Tom's Learning Notes

Amphitryon (Latin: Amphitruo) is a Latin comedy by Plautus, probably written in the early second century BCE. It his only play on a mythological theme, centring on the god Jupiter's seduction of Alcmena, the virtuous wife of Amphitryon, Merury's attempts to conceal the liaison, and the resulting birth of Hercules. Later adaptations inspired by the plot include versions by Dryden and Molière.

Amphitryon at online book stores
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Free online texts
English translations
Internet Archive: The Comedies of Plautus, Vol. II, translated by Henry Thomas Riley. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Perseus: Amphitruo, translated by Henry Thomas Riley. HTML and XML formats.
Latin texts
Latin Library: Amphitruo. HTML format.
Perseus: Amphitruo. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Amphitruo. HTML and other formats.

The Rope (Latin: Rudens) is a Latin comedy by Plautus, written in the late third century BCE. Set in Cyrene in North Africa, it is one of the best regarded of his surviving plays.

The story centres on the girl Palaestra, who is in thrall to the pimp Labrax, until their shipwreck off the coast initiates a sequence of events which will reveal her true identity.

The Rope at online book stores
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Free online texts
Bilingual editions
Internet Archive: Plautus - The Little Cathaginian, Pseudolus, The Rope, translated by Paul Nixon. Loeb edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
English translations
Gutenberg: Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi, translated by Paul Nixon. EPUB, HTML, MOBI, TXT and other formats.
Internet Archive: The Comedies of Plautus, Vol. II, translated by Henry Thomas Riley. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Latin texts
Latin Library: Rudens. HTML format.
Perseus: Rudens. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Rudens. HTML and other formats.

The Braggart Soldier (Latin: Miles Gloriosus) is a Latin comedy by Plautus. Based on a lost Greek original, it was probably written towards the end of the third century BCE.

It set in Ephesus, where a young Athenian, Pleusicles seeks to rescue his kidnapped lover Philocomasium from the attentions of Pyrgopolynices, the braggart soldier of the title, with the help of his cunning slave, Palaestrio, and Acroteleutium, a prostitute posing as his wife.

The play established the archetype for one of literature's most widely recognised stock characters. Later examples of the miles gloriosus include Shakespeare's Old Pistol and Il Capitano of the Commedia dell'arte.

The Braggart Soldier at online book stores
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Free online texts
English translations
Internet Archive: The Comedies of Plautus, Vol I, translated by Henry Thomas Riley. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Perseus: Miles Gloriosus, translated by Henry Thomas Riley. HTML and XML formats.

Latin texts
Latin Library: Miles Gloriosus. HTML format.
Perseus: Miles Gloriosus. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Miles Gloriosus. HTML and other formats.

Pseudolus is a Latin comedy by Plautus, originally produced in 191 BC. The title character is a slave whose master's son is in love with a girl who is to be sold to a Macedonian soldier.

The play was probably based on an unknown Greek model, and its characters feature many stock types from the New Comedy.

Pseudolus at online book stores
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Free online texts
Bilingual editions
Internet Archive: Plautus - The Little Cathaginian, Pseudolus, The Rope, translated by Paul Nixon. Loeb edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
English translations
Internet Archive: The Comedies of Plautus, Vol I, translated by Henry Thomas Riley. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Latin texts
Latin Library: Pseudolus. HTML format.
Perseus: Pseudolus. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Pseudolus. HTML and other formats.

The Epistles (Latin: Epistulae) of Horace are two volumes of poems of which the first was probably published in 20 or 19 BCE. They are written in the form of letters, and critics have long debated whether this is simply a literary device, or reflects some genuine correspondence. In Epistle 1, Horace claims to have abandoned lyric poetry for philosophy, and a strong element of epicureanism pervades the work, informing many memorable sayings.

Horace's Art of Poetry, originally the third volume of the epistles, is now usually treated as a separate work.

The Epistles at online book stores
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Free online texts
Bilingual texts
Loebulus: L194 - Horace - Satires. Epistles. Ars Poetica. Public domain Loeb edition. PDF format.
English translations
Gutenberg: The Satires, Epistles & Art of Poetry of Horace, translated by John Conington. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Poetry in Translation: The Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, translated by A.S. Kline (2003-05). Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Works of Horace, translated into English Prose by C. Smart. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: The Satires, Epistles & Art of Poetry of Horace, translated by John Conington. HTML and other formats.
Latin texts
Gutenberg: The Works of Horace. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats. 
Wikisource: Epistulae (Horatius). HTML and other formats.

The Satires (Latin: Sermones) of Horace, are a series of poems written in the 30s BCE, collected in two books. They were Horace's first published work, and by the time the second volume appeared, he had been introduced by his friend Virgil into the literary circle around Augustus' advisor Maecenas.

Roman satire was an original Latin genre with no direct Greek precedent, and Horace's work represents the oldest fully extant example.

The Satires at online book stores
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Free online texts
Bilingual texts
Loebulus: L194 - Horace - Satires. Epistles. Ars Poetica. Public domain Loeb edition. PDF format.
English translations
Gutenberg: The Satires, Epistles & Art of Poetry of Horace, translated by John Conington. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: The Satires of Horace in Rhythmic Prose, translated by R. M. Millington. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Perseus: The Works of Horace, translated into English Prose by C. Smart. HTML and XML formats.
Poetry in Translation: The Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, translated by A.S. Kline (2003-05). Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Works of Horace, translated into English Prose by C. Smart. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: The Satires, Epistles & Art of Poetry of Horace, translated by John Conington. HTML and other formats.
Latin texts
Bibliotheca Augustana: Sermonum Libri II. HTML format.
Gutenberg: The Works of Horace. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Intratext: Sermones. HTML format.
Latin Library: Sermones. HTML format.
Perseus: Satyrarum Libri. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Sermones. HTML and other formats.

The Eclogues (Latin: Eclogae or Bucolica)  are a collection of ten pastoral poems by the Roman poet Virgil. Though modelled on the Greek Idylls of Theocritus, they are innovative in their use of the form for social commentary, contrasting the Arcadian ideal with the troubled society of late republican Rome.

Some of the rural conflicts portrayed may reflect Virgil's own possible eviction from his farm during the Civil Wars. Eclogue 4, which prophesied the birth of a child who would initiate a new era, may have been intended in praise of Octavian. During the Middle Ages, it was widely interpreted in Christian terms.

The Eclogues at online book stores
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Free online texts
Bilingual editions
Loebulus. L063N - Virgil -- Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid, Books 1-6. PDF of public domain Loeb edition in Latin and English.
English translations
Gutenberg: The Bucolics and Eclogues. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: The Eclogues of Virgil, translated by Samuel Palmer. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Poetry in Translation: The Eclogues, translated by A.S. Kline (2001). Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Eclogues of Virgil, translated by J.B. Greenough. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: Eclogues (Virgil). Multiple translations. HTML and other formats.
Latin texts
Gutenberg: The Bucolics and Eclogues. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats. 
Wikisource: Eclogae vel Bucolica. HTML and other formats.

Troilus and Criseyde is a Middle English epic poem composed by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late fourteenth century.

It belongs to the medieval literature known as the Matter of Rome, which embroidered on the classical myths. While Troilus, the son of Priam was known to the ancients primarily for his murder by Achilles, medieval traditions of courtly romance endowed him with a lover, who became Criseida in Boccaccio, the most immediate inspiration for Chaucer's own version of the tale.

Troilus and Criseyde at online book stores
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Free online texts
Gutenberg: Troilus and Criseyde. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats. 
Internet Archive: Troilus and Criseyde. 1888 edtion. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Online Medieval and Classical Library: Troilus and Criseyde. HTML format
Wikisource: Troilus and Criseyde. HTML and other formats.

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel, published posthumously in 1818.

The book's heroine, Anne Elliott is the daugher of a baronet in reduced circumstances, who rents his house to a relative of Anne's former fiancé. The eventual renewal of the engagement is the central example of the titular theme which unites many of the novel's subplots.

Persuasion at online book stores
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Free online texts
Gutenberg: Persuasion.  EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. 1892 Athenaeum edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Standard Ebooks: Persuasion. AZW3, EPUB, KEPUB and Advanced EPUB formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): Persuasion. EPUB, HTML and MOBI format.
Wikisource: Persuasion. HTML and other formats.

Mansfield Park is an 1814 novel by Jane Austen, the third published during her lifetime.

It's protagonist is Fanny Price, sent at ten years old to live with her aunt at Mansfield Park, where she is a literal poor relation among the fashionable younger set. She ultimately asserts herself by rejecting an unsuitable proposal, and marrying Edmund Bertram, the younger son of the master of the estate, who is destined to be a clergyman.

A number of themes have contributed to Mansfield Park's reputation as perhaps Austen's most controversial novel. Her portrait of Fanny has divided critics, though it is significant as an early treatment of the inner life of a young girl. Edmund's attachment to his religous vocation is often seen as reflecting Austen's critique of the French Revolution, and the role of the Bertrams in the Caribbean slave trade has sparked debate about Austen's own enigmatic views on the subject.

Mansfield Park at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US) | bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
Gutenberg: Mansfield Park. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: Mansfield Park. 1892 Athenaeum edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): Mansfield Park. EPUB, HTML and MOBI format.
Wikisource: Mansfield Park. HTML and other formats.