Conte gives the sort of biographical and historical information that might be expected in a book of this type, but with a more sophisticated awareness of the fragility of much of it than one finds in many other text books. He also gives an unfailingly intelligent and interesting account of the works themselves... His mastery of the vast range of literature that he covers is remarkable. -- Jasper Griffin New York Review of Books It will quickly become not only the preferred textbook but the standard resource for mainstream evaluations of the major surviving Latin authors through the early Middle Ages... Conte covers this era by discussing the principle writers in Latin with a remarkably concise thoroughness. Reader's Review Conte has achieved a monumental feat most scholars would shrink from attempting... [With] its relish for forgotten or underrated authors and its tight focus on cultural significance, his history shows the restlessness many late 20th-century Latinists feel with the state of their subject. -- Emily Gowers London Review of Books