Libanius of Antioch (314-93) studied first rhetoric then grammar (literature and composition) and became one of the best known public speakers and teachers in the later Roman Empire. His voluminous writing, including an autobiography, provide historians with details of the period, but Gibson (classics, U. of Iowa) here presents 144 model exercises in prose composition that he apparently used in his teaching, though he never wrote a teaching manual as such. They illustrate how to approach such themes as fables, anecdotes, refutation and confirmation, invective, character, description, and the introduction of a law. The Greek text and English translation are on facing pages. The Society of Biblical Literature publishes the paperbound edition; Brill publishes the hardbound. Annotation 2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
