Librarian 2vols PREFACE. THE Geschichte der römischen Literatur, the principal work of the late Wilhelm Sigmund Teuffel, differed from previous histories in its wider range and scope. It was carried from the earliest period down to, and beyond, the sixth century A.D., the literary history of that century being exhaustively treated, with such notice of the minor writers as was needed to present the greater in their true light. Jurisprudence, natural philosophy, and the other technical subjects were included, and its proper literary place was assigned to the Christian as an integral part of the Roman literature. Another special aim of the writer, as explained in his preface, was to make the most of all the fragmentary remains, and to estimate each constituent of the whole by its intrinsic worth and weight apart from the accidents of tradition. And, finally, he claimed to have maintained an unprejudiced and thoroughly impartial stand-point in his criticism -the justice of which claim his readers well understand. The book was published in 1870. It was considerably enlarged by the author in two subsequent editions (1872 and 1874), in the prefaces to which he acknowledges the assistance of M. Hertz, F. A. Eckstein, L. Müller, E. Wölfflin, H. Nolte, W. Weissbrodt, and of Dr. L. Schwabe, his colleague in the University of Tübingen. Prof. Teuffel, who died in 1878, left his work in the hands of the last-named scholar. Dr. Schwabe, in discharge of that trust, republished it in 1882, revised throughout in accordance with the latest researches, and much augmented. The additions and |