FROM LATIN AUTHORS. BY CRAUFURD TAIT RAMAGE, LL.D. 66 99 66 AUTHOR OF GREAT THOUGHTS FROM GREEK AUTHORS, GREAT THIRD EDITION, CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED. "Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over NEW YORK: JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER. 1884. PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. LITTLE need be added to what was stated in former editions of this work. The illustrations from the Old and New Testaments have been increased, and many new passages have been given. Few of the ways that conduct to virtue are more full of pleasantness and peace than that which leads us to warm our hearts by putting them in close contact with noble natures. "I am not the rose, but I live with the rose," says the Eastern apologue," and so I have become sy eet." It was a strong conviction of the truth of this apophthegm that induced the Editor to spend many of the leisure hours of a busy life in bringing together the beautiful thoughts of ancient writers; and he was induced to present them to the public, in the hope that many, who have little time to devote to the study of the Classics, would be glad to renew their acquaintance with the finer emanations of the Roman masters. The Editor has not been disappointed in his expectations, for the sale of the work has continued to increase, and proves that there is a large number of educated minds who take delight in the wisdom of the ancients. Each quotation is a separate bait, a temptation to feel greatly and to do greatly; and a friend, whose delicate health has obliged him to retire from the busy haunts of men, very beautifully remarks that their charm for the old and infirm is scarcely less. To such "it is nothing short of delightful to have a book at hand which will suit itself either to the exigencies or the deficiencies of the minute, with an elastic power of adaptability which no living friend can possess." It was for those of lofty aspirations among the young, and for men of cultivated minds among the old, that the Editor attempted to make a selection from a treasure that has continued to accumulate from the earliest times, till it now comprehends a brief abstract of the wisdom of all ages. |