The Digital Loeb Library (http://www.loebclassics.com/)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 373 In sum, even if the author’s claim to have re-dated Palladas to the first half of the fourth century is much less strong than he presents it, this book is a major contribution to scholarship and lays a solid foundation for future debate.9 University of Ottawa Jitse H. F. Dijkstra The Digital Loeb Library (http://www.loebclassics.com/). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2015. In 1912, the Loeb Classical Library's (LCL) first volumes were published, prefaced by a “Word about Its Purpose and Scope” introducing the project. Here, James Loeb describes his reaction to a friend’s suggestion that he arrange for a library of “all that is of value and of interest” in Greek and Latin literature: “my imagination,” he writes, “was deeply stirred by the thought that here might be found a practical and attractive way to revive the lagging interest in ancient literature . . . . Means must be found to place these treasures within the reach of all who care for the finer things of life.”1 Loeb’s friend, Salmon Reinach, likely had in mind similar ventures from the nineteenth century in his native France: both the Imprimerie Firmin-Didot and Jacques Paul Migne’s Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca were successful text series that, like the LCL, put little emphasis on critical notes but provided an adjacent translation. The LCL’s remarkable popularity over the ensuing decades should be attributed partly to the increasing dominance of humanities scholarship by the English language and partly to the need by classics departments to embrace a course of study no longer based in years of public education in Greek and Latin, a trend Loeb already identified. Indeed, for all those whose language skills are playing catch-up with their ambitions as scholars of ancient culture, facing translations provide an excellent means of quickly entering into a new text. The congenial format of the books surely also contribute to their appeal. Though far from the stated original goal of “all that is of value and of interest in Greek and Latin literature, from the time of Homer to the Fall of Constantinople”2 —there is not even a sampling of John Chrysostom, for example—the library continues to expand. LCL replaces superannuated volumes (with the volume number reused), and also adds new ones rapidly; the current total is 521. In the recent past, however, other means of reading ancient texts have been taking root. The Perseus Project, in particular, evolved a web interface featuring an optional facing translation. Indirectly, Perseus showed the viability of a LCL delivered online: many of these Perseus texts were in fact digitized copies of Loeb editions, by then in the in 324 and refers to as “one of the very first literary references to Christian monaxo’.” However, one would expect such a remark rather later in the century, after the Life of Antony (ca 356), when the word monax—w and the phenomenon of monasticism attracted more widespread attention (I would like to thank M. Choat for discussion on this matter). In other words, a date to the second half of the fourth century for Palladas remains a good possibility and would have the added advantage that he can be seen not in isolation, as Wilkinson proposes (57), but at a time of renewed interest in the epigram. 9 As already appears from the conference organized around the new Palladas codex at University College, London, on 4–5 September 2014. 1 F. C. Conybeare, Philostratus 2 (London 1912) i. 2 W. W. Briggs, Jr., Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists (Westport 1994) 369. 374 PHOENIX public domain. The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae followed Perseus to the web and other publishing houses are rumoured to have begun moving their editions to this medium as well. Permutations of the open-sourced Perseus have arisen, most notably Perseus under PhiloLogic.3 As part of this broad trend in publication, in 2014 the Harvard University Press announced that the Digital Loeb Library (DLL), a Web interface to the entire current LCL, would be provided exclusively as a service available for hire on a yearly basis. The DLL cleaves very closely to the...