Tag Archives: Nero

By Ben Potter All that glitters may not be gold, but that hasn’t stopped the shiny yellow stuff from being relentlessly pursued throughout mankind’s civilized existence. Twinkling goodness aside, gold has the virtue of being malleable, ductile, resistant to tarnishing, abundant, easily extracted and, above all else, useless! Well, perhaps not totally, but it is

by Anya Leonard Catullus (XIV) describes it as “the best of days.” Seneca complains that the “whole mob has let itself go in pleasures” (Epistles, XVIII.3). Pliny the Younger writes that he retired to his room while the rest of the household celebrated (Epistles, II.17.24). It was a time when people rejoiced, visited friends, gave

By Ben Potter There is (at least) one important step between the birth of western literature and the age of modern prose… and that is the genesis of the novel. Here we are hot on the heels of our recent look at the ancient novel in the guise of Daphnis and Chloe, a bucolic idyll