Translated from Albrecht's (classical philology, U. of Heidelberg) 1994 second edition of Geschichte der r÷ischen Literatur , changing bibliographic references to English editions and translations of ancient texts and translating the Latin quotations in the text. Considering literature in broad, antique sense that includes rhetoric, philosophy, and history, he describes the characteristics of literature in general and in the various genres of poetry and prose during the Republican and Augustan periods; and the early, middle, and late empire. He also explores the conditions for the rise of Roman literature and its transmission, and includes a chronology. The tome is divided into two volumes only for such practical matters as complying with AHA limits on how much a student is required to lift; they are paged continuously and indexed as one. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.