History, Medieval 

This well-known study by the late EK Rand, Professor of Latin at Harvard, discusses the transformation of Latin pagan culture into the first stirrings of medieval civilization. It is not only a first-rate historical study in a little-known yet very important culture period; it is also a brilliantly written, easily followed account which will interest and be of value to almost every student of philosophy, comparative literature, religion, or history.

Dr. Rand begins with an intensive study of the interrelations between the early Christian church and pagan culture in the first centuries of the Christian era. Symmachus, Gregory the Great, Prudentius, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Lactantius and others are carefully evaluated. Chapters of St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Boethius, St. Agustine are then followed by discussions (with extensive translations) of Latin poetry of the 4th and 5th centuries and a survey of new educational theories, as in Martianus Capella, Cassian, St. Benedict, Cassiodorus, and others. Continual reference is made to the medieval understanding of Aristotle, Plato, Porphyry, Cicero, Horace, and Virgil, and the pre-medieval cultural scene is depicted with unique charm and clarity. Later developments from these early medieval roots are traced, and modern historians are copiously quoted and evaluated.

"Thoughtful, beautifully written . . . a work of popularization by a ripe scholar," American Historical Review. "Extraordinarily accurate," Richard McKeon, The Nation. "Recommended to every student of letters," Times (London). "Recommended as a work of importance for its additions to our knowledge of a little-known time," Yale Review.

Taken from the back cover.