Alciphron, Aelian, and Philostratus: The Letters (Loeb Classical Library 383) - Hardcover

Alciphron, Alciphron; Aelian, Aelian; Philostratus, Philostratus; Benner, A. R.; Fobes, F. H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674994213 ISBN 13: 9780674994218

Publisher: Loeb, 1989

Synopsis

Epistolary fictions.

The Letters of Alciphron (second century AD) constitute one of the most attractive products of the Second Sophistic. They are fictitious compositions based on an astonishingly wide variety of circumstances, though the theme of erotic love is constantly sounded. The imagination shown by the author and his convincing realism win him a place of distinction in the early development of romantic prose. The letters, which are highly literary, owing much to the New Comedy of Menander, purport to give us a sketch of the social life of Athens in the fourth century BC. The collection is arranged in four divisions: Letters of Fishermen; Farmers; Parasites; Courtesans. Senders and addressees are mostly invented characters, but in the last section Alciphron presents us with several attempts at historical fiction, the most engaging being an exchange of letters between Menander and Glycera.

This volume also includes twenty Letters of Farmers ascribed to Aelian (ca. AD 170–235) and a collection of seventy-three Erotic Epistles of Philostratus (probably Flavius of that name, also born ca. AD 170). In style and subject matter these resemble those of Alciphron, by whom they may have been influenced.

About this title

About the Authors

Allen Rogers Benner (1870–1940) was Professor of Greek at Phillips Academy, Andover.

Francis Howard Fobes (1881–1957) was Professor of Latin at Amherst College.

Edition details

• Publisher: Loeb
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674994213
• ISBN 13: 9780674994218
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 608