Latin: Poetry, Prose and Reflection

This recording is done in the original Latin, in the form of a dramatic reading: in each eclogue, every character is read by a different Librivox volunteer. Two eclogues are included twice - giving you a "Choice of Voice" !

His steps and measures always appear clear and logical, but this simplicity is the result of a strict discipline in style. Caesar really chooses his words, and the list of standard words that he never or rarely uses, is astonishing. E.g. for "river" he only uses flumen and never fluvius or amnis. He avoids porro (furthermore), which would be no decided beginning of a sentence, and in his writings never occurs the word clades (the defeat), although this would normally be demanded by the context.

It is remarkable, that still today in all the lands of his conquest the word for "peace" is derived from latin pax (even basque "bake"). This peace is no friendship between equals, which is the idea behind the German word "Friede". Pax Romana implies subordination, and this concept was promoted by Caesar, first abroad and then at home. (Summary by Marilianus)

That said, his letters provided a format for philosophical discourse that long remained valid for Western Europe. His musings always sprang from concrete situations: the games in the Coliseum, the noise from a public bath below his apartment. Montaigne admired the style of his Latin, which he called "nerveux": taut and full of energy. (Summary by Malone)

For Cato had a strong political and social agenda, based on the rejection of foreign, i.e., Greek, influences and the fostering of traditional Roman values, for which the persona of the plain rustic speaker may have proved useful. (Summary by malone)

Thomas Jefferson imagined his gentleman farmer tilling his fields with a copy of the Georgics between the handles of the plowshare. (Summary by Malone)

Its original title was "Confessions in Thirteen Books", and it was composed to be read out loud with each book being a complete unit. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Consolation of Philosophy was written during Boethius' one year imprisonment while awaiting trial, and eventual horrific execution, for the crime of treason by Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power in Rome and was brought down by treachery. It was from this experience he was inspired to write a philosophical book from prison reflecting on how a lord's favor could change so quickly and why friends would turn against him. It has been described as “by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen.”

The Consolation of Philosophy stands, by its note of fatalism and its affinities with the Christian doctrine of humility, midway between the heathen philosophy of Seneca the Younger and the later Christian philosophy of consolation represented by Thomas Aquinas.

The book is heavily influenced by Plato and his dialogues (as was Boethius himself). - Summary by Wikipedia

During the 1500 years of its existence, it has become the leading guide in Western Christianity for monastic living in community. The spirit of St Benedict's Rule is summed up in the motto of the Benedictine Confederation: pax ("peace") and the traditional ora et labora ("pray and work"). (Introduction from Wikipedia)

The book gives counsel to read the scriptures, statements about the uses of adversity, advice for submission to authority, warnings against temptation and how to resist it, reflections about death and the judgment, meditations upon the oblation of Christ, and admonitions to flee the vanities of the world. - (Summary drawn from Wikipedia)