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Can I read The Fables of Phaedrus on EtoBox?

The Fables of Phaedrus by Phaedrus; P. F. Widdows is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Fables of Phaedrus about?

Animal fables are said to have originated with Aesop, a semilegendary Samian slave, but the earliest surviving record of the fables comes from the Latin poet Phaedrus, who introduced the new genre to Latin literature. This verse translation of The Fables is the first in English in more than two hundred years. In addition to the familiar animal fables, about a quarter of the book includes such diverse material as prologues and epilogues, historical anecdotes, short stories, enlarged proverbs and sayings, comic episodes and folk wisdom, and many incidental glimpses of Greek and Roman life in the classical period. The Fables also sheds light on the personal history of Phaedrus, who seems to have been an educated slave, eventually granted his freedom by the emperor Augustus. Phaedrus' style is lively, clean, and sparse, though not at the cost of all detail and elaboration. It serves well as a vehicle for his two avowed purposes—to entertain and to give wise counsel for the conduct of life. Like all fabulists, Phaedrus was a moralist, albeit on a modest and popular level. An excellent introduction by P. F. Widdows provides information about Phaedrus, the history of The Fables, the metri

Who reads The Fables of Phaedrus?

It is typically read by self-directed learners exploring a subject in depth.

Common subject areas: history, science, philosophy, social sciences.

Author
Phaedrus; P. F. Widdows
Publisher
University of Texas Press
Published
2014
Language
EN
ISBN
9780292724709
Category
nonfiction
Subjects
Literary Collections, Literary Fiction, Humanities
Rating
3.5 / 5 (41 ratings)
Updated
2026-03-14

Other editions & translations

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