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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.

CHICAGO:

S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT, 1880,

BY S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

PRESS OF

KNIGHT & LEONARD

DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY, BINDERS.

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

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