The plan of the book will naturally speak for itself. I may, however, be allowed to say that I was especially anxious to include the most available portions of Tibullus, because there is no suitable edition of this poet, whose elegies, from their easy, unaffected elegance of style, form an excellent text book for the middle forms of our classical schools. Dissen's edition is only fit for the advanced scholar, skilled in eliciting grains of gold embedded in pages of drivel. The third book, and the Panegyric on Messala in the fourth book, are declared, by the general suffrages of criticism, not to be the work of Tibullus; with these exceptions, however, all the more important elegies will be found in my present volume. From Propertius I have drawn more sparingly, owing to the manifold difficulties which beset the student of that poet-difficulties affecting both the train of thought and the style of expression. Of Catullus and Martial I trust enough has been given for the purposes of this collection. In quoting them, and, indeed, throughout the book, I have scrupulously avoided all objectionable passages.

In the selections from Ovid, Burmann's text has been generally followed: that of Dissen and of Mr. Paley in the excerpts from Tibullus and Propertius.* Lachmann's readings in Catullus have been almost invariably

As regards the order of the elegies, Mr. Paley's arrangement has been followed.

adopted and I have found Schneidewin's revised text of Martial a great improvement on its predecessors.

Those pupils only, who would otherwise use Bohn's Translations, will regret the absence of references in the passages cited from Ovid. In the selections from other poets references have been given, for reasons which will be understood.

Dr. Kennedy's Elementary Latin Grammar is referred to as K.'s Lat. Gram.; King Edward's Latin Grammar, the work of Canon Wordsworth, as W.'s Lat. Gram. The initials L. E. denote my Elementary Latin Exercises, 2nd edition.