As far as possible I have acknowledged my indebtedness to the Editors whose editions of the classics have been consulted. For the historical explanations I am under special obligation to the histories of Ihne and Mommsen, to the ‘Life of Cicero’ by the Master of Balliol, and to the ‘Life of Caesar’ by Mr. Warde Fowler. I have also to thank Messrs. Macmillan for allowing me to quote from Dr. Potts’ ‘Aids to Latin Prose,’ and from Professor Postgate’s Sermo Latinus. For the prose passages the best texts have been consulted, while for Livy, Weissenborn’s text edited by Müller (1906) has been followed throughout. As regards the verse passages, the text adopted is, wherever possible, that of Professor Postgate’s recension of the Corpus Poetarum Latinorum. For the Short Lives I have found useful ‘The Student’s Companion to Latin Authors’ (Middleton and Mills), but I owe much more to the works of Teuffel, Cruttwell, Sellar, Tyrrell, and Mackail.
The Head Master of Eton, besides expressing his approval of the book, has kindly offered to write an Introductory Note. He has also given me an exceptional opportunity of testing more than half the historical passages by allowing them to be used in proof, until the book was ready, for the [weekly unseen translation] in the three blocks of fifth form, represented by the letters, B, C, D. The criticisms and suggestions made by Classical Masters at Eton, who have used the passages week by week, have been very valuable, and, in particular, my thanks are due to Mr. Impey, Mr. Tatham, Mr. Macnaghten, Mr. Wells, and Mr. Ramsay. My thanks are also due to the Lower Master, Mr. F. H. Rawlins, for kindly reading the MS. of the Introduction, Demonstrations, and Appendices I.-IV., and for giving me the benefit of his wide experience.
To my brother-in-law, Mr. A. M. Goodhart, I owe it that I undertook to write the book; without his advice it would never have seen the light, and he has given me most valuable help and encouragement at every stage.
As regards the choice of type and style of printing, I owe a special debt of thanks to Mr. W. Hacklett (manager of Messrs. Spottiswoode’s Eton branch), whose unceasing care and attention has been invaluable in seeing the book through the press. I must also acknowledge the patience and skill of Messrs. Spottiswoode’s London staff in carrying out the many alterations which I have found to be inseparable from the task of bringing each passage and its notes into the compass of a single page.
In conclusion I should like to say that it has been my aim throughout to adhere to what is best in Roman literature, and to omit passages the choice of which can only be justified by regarding their literary form apart from their moral value. Latin literature contains so much that is at once excellent in style and noble in thought that it seems a grave mistake to exalt the one at the expense of the other.
Maxima debetur puero reverentia.
EDMUND LUCE.
Windsor: April 1908.
[1.] The late Professor Goodhart.