Consolation of Philosophy is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West in medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great work that can be called Classical. 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...

Aeneas flees the destruction of Troy, abandons Dido, queen of the Carthaginians, and wends his way to Latium in Italy, where slaying Turnus, leader of native resistance, he founds the future Rome.

Vergil's Georgica is the culmination of a long tradition in antiquity of poems about agriculture, beginning with Hesiod in the eighth c. BC. His poem is a rich admixture of allusion to that tradition: didactic poem, eulogium of Augustus, the neoteric epyllion about Orpheus, Epicurean philosophy as presented by his predecessor and model, Lucretius. Thomas Jefferson imagined his gentleman farmer tilling his fields with a copy of the Georgics between the handles of the plowshare.

Apollonius of Tyre is the subject of an ancient short novella, popular during medieval times. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, the text is thought to be translated from an ancient Greek manuscript, now lost. The earliest manuscripts of the tale, in a Latin version, date from the 9th or 10th century; the most widespread Latin versions are those of Gottfried von Viterbo, who incorporated it into his Pantheon of 1185 as if it were actual history, and a version in the Gesta Romanorum. Shakespeare’s play Pericles, Prince of Tyre was based in part on Gower’s version, with the change of name probably inspired by Philip Sidney’s Arcadia...

Psalm 22 appears as Psalm 23 in modern English translations of the Bible. – Psalmi XXII Bibliae Sacrae Vulgatae, recitatus in lingua Latina.

In this book the famous Gaius Julius Caesar himself describes the seven years of his war in Gaul.When Caesar got proconsul of Gallia and Illyria in 58 B.C, the conquest of land in Gaul was an urgent need, both to improve his political standing and to calm his creditors in Rome. So Caesar claims his interest for a very large area already in the first sentence.His steps and measures always appear clear and logic, but this simplicity is the result of a strict discipline in style. Caesar really choses his words, and the list of standard words that he never or rarely uses, is astonishing...

The Versio Latina, or Latin translation of the works of Homer, has existed since the 14th century, but was first printed, under the name of Andreas Divus, in 1537. It is a crib, to give it no finer name, but a crib which had immense influence, being the first introduction to Homer for generations of mediaeval and early modern scholars.(Introduction by hefyd)

Seneca is an important repository of Stoic doctrine. His reputation, based on the ancient testimony, has remained ambiguous down to the present day: he was a Stoic hero who attempted to advise Nero, he was a dissolute hypocrite, he was a Christian saint. 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.

Noted for being the most extensive piece of early Latin prose, it abounds in archaic imperatives and shows an almost total lack of subordinate clauses. Its subject matter is the pedestrian business of managing a Roman farm in the second century BC. The simplicity, however, may be only partially genuine. 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.

This book of poems, written between 42 en 39 BC, was a bestseller in ancient Rome, and still holds a fascination today. Held to be divinely inspired not only by the Romans themselves, but by the Medieval Catholic church, The Eclogues is one of the most beloved collections of Latin short poetry.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 reader. Two eclogues are included twice – giving you a choice of reader.

Confessions (Latin: Confessiones) is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by St. Augustine of Hippo, written between AD 397 and AD 398. Modern English translations of it are sometimes published under the title The Confessions of St. Augustine in order to distinguish the book from other books with similar titles. Its original title was "Confessions in Thirteen Books", and it was composed to be read out loud with each book being a complete unit.

The City of God Against the Pagans , often called The City of God, is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome and is considered one of Augustine's most important works, standing alongside The Confessions, The Enchiridion, On Christian Doctrine and On the Trinity. As a work of one of the most influential Church Fathers, The City of God is a cornerstone...

The Rule of Saint Benedict (Regula Benedicti) is a book of precepts written by St. Benedict of Nursia for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. Since about the 7th century it has also been adopted by communities of women. 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 Imitation of Christ is widely considered one of the greatest manuals of devotion in Christianity. The life of Christ is presented as the highest study possible to a mortal, as Jesus’ teachings far excel all the teachings of the saints. 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. -

An exposition of Epicurus atomic theory and the ethical tenets based upon it. Drawing upon this materialist philosophy, Lucretius cites the fear of death as the cause of man's ills, and shows the way to freedom from that fear.