occasion.

In view of the unfortunate confusion in matters of orthography and punctuation with which I found myself confronted, I have ventured to follow one consistent plan throughout, although I am well aware that the works of the authors selected, covering as they do a period of four centuries, do not exhibit any such uniformity themselves. I have written the unassimilated forms for instance, df, dr, dp, ds, dt, nl, nm, nr, bm, and the accusative plural in is, wherever permissible, but have retained mp throughout, for reasons which it is not possible to give here.

The brief introductions to each author aim at nothing more than immediate orientation. For detailed information the reader should consult the current hand-books of Roman literature. I have, however, drawn attention to exhaustive modern commentaries, or monographs, where such exist.

In conclusion, I desire to thank Professor E. P. Morris, of Yale, and Professor M. H. Morgan, of Harvard, for their trouble in reading the proofs of the following pages, and for many suggestions which they have kindly communicated to me.

PHILADELPHIA, June 20, 1898.

ALFRED GUDEMAN.

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I., 16-18, The Golden Age of Greek and Roman Litera

27-40

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II., 67, 70-2, 87-89, The Last Days of the Republic
II., 106-108, 130 f., Panegyric of Tiberius.

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CVRTIVS RvFvs

43-57

Bk. VI., 2, 15-21, 3, 1-18, Alexander's Speech to his Mu

tinous Soldiers.

Bk. VII., 8, 1-30, The Speech of the Scythians.
Bk. VIII., 1, 20-52, 2, 1-12, The Murder of Clito

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Bk.

X., 5, The Death of Alexander

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Bk. XXXV., 1-19, 21-28, 51-74, 79-97, 101-104. History

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Bk. II., 2. The Character and Duties of the Teacher
Bk. II., 3, On Selection of the Teacher.

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