Sappho lived in the Greek-speaking Aeolian islands off the coast of Turkey. She is one of the very few female poets from antiquity. Although her work was very popular in ancient Greece and Rome, only small fragments survive today. This book includes translations of these fragments, as well as a poem from Ovid's Heroides, "Sappho to Phaon," a fictional letter from Sappho to her assumed lover.

This fun little book was printed with two stories, back to back. Reading from the front cover, it is "The Goody Side," where children are well-behaved and polite. Reading from the back cover forward is "The Naughty Side," where children behave quite differently.

How do elephants drink? What is the Law of the Jungle at the water hole? How does an elephant baby learn to feed and learn to swim? How do they walk under water? In what order do buffaloes drink? How do buffaloes fight the tiger? These and other wild inhabitants of the Indian jungle such as pigs, wild dogs, deer, camels, bears and birds are discussed in lively stories to entertain but mainly educate children of school age. "One of the great thinkers of the world has said that all the sciences are embodied in natural history...

Shantideva is particularly renowned as the author of the Bodhicaryavatara (sometimes also called the Bodhisattvacaryavatara). An English translation of the Sanskrit version of the Bodhicaryavatara is available online, as well as in print in a variety of translations, sometimes glossed as "A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way Of Life" or "Entering the Path of Enlightenment." It is a long poem describing the process of enlightenment from the first thought to full buddhahood and is still studied by Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhists today...

volunteers bring you 16 recordings of If Spirits Walk by Sophie Jewett. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 22, 2020. ------ Sophie Jewett also known under the pseudonym Ellen Burroughs, was an American lyric poet, translator, and professor at Wellesley College. Her first book under her own name was The Pilgrim, and Other Poems . Jewett wrote in various poetic forms, including the rondeau, the sonnet, and the ballad. Fellow poet Richard Watson Gilder called her a true poet with a golden gift. - Summary by Wikipedia

Electra or Elektra is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Its date is not known, but various stylistic similarities with the Philoctetes (409 BC) and the Oedipus at Colonus (401 BC) lead scholars to suppose that it was written towards the end of Sophocles' career. Set in the city of Argos a few years after the Trojan war, it recounts the tale of Electra and the vengeance that she and her brother Orestes take on their mother Clytemnestra and step father Aegisthus for the murder of their father, Agamemnon.

A powerful artistic protest against tyranny, "Antigone" has been translated and adapted dozens of times, applied over and over through the centuries to current forms of the oppression so common to human experience. Antigone's heroic resistance to Creon's petty, capricious, and unbending law has a never-ending relevance even in the third millennium CE. The play was written at a time of national fervor. In 441 BC, shortly after the play was released, Sophocles was appointed as one of the ten generals to lead a military expedition against Samos...

"Oedipus at Colonus" (also Oedipus Coloneus, Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, Oidipous epi Kolōnō) is one of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles' death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC. In the timeline of the plays, the events of "Oedipus at Colonus" occur after "Oedipus the King" and before "Antigone"; however, it was the last of Sophocles' three Theban plays to be written...

Ajax is a Greek tragedy written in the 5th century BC. The date of Ajax's first performance is unknown and may never be found, but most scholars regard it as an early work, c. 450 - 430 BC. It chronicles the fate of the warrior Ajax after the events of the Iliad, but before the end of the Trojan War. At the onset of the play, Ajax is enraged because Achilles' armor was awarded to Odysseus, rather than to him. He vows to kill the Greek leaders who disgraced him. Before he can enact his extraordinary revenge, though, he is tricked by the goddess Athena into believing that the sheep and cattle that were taken by the Achaeans as spoil are the Greek leaders...

"Oedipus Rex" (Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, Oidipous Tyrannos), also known as "Oedipus the King" or "Oedipus the Tyrant," is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed about 429 BC (noted classicist Gilbert Murray, translator of this version of the play, rendered the title as "Oedipus, King of Thebes"). It was the second in order of Sophocles's composition of his three plays dealing with Oedipus. Thematically, however, it was the first in the trilogy's historical chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone...

Women of Trachis (Ancient Greek: Τραχίνιαι, Trachiniai; also translated as The Trachiniae or The Trachinian Maidens) is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. The story begins with Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, relating the story of her early life and her plight adjusting to married life. She is now distraught over her husband's neglect of her family. Often involved in some adventure, he rarely visits them. She sends their son Hyllus to find him, as she is concerned over prophecies about Heracles and the land he is currently in...

Philoctetes is a play by Sophocles (Aeschylus and Euripides also each wrote a Philoctetes but theirs have not survived). The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven tragedies of Sophocles to have survived the ravages of time in its complete form. It was first performed at the Festival of Dionysus in 409 BC, where it won first prize. The story takes place during the Trojan War (after the majority of the events of the Iliad, and before the Trojan Horse). It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, with them to Troy.

The Dark Other is a horror novel by Stanley G. Weinbaum. The novel concerns Patricia Lane who is in love with Nicholas Devine, a quiet and gentle writer. Devine undergoes sudden changes becoming cold and calculating. Frightened by this, Lane consults psychologist Dr. Carl Horker who rescues her from Devine. Devine again attacks Horker, and overcomes him. He is then shot by Lane and rushed to a hospital where a surprise is found.

The first of these stories was originally published in the July 1934 issue of Wonder Stories. It was followed four months later by a sequel, "Valley of Dreams" in the same magazine. These classic stories take us to Mars where we meet a Martian, or at least something very different from us, and several other completely original specimens of life. The Martian "Tweel" looks like an ostrich and the Egyptian god Osiris - for good reason, as you will find out if you listen to the story! These are both classic, funny, strange, entertaining, and, in my opinion, great stories by an imaginative master - summary by philc

Stendhal - a German pen-name for a French writer who hated the English. Contemporary to some of the great names of French literature like Balzac and Flaubert, Stendhal is quite often considered a writer that doesn't seem to fit a defined genre. Some say he's a Romantic, others that he's a Modernist and that Le Rouge et Le Noir is the first modern novel. On one point they are all agreed: the novel is a masterpiece that shows a young theology student - Julien Sorel - intelligent, handsome and who is determined to rise above his humble peasant origins...

This book is more often called The Charterhouse of Parma in English, because "Charterhouse" is the English word for a Carthusian monastery, whereas "Chartreuse" is the French word. The book tells the life of a Lombard nobleman, born soon after the appearance of Napoleon's army in Italy. He has many adventures in love, war, politics, and the Church. The politics and the Church part of his life result from his doting aunt's becoming the Prime Minister's mistress, and the power behind the throne, in the Duchy of Parma...

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. The text is composed of 13 chapters, each devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly considered to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time. It has been the most famous and influential of China's Seven Military Classics, and "for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name." It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.

First compiled in the 6th century BC, The Art of War presents a philosophy of war for managing conflicts and winning battles. It is accepted as a masterpiece on strategy and is frequently cited and referred to by generals and theorists since it was first published, translated, and distributed internationally. The book is not only popular among military theorists, but has also become increasingly popular among political leaders and those in business management. Despite its title, The Art of War addresses strategy in a broad fashion, touching upon public administration and planning...

GOD, MACHINE--OR LISTENING POST FOR OUTSIDERS? Horng sat opposite the tiny, fragile creature who held a microphone, its wires attached to an interpreting machine. He blinked his huge eyes slowly, his stiff mouth fumblingly forming words of a language his race had not used for thirty thousand years. "Kor was ... is ... God ... Knowledge." He had tried to convey this to the small creatures who had invaded his world, but they did not heed. Their ill-equipped brains were trying futilely to comprehend the ancient race memory of his people...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Thrice Toss Those Oaken Ashes in the Air by Thomas Campion. This was the Weekly Poetry project for February 10, 2013.Thomas Campion was an English composer, poet, and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.

The French Revolution: A History was written by the Scottish essayist, philosopher, and historian Thomas Carlyle. The three-volume work, first published in 1837 (with a revised edition in print by 1857), charts the course of the French Revolution from 1789 to the height of the Reign of Terror (1793–94) and culminates in 1795. A massive undertaking which draws together a wide variety of sources, Carlyle's history—despite the unusual style in which it is written—is considered to be an authoritative account of the early course of the Revolution. Volume 1 is titled 'The Bastille'

Of this third, and final, phase of the French Revolution, including that period known as The Terror, Carlyle comments "It is unfortunate, though very natural, that the history of this Period has so generally been written in hysterics." Carlyle's own account of the prominent personalities and "two great movements" that dominate this phase of the revolution — "a rushing against domestic Traitors, a rushing against foreign Despots" — spares us none of the drama, yet is surprisingly compassionate and understanding from an author whose own society was riven with social inequalities that might conceivably have led to insurrection...

The second volume of this famous and idiosyncratic history covers events from October 1789, after Louis XVI has been 'persuaded' to leave Versailles and take up residence in Paris, through to August 1792. By the end of this time, Louis and his family have tried, unsuccessfully, to flee the country, France has been invaded by foreign powers, and anti-royalist French militia have brutally massacred a corps of Swiss Guards seeking to defend Louis and his family in their Paris residence. Louis is imprisoned, and it is clear to all that a three year effort to establish a constitutional monarchy have failed. - Summary by Peter Dann

Subtitled "The Bastille", Volume 1 of Thomas Carlyle's three volume "The French Revolution: A History" was first published in 1837, and covers the events of the French Revolution up to the forced move of Louis XVI from Versailles to Paris. While a modern listener not already familiar with the events described here may need some time to get their bearings amidst a sea of unfamiliar names and allusions, Carlyle's idiosyncratic yet justly famous present-tense, quasi-firsthand narrative quickly builds into a gripping, highly dramatic story which contemporary scholars still regard as being essentially accurate...

De Cive ("On the citizen") is one of Thomas Hobbes's major works. "The book was published originally in Latin from Paris in 1642, followed by two further Latin editions in 1647 from Amsterdam. The English translation of the work made its first appearance four years later (London 1651) under the title 'Philosophicall rudiments concerning government and society'." It anticipates themes of the better-known Leviathan. The famous phrase bellum omnium contra omnes ("war of all against all") appeared first in De Cive. DPLs for this project were phaedo and craigdav1

This is a book of short stories centered around the Civil War and its aftermath. The author was a prominent Virginian in his day, and his writing shows a talent for poignant reminiscences. The title comes from the second story, in which an artillery unit detached from Lee's army determines to follow their last orders - not to let their cannons fall into Union hands - despite Lee's surrender and the end of the War in Virginia. The other stories focus on individuals in the post-War years.

"That excellent book by Thomas Reid, the Inquiry into the Human Mind (first edition, 1764; 6th edition, 1810), as a negative proof of the Kantian truths, affords us a very thorough conviction of the inadequacy of the senses to produce the objective perception of things, and also of the non-empirical origin of the perception of space and time. Reid refutes Locke's doctrine that perception is a product of the senses, by a thorough and acute demonstration that the collective sensations of the senses...

"The Art of Divine Contentment" is an exposition by the Puritan minister Thomas Watson of the text found in Philippians 4:11: "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." It examines the nature of contentment and how to live it out in the Christian life, both by answering questions regarding problems with contentment and by giving examples of practical contentment. It is a good read for people with religious or historical interests.

This book is an exposition of Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." It was written in 1663, one year after Thomas Watson and many other Puritan ministers were forced out of their pulpits by the Act of Uniformity. Watson's book radiates comfort in the midst of suffering. Its content is equally applicable to Christians facing trials today. (Introduction by rosea)

The sea has always been, by the mystery of its horizon, the fury of its storms, and the variableness of the atmosphere above it, the foreordained land of romance. In all ages and with all sea-going races there has always been something especially fascinating about an island amid the ocean. It's very existence has for all explorers an air of magic. The order of the tales in the present work follows roughly the order of development, giving first the legends which kept near the European shore, and then those which, like St...

This book tells the story of exploration in America in the words of the explorers themselves. It consists of extracts from narratives of the early discoverers and explorers of the American continent from the Northmen in 10th century to 17th century Massachusets Bay Colony. - Summary by Kikisaulite

Henry Wirz (November 25, 1823 – November 10, 1865) was the only Confederate soldier tried after the end of the American Civi War. He was tried, convicted, and executed, not for being a Confederate soldier, but for conspiracy and murder relating to his command of Camp Sumter, the infamous Confederate prisoner-of-war prison at Andersonville, Georgia. Wirz encouraged and commanded barbaric and murderous policies and actions in the prison. This Librivox recording is excerpts from the 850 page summary of the trial written by the Army Judge Advocate (prosecutor) for, and at the command of, The Congressional House Of Representatives, 40th Congress, Second Session, Ex, Doc...