A Loeb Classical Library Reader

Fantastic little collection of works from across antiquity. You get a really interesting selection. The book itself is a good quality print, with minimal errors.

This is a handy little book that you can slip into your pocket or bag and dip into as the fancy takes you; or read from cover to cover, as I did while commuting from South East London to Newbury. That’s a difficult commute at the best of times, but for a few days at least this Loeb Classical Reader made it a lot more bearable than usual. It’s a small book but it’s a real treasure chest of great Classical literature. One of its most attractive features is that although most of the authors you’d expect to find in a book like this are there, the selections are often unusual, i.e. they’re not the run of the mill anthologised selections that would make you groan “Not that again!” For example, the Cicero is not from one of the speeches or letters but from one of his philosophical works. Similarly, the Ovid is not from his erotic poems but from the Heroides. There are some less well known writers here as well, such as Manilius and Josephus. What you get here is a fascinating mix of tragedy, comedy, history, gossip, philosophy, militaristic propaganda and sublime poetry. I must admit that I struggled with the Greek, despite trying to teach myself the lingo over the last five years, so the facing translations were more than helpful. I found the Latin easier and managed to read most of the passages without having to refer to the translation. Whether you read Greek or Latin, both or neither, I would recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone who wants to learn something about classical literature as the translations are generally very readable while being close to the original. Great stuff all round!

When it comes to 'the Classics', I admit to being a keen amateur and nothing more. My Greek is mostly self-taught and an on-going struggle. My Latin is pretty much non-existent (I think something in my Celtic ancestry has given me a genetic dislike of the Romans!). Anyway, I love the Loeb series of little books -- all the same size, all the same price -- and I have a few shelves of the Greek editions. I bought this mostly out of curiosity, but I've been carrying it everywhere ever since. When I find myself waiting aound, I take it out and dip into it. It's the same size as the other Loeb books - just a bit thinner than most (200-odd pages) and a paperback. It follows the usual format: The original language is on the left hand pages and the English translation on the right. The contents cover authors from Homer to St Jerome, equally divided between Greek and Latin writers. It's a great little 'taster' that may well encourage you to a deeper exploration of the Loeb library.

I shall not say very much, because I agree with J Scott and other reviewers that this is an excellent little book, and great fun for dabblers in half-remembered Greek and Latin from school. You can look at the English then try to figure out how the classical language matches it, looking for familiar words and learning new ones, and reminding yourself of unfamiliar grammatical constructions. I would like the book to have been longer - maybe about double the length. I found a bad error on page 72. The first page of the extract from the Phaedo contains a whole line of corrupted Greek, possibly caused by a computer typesetting error. The line is next to the E in the margin. Epsilons have turned into alphas with iota subscript, and etas into upsilons with rough breathings.

Very please with purchase. Exactly as described by seller and arrived within the expected time.

great value

a small ,simple but rich latin anthology , easy to keep on, every where in order to keep one's latin good figure.

This is an anthology of relatively short, interesting extracts from books in the Loeb Classical Library, with texts in Greek and Latin and facing, fairly literal translations. It is a small book, easy to slip into the pocket or a travel bag, and a delight to dip into, even if your Greek or Latin is nonexistent (if you have some knowledge of those languages, the original text is a good bonus). Most of the major Greek and Roman authors are represented.

This compact and inexpensive book (practically pocket sized) provides an introduction to the riches available from the Loeb Classical Library of the Harvard University Press. It contains selections from 33 writings of poetry, dialogue, philosophical writing, history, descriptive reporting, satire, and fiction. The works included span twelve centuries, from Homer to Saint Jerome. The texts and translations are reproduced as they appear in Loeb volumes (original text on left, translated text on the right page). Examples of the contents include: Odysseus tricking the Cyclops in order to escape from the giant's cave; Zeus creating the first woman, Pandora, cause of mortals' hardships ever after; the Athenian general Nicias dissuading his countrymen from invading Sicily; Socrates, condemned to die, saying farewell; a description of Herod's fortified palace at Masada; Cicero's thoughts on what we owe our fellow men; Livy's description of the rape of the Sabine women; Manilius on the signs of the zodiac; and Pliny's observation of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. There are currently 518 volumes in the Loeb Classical Library. It was launched in 1911 by James Loeb, a Harvard graduate (concentration in Greek and Latin) who founded the series after his business career was cut short due to health issues. The first 20 volumes appeared in 1912, and when Loeb died in 1933, the Loeb Classical Library (at that time having grown to almost 300 volumes) was bequeathed to Harvard University, with funding to establish the Loeb Classical Library Foundation for the purpose of completing the Loeb Classical Library and supporting continued research into the classics. The Harvard University Press was then chosen to oversee the series, and this has continued to the present day, with typesetting, printing, and binding all now done in the United States. The value of this book is to provide a taste of what the Loeb Classical Library contains, and in so doing whet your appetite for delving further into the riches of the Greek and Latin classics. In my view it does this admirably!

数えれば正確な数字もわかるのだが、それは面倒。 だから、「およそ４０数編の」でご容赦。 ギリシャ、ラテン文学・著名作のさわり集。英文対訳つき。 薄くて軽くて、中身は２０００年以上の「時間の持ち重り」がする。 わたしの、旅の必携本。 活用・曲用なんぞに苦労したトラウマも、機中限定本と考えるなら、無聊を慰めてくれる。 「ハイパー有名」テクストの断片が記憶の片隅に残っていたりして、あんな成績にも拘らずと苦笑しつつ、部分音読を試み挫折したりする。気を取り直して右頁の対訳のみ追う。 戻ったらＬＥＯＢシリーズの「アナバシス」等などを書棚に探そう、と毎度決心するが、帰るといつも些事にかまけて忘れる。 旅のお供・専用とは、そういうことであり、また睡眠薬としても役立つ。 それにしても こうして、もうこの先お近づきななることは決してない、「かつて岡目惚れした」麗しの古典は増えていくのですね。

A good little taster book before investing in the real Loeb books. Having said that, ideally it could have been hard bound like the real thing to give an idea of the beautiful Loeb series, because this is a very cheaply glued paperback.

The Loeb books have always had a very literal translation style. I recommend that anyone who has studied Latin or Ancient Greek keep a Loeb book on their stand. A good way to keep somewhat conversant with the language. As far as Petronius, there is an excellent excerpt from the Banquet of Trimalchio in which Eumolpus gets up and tells the tale of the "Widow of Ephesus". A classic tale with the punch line (or moral), "Better to hang a dead husband than lose a live lover." If you have never read it , It is certainly worth a read. Many remember that Fitzgerald had the Banquet of Trimalchio in mind when he wrote of the grand party at Gatsby's house. It is said that he had considered naming the book with some version of Trimalchio's feast.

Cons: 1. The binding and weight of the book cover feels like a knock off. 2. Either the font size is one size point down from the original Loeb collection or it simply lacks the original's boldface. Either way, it is difficult to read clearly. Pros: 1. The content is well selected. 2. A short index is provided. 3. Margin for note taking is generous but probably because of formatting error (see Cons #2). If the person in charge of printing this reader would improve con #2 I would recommend the book. Otherwise it is a disappointment considering it bears the name of Loeb.