De Compositione Verborum
Translated by W. Rhys Roberts
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The opening
CHAPTER I OCCASION AND PURPOSE OF THE TREATISE
ON LITERARY COMPOSITION
OCCASION AND PURPOSE OF THE TREATISE
To you, Rufus Metilius, whose worthy father is my most honoured friend, “I also offer this gift, dear child,” as Helen, in Homer, says while entertaining Telemachus. To-day you are keeping your first birthday after your arrival at man’s estate; and of all feasts this is to me the most welcome and most precious. I am not, however, sending you the work of my own hands (to quote Helen’s words when she offers the robe to her young guest), nor what is fitted only for the season of marriage and “meet to pleasure a bride withal.” No, it is the product and the child of my studies and my brain, and also something for you to keep and use in all the business of life which is effected through speech: an aid most necessary, if my estimate is of any account, to all alike who practise civil oratory, whatever their age and temperament, but especially to youths like you who are just beginning to take up the study.
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About this edition
- The words
- W. Rhys Roberts's English translation, copied word for word.
- Copied from
- Left out
- The source library's header, footer and license, in 2 places
- The title page and opening pages before chapter 1
- Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers, in 2 places
- A preface, foreword or afterword, in 2 places
- The printed table of contents (the app makes its own)
- The source website's menus, layout and notices
- Page numbers and running heads from the printed pages
- The Greek title lines printed again at the head of the Greek page (the same lines as the title above them) (2 blocks)