Tom's Learning Notes

Candide (French: Candide, ou l'optimisme) is a 1759 satirical novella by Voltaire. It's eponymous hero is a young man who lives a sheltered existence on his uncle's estate under the tutelage of Doctor Pangloss, a philosopher who subscribes to Leibniz's dictum that 'all is for the best, in the best of all possible worlds.'

When Candide is forced out into the wider world, he is confronted with a series of episodes which illustrate the bankruptcy of this optimistic worldview, most famously the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

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

Free online texts
English translations
Gutenberg: Candide, EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: Candide, or All for the Best, translated by Walter Jerrold (1898). EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Standard Ebooks: Candide. AZW3, EPUB, KEPUB and Advanced EPUB formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): Candide, translated by William F. Fleming. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: Candide, translated by Tobias Smollett. HTML and other formats.
French texts
Gutenberg: Candide, ou, l'optimisme. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Wikisource: Candide, multiple editions. HTML and other formats.

Other Resources
BBC Radio 4 In Our Time: Voltaire's Candide. Melvyn Bragg with David Wootton, Nicholas Cronk, Caroline Warman.
Librivox: Candide (multiple versions). Free public domain audiobooks.
Wikipedia: Voltaire - Candide

Further reading
Bloom's Western Canon: Candide is listed.
Leibniz: The Monadology and The Theodicy.
Swift: Gulliver's Travels - a satirical influence whose author Voltaire had met.
Voltaire: Philosophical Letters - discusses the execution of Admiral Byng, an event later worked into the plot of Candide.
French Language resources 

The Philosophical Letters or Letters on the English (French: Lettres philosophiques) is a 1733 work by Voltaire, revised  in 1778, composed as a series of letters reflecting on his sojourn in England from 1726 to 1728.

Voltaire's thoughts on English literature include a number of leading writers of the day who he met while in London, such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. His account of English political and religious institutions, Newtonian science, and the empiricism of Bacon and Locke, quickly became a formative influence on continental liberalism.

Letters on England at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US)| bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
English translations
Gutenberg: Letters on England. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: French and English Philosophers, Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hobbes (includes Letters on England). Harvard Classics Vol. 34. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Internet History Sourcebooks: Letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques. HTML format.
Liberty Fund: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. XIX (Philosophical Letters). EPUB, HTML, MOBI and PDF formats.
Wikisource: Letters Concerning the English Nation. English translation. HTML and other formats.
French texts
Wikisource: Lettres Philosophiques. HTML and other formats.

The Persian Letters (French: Lettres persanes) is a 1721 epistolary novel by Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesqueieu.

The work contains the correspondence of Usbek and Rica two fictional Turkish travellers on a visit to Europe from 1711 onwards, a form which provides a vehicle for much satire of contemporary Western society. The travellers' penetrating observations on the people they encounter contrast with Usbek's disastrous relations with his own harem, to provide a sombre commentary on the difficulty of achieving self-knowledge.

The Persian Letters at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US)| bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts

English translations
Internet Archive: Persian Letters, Vol I | Vol II. Translated by John Davidson.EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Wikisource: Persian Letters, translated by by John Davidson (1899). HTML and other formats.
French texts
Gutenberg: Lettres Persanes - Tome I | Tome II. EPUB, MOBI, HTML and TXT formats.
Wikisource: Lettres Persanes. HTML and other formats.

The Spirit of the Laws (French: De l'esprit des lois) is a 1748 political treatise by Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. Setting out to explain the principles underlying the laws of different nations, Montesquieu was innovative in the breadth of his comparative approach, and in considering natural factors such as climate. This nevertheless sometimes led him to pernicious conclusions, such as his belief that slavery, though wrong, was more tolerable in tropical regions.

Montesquieu's political recommendations were strongly influenced by his experiences in England, although it has often been insisted that he misunderstood English arrangements - generations of British schoolchildren have been taught that he missed the role of the Lord Chancellor as a member of the executive, legislature and judiciary. Nevertheless, his doctrine of the separation of powers was a decisive influence on the constitution of the United States.

The Spirit of the Laws at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US) | bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
English texts
Internet Archive: Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws, Rousseau - On the Origin of Inequality, On Political Economy, The Social Contract. Britannica Great Books of the Western World edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Liberty Fund: The Spirit of the Laws. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and PDF formats.
Wikisource: The Spirit of the Laws, translated by Thomas Nugent (1758). HTML and other formats.
French texts
Gutenberg: Esprit des Lois. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Wikisource: De L'Esprit des Lois. Multiple editions. HTML and other formats.

The Art of Poetry (Latin: Ars Poetica) is a poem by Horace, originally included in the second volume of his Epistles, published in 14 BCE and sometimes known as the Epistle to the Pisos (Latin: Epistula ad Pisones).

It's reflections on poetry are personal and a touch satirical, contrasting with earlier extant literary criticism, such as that of Aristotle. It has nevertheless exercised a huge influence through its richness in maxims and pithy phrases, many of which are still in use as common literary terms.

The Art of Poetry at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US) | bookshop.org (UK)

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.
Gutenberg: The Art of Poetry, translated by George Colman. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive
Perseus: The Art of Poetry, translated by C. Smart. HTML and XML formats.
Poetry in Translation: Ars Poetica, translated by A.S. Kline (2005). Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Works of Horace, translated into English Prose by C. Smart. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Wikisource: Ars Poetica. Multiple translations. HTML and other formats.
Latin texts
Gutenberg: The Works of Horace. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats. 
Latin Library: Ars Poetica. HTML format.
Perseus: De Arte Poetica liber. HTML and XML formats.
Wikisource: Ars Poetica. HTML and other formats.

Other Resources
Librivox: The Ars Poetica and Carmen Saeculare, Dual Latin and English translations. Free public domain audiobook.
Literature and History: Episode 50 - Our Brutal Age. Episode 51 - Horace and Augustan Poetry. Podcast and transcript by Doug Metzger.
Wikipedia: Horace - Ars Poetica (Horace)

Further reading
Horace: Epistles - the larger work of which The Art of Poetry is part.
Homer: The Iliad - while Horace famously acknowledges that there moments when even Homer nods, he nevertheless regards him as the supreme poetic model.
Quintilian: Institutes of Oratory - the first source to treat The Art of Poetry as a separate work.
Latin resources: Learn to read Latin texts in the original.

The Heroides or Epistulae Heroidum (Letters of Heroines) are a collection of Latin elegaic poems by the Roman poet Ovid, written around the end of the first century BCE. Each poem purports to be a letter from a legendary heroine to her lover or husband, a form which Ovid considered as a new literary genre of his own invention.  He drew widely on classical myth for his chosen subjects, as well as including the historical poet Sappho.

The Heroides at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US) | bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
Bilingual texts
Loebulus: L041 - Ovid - Heroides. Amores. Loeb edition. PDF format.
English translations
Internet Archive: The Heroïdes or Epistles of the Heroines, The Amours, Art of Love, Remedy of Love, and Minor Works of Ovid, translated by Henry T. Riley. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Poetry in Translation: The Heroides, translated by A.S. Kline (2001). Multiple formats.
Theoi: Heroides, translated by Grant Showerman. HTML format.
Latin texts
Latin Library: Ovid. HTML format.
Wikisource: Heroides. HTML and other formats.

The Art of Love (Latin: Ars Amatoria) is a Latin didactic poem by Ovid, written about 1 BCE. It's first two books offer advice on seduction for men, while the third is adressed to women.

The work is often supposed to have contributed to Augustus' decision to exile Ovid to the Black Sea in 8 CE.  It has nevertheless remained consistently popular ever since.

The Art of Love at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US) | bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
Bilingual texts
Internet Archive: The Art of Love and Other Poems, translated by Henry John Mozley. Loeb edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
English translations
Gutenberg: Ars Amatoria, or the Art of Love, translated by Henry T. Riley. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Poetry in Translation: The Art of Love, translated by A.S. Kline (2001). Multiple formats.
Sacred-texts.com: The Love Books of Ovid, translated by J. Lewis May. HTML format.
Wikisource: Ars Amatoria - The Art of Love, translated by J. Lewis May. HTML and other formats.
Latin texts
Latin Library: Ars Amatoria - Liber I - Liber II - Liber III. HTML format.
Wikisource: Ars Amatoria. HTML and other formats.

The Mother-in-Law (Latin: Hecyra) is a Latin comedy by Terence. It's first performance in 165 BC was a failure, as the audience halting the performance in favour of a boxing match.

The plot centres on the unseen character of Philumela, who flees the home of her husband's parents to conceal the fact that she is pregnant, having been debauched by an unknown assailant. A resolution emerges through a ring stolen during the encounter.

The Mother-in-Law at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US) | bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
Bilingual editions
Internet Archive: Terence II: Phormio. The Mother-in-Law. The Brothers. Loeb edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Loebulus: L023N -Terence II: Phormio. The Mother-in-Law. The Brothers. Loeb edition. PDF format.
English translations
Gutenberg: The Comedies of Terence, translated by Henry T. Riley EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Gutenberg: The Comedies of Terence, translated by George Colman. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: Comedies of Publius Terentius Afer, translated by John Benson Rose (1870). EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Perseus: Hecyra - The Mother-in-Law, translated by Henry T. Riley. HTML and XML format.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Step-Mother, translated by George Colman. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Latin texts
Perseus: Hecyra. HTML and XML format.
Wikisource: Hecyra. HTML and other formats.

The Girl from Andros (Latin: Andria) is a Latin comedy by Terence, first produced in 166 BCE. The plot centres on a young Athenian, Pamphilus who attempts to evade an arranged marriage, with the help of his cunning slave Davus, in order to be with his lover, the apparently low-born Andrian girl, Glycerium.

The Girl from Andros at online book stores
Amazon | bookshop.org (US)| bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
Bilingual editions
Internet Archive: Terence I: The Lady of Andros. The Self-Tormentor. The Eunuch. Loeb edition. EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Loebulus: L022N -Terence I: The Lady of Andeos. The Self-Tormentor. The Eunuch. Loeb edition. PDF format.
English translations
Gutenberg: The Comedies of Terence, translated by Henry T. Riley EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Gutenberg: The Comedies of Terence, translated by George Colman. EPUB, HTML, MOBI and TXT formats.
Internet Archive: Comedies of Publius Terentius Afer, translated by John Benson Rose (1870). EPUB, MOBI, PDF and TXT formats.
Perseus: Andria, translated by Henry T. Riley. HTML and XML format.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): The Girl from Andros, translated by George Colman. EPUB, MOBI and HTML formats.
Latin texts
Latin Library: Andria. HTML format.
Perseus: Andria. HTML and XML format.
Wikisource: Andria. HTML and other formats.

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
Amazon | bookshop.org (US) | bookshop.org (UK)

Free online texts
Bilingual texts
Loebulus: L060 - Plautus - Plautus I: Amphitryon. The Comedy of Asses. The Pot of Gold. The Two Bacchises. The Captives. Loeb edition, translated by Paul Nixon. PDF format.
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.