OF

CLASSICAL LITERATURE,

COMPRISING

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTICES OF THE

PRINCIPAL GREEK AND ROMAN AUTHORS,

WITH ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS FROM THEIR WORKS.

ALSO,

A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE VARIOUS
FORMS OF LITERATURE,

WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MINOR AUTHORS,

BY CHARLES MORRIS.

SECOND EDITION.

CHICAGO:

S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

1881.

COPYRIGHT, 1880,

BY S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

PRESS OF

KNIGHT & LEONARD

011-13-41 LS

Hears a

in. H. Wart
10.6.41

PREFACE.

WHILE, under the new ideas concerning education, much less stress is laid upon the acquirement of the ancient languages, even in a University course, than of old, the mass of students in our high schools and academies have always been unable to become sufficiently versed in these languages to enable them to fluently read the classic authors in the original. Yet all scholars acknowledge that some acquaintance with these authors is essential to any high degree of education, and that the culture which leaves out this important department of knowledge is necessarily one-sided and incomplete. In this dilemma recourse must be had to translations and critical treatises, which, fortunately, have reached a stage of perfection that obviates in great measure the necessity for the study of the original tongues. But the versions referred to occupy a considerable number of volumes, and are not adapted to school purposes, for which there is needed a treatise sufficiently concise to be included in one volume of moderate dimensions, while comprehensive enough to yield a glimpse of the whole field of ancient literature.

In recognition of this necessity, and of the fact that there is no work extant giving a general view of the whole subject, with criticisms of and illustrative extracts from all the more important authors, this volume has been prepared. It was written at the request of the Principals of some of our chief educational institutions, who have been greatly retarded in their literature classes by the need of such a work; and is offered to the school world, and to the general reading public as well, with the hope that it may, to some useful extent, supply the deficiency.

While giving special attention to the most celebrated authors, an effort has been made to include a general view of all minor authors of any renown; and, by aid of chapters describing the

rise and progress of the various forms of literature, with a close grouping of all writers on similar subjects, to give a continuity and cohesion to the whole work impossible in any strictly chronological mode of treatment. The pronouncing vocabulary of authors' names will also, it is hoped, prove a desirable feature, and save both teacher and scholar the sometimes difficult task of seeking elsewhere the correct pronunciation.

If this work succeeds in giving a just, though necessarily very concise idea of the history, genius and style of the various Greek and Roman authors, and thus saves, in many instances, the necessity of a much more extensive course of study, the author's purpose will be gained; while, if an extended course is desired, this manual may prove of utility as a handbook to the broad realm of the Classics.

2223 SPRING GARDEN STREET, PhiladelPHIA:

August 1880.

CHARLES MORRIS.

ALPHABETICAL AND PRONOUNCING LIST OF AUTHORS.

* Two vowels connected with this sign quickly as though they formed a single vowel.