This volume contains the Latin text of the fourth book of Manilius, first published in 1920 and then reissued in a second edition in 1937.

The Latin text of the fifth and final book of Manilius, first published in 1930 and then reissued in a second edition in 1937.

Essays by distinguished scholars on the relationship between Latin authors and their audiences.

The idea of heaven held a special place in the late antique imagination, which was marked by a poignant sense of the relevance of otherworldly realities for earthly life. Such concerns can be found not only in Judaism and Christianity but also in the Greco-Roman religious, philosophical, scientific, and 'magical' traditions. Transcending social, regional and creedal boundaries, the preocupation with heaven in Late Antiquity serves as a focus for an interdisciplinary approach to understanding this formative era in Western culture and history. Drawing upon the expertise of scholars of Classics, Ancient History, Jewish Studies and Patristics, this volume explores the different functions of heavenly imagery in different texts and traditions in order to map the patterns of unity and diversity within the religious landscape of Late Antiquity.

The volume provides a full literary and textual commentary on three of the verse epistles (Heroides) by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC. – AD. 17): the letter of Canace to her brother-lover Macareus; of Laodamia to the war-hero Protesilaus; and of Hypermestra to Lynceus, the cousin whose life she recently spared. These three poems, together with the letters of Medea (recently the subject of a commentary in the same series) and Sappho, formed the last of Ovid’s three books of heroine letters. The introduction discusses Ovid’s innovative use both of his sources and of the epistolary form. A text with selective apparatus is provided for each of the three poems, and the detailed commentary is fully indexed.

This study examines the literary complexities of the poetry which Ovid wrote in Tomis, his place of exile on the coast of the Black Sea after he was banished from Rome by the emperor Augustus in A.D. 8 because of the alleged salaciousness of the Ars Amatoria and a mysterious misdemeanour which is nowhere explained. Exile transforms Ovid into a melancholic poet of despair who claims that his creative faculties are in terminal decline. But recent research has exposed the ironic disjunction between many of the poet's claims and the latent artistry which belies them. Through a series of close readings which offer a new analytical contribution to the scholarly evaluation of the exile poetry, Dr Williams examines the nature and the extent of Ovidian irony in Tomis and demonstrates the complex literary designs which are consistently disguised under a veil of dissimulation. Gareth Williams aims to counteract traditional scholarly antipathy to the exile poetry, which could be said to represent the last frontier in modern Ovidian studies. Scholars working in the field will welcome his insights.