Talking to Virgil: A Miscellany

A unique collection that uncovers connections between a fascinating assortment of subjects with classical associations, ranging from Plato to Anthony Powell.

International Journal of the Classical Tradition

“... the collection contains a number of essays which in the final analysis should encourage readers of this journal to think about the classical tradition in new and potentially profitable ways ... Wiseman writes with clarity and grace, and the balanced fairness with which he sketches the superficiality of Baddeley and the eccentricities of Knight allows the reader to encounter them as interesting figures in their own right. What is more, the essays printed here suggest that there can be more to the study of the Classical tradition than we generally acknowledge.” –International Journal of the Classical Tradition

Peter Wiseman is Emeritus Professor of Roman History at Exeter University and a Fellow of the British Academy. He came to Exeter in 1977, and was Head of Department from 1977 to 1990. Although he retired in 2001, he is still involved in graduate teaching at both MA and PhD levels. ‘I've been obsessed with the history and literature of Rome for nearly half a century’, he says. Among the results of that obsession have been books on Catullus (Catullan Questions 1969, Catullus and his World 1985), on Roman political history (New Men in the Roman Senate 1971, Flavius Josephus: Death of an Emperor 1991), on Roman historiography (Clio's Cosmetics: Three Studies in Greco-Roman Literature 1979, Historiography and Imagination: Eight Essays on Roman Culture 1994), and on Roman myth and legend (Remus: a Roman Myth 1995, Roman Drama and Roman History 1998).