English - Latin parallel text edition.
Jordanes was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life.
While he also wrote Romana about the history of Rome, his best-known work is his Getica, written in Constantinople about AD 551. It is the only extant classical work dealing with the early history of the Goths.
Jordanes was asked by a friend to write this book as a summary of a now lost multi-volume history of the Goths by the statesman Cassiodorus. He was selected for his known interest in history, his ability to write succinctly, and because of his own Gothic background. He had been a high-level notarius, or secretary, of a small client state on the Roman frontier in Moesia, modern northern Bulgaria.
Other writers, e.g. Procopius, wrote works still extant on the later history of the Goths. As the only surviving work on Gothic origins, the Getica has been the object of much critical review. Jordanes wrote in Late Latin rather than the classical Ciceronian Latin. According to his own introduction, he only had three days to review what Cassiodorus had written, meaning that he must also have relied on his own knowledge. Some of his statements are laconic.
This is a bilingual edition featuring the original Latin text paralel to an English translation. It is ideal for learners of Latin or anyone wishing to gain greater insight into the original text.
Along with De Bello Gallico this book must rank as one of the most important military writings of antiquity. It contains the story of how the Roman Republic was torn apart and plunged into a bloody civil war that would mean the end of democracy for well-nigh 2000 years. It also contains the story of Caesar's infamous affair with Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, and what effect this had on Roman politics.
Caesar's War in Gaul is one of the great classics of military and historical literature. It gives great insight into Roman and Gaulish military matters, politics and the culture of Gaul. The expeditions to Britain also afford a fascinating glimpse into pre-historic society on that island.
This parallel text is ideal for practising Latin and gaining a deeper understanding of the text.
Parallel English - Latin text.
This bilingual edition features the original Latin text parallel with an excellent English translation by Alfred R. Allinson who not only translated the text but also filled in missing parts of the fragmented original thus enabling the reader to understand what the original novel must have been like.
The surviving portions of the Latin text detail the misadventures of the narrator, Encolpius, and his lover, a handsome sixteen-year-old boy named Giton. Throughout the novel, Encolpius has a hard time keeping his lover faithful to him as he is constantly being enticed away by others. Encolpius's friend Ascyltus (who seems to have previously been in a relationship with Encolpius) is another major character. It is extremely important evidence for the reconstruction of what everyday life must have been like for the lower classes during the early Roman Empire.
Envocation to Priapus
The Priapea are a collection of epigrams written about the ancient god Priapus. A lot of them a blatantly sexual in nature and not suitable for anyone offended by sexual language.
This edition contains the Latin original as well as an English translation along with several glossaries.
Parallel Text Edition Latin - English
De Monarchia is a treatise on secular and religious power. With this Latin text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial subjects of his period: the relationship between secular authority (represented by the Holy Roman Emperor) and religious authority (represented by the Pope).
It is made up of three books, but the most significant is the third, in which Dante most explicitly confronts the subject of relations between the Pope and the emperor. Dante firstly condemns the theocratic conception of the power elaborated by the Roman Church and solemnly confirmed by the papal bull Unam sanctam of 1302. The theocratic conception assigned all power to the Pope, making his authority superior to that of the emperor: this meant that the Pope could also legitimately intervene in the matters usually in the sphere of secular authority.
Against this theocratic conception, Dante expressed his need for another strong Holy Roman Emperor and proposed the idea that man essentially pursues two ends: the happiness of earthly life and that of eternal life. Dante argues that to the Pope is assigned the management of men's eternal life, but to the emperor is assigned the task of leading men towards earthly happiness. From this he derives the autonomy of the temporal sphere, under the emperor, from the spiritual sphere, under the Pope - the pontiff's authority should not influence that of the emperor in their competing tasks.
The Germania is an ethnographic work on the diverse set of people Tacitus believed to be Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. Ethnography already had a long and distinguished heritage in classical literature, and the Germania fits squarely within the tradition established by authors from Herodotus to Julius Caesar. The book begins with a description of the lands, laws, and customs of the tribes. Later chapters focus on descriptions of individual tribes, beginning with those dwelling closest to Roman lands and ending on the uttermost shores of the Baltic Sea, with a description of the Fenni and the unknown tribes beyond them.
The Agricola recounts the life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent Roman general and Tacitus' father-in-law; it also covers, briefly, the geography and ethnography of ancient Britain. As in the Germania, Tacitus favorably contrasts the liberty of the native Britons with the corruption and tyranny of the Empire; the book also contains eloquent and vicious polemics against the rapacity and greed of Rome, in one of which Tacitus says is from a speech by Calgacus and ends with 'Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant'. (To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.)
Frontinus also wrote a theoretical treatise on military science, which is lost. His extant work on military matters, the Stratagems (Strategemata), is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, for the use of generals. He draws on his own experience as a general in Germany under Domitian, but similarities between the anecdotes he records and versions of other Roman authors like Valerius Maximus and Livy suggest that he drew mainly on literary sources. The authenticity of the fourth book has been challenged.
Parallel Text Latin - English
In this masterpiece of literature Sallust relates the story of Catiline, a Roman noble who has decided to use conspiracy and war to achieve his aims. A blatant and selfish grab for power that heralded the coming end of the republic, the Bellum Catilinae shows the dissensions and fractures in Roman society and how easy these could be exploited to install a dictatorship.
Cicero managed to save the republic with the aid of a few spirited men, yet without any serious reforms in the aftermath of the conspiracy history was bound to repeat itself with a very different ending. A young Julius Caesar was witness to the events that had a lasting effect on him.
With numerous notes and annotations.
