Introduction

Summary

In this Introduction the point is underlined that no prior familiarity with Greek or Latin literature is taken for granted, nor are readers expected to know these languages: everything is translated. In this volume, literary interpretations are suggestive, not prescriptive. There is a brief discussion of the hazards of periodisation in any history of literature and a warning against accepting too readily the teleological view of Latin literature which one finds in ancient sources and, sometimes, in modern accounts. The difficulties inherent in dealing with texts that survive only as fragments – an unavoidable necessity when discussing republican literature – are discussed; fragments are preserved for a range of reasons: sometimes owing to a linguistic oddity, sometimes to a later writer’s literary or political agenda. Consequently, conclusions about fragmentary texts can only be provisional. This Introduction also furnishes guidance on various features of this volume.