James Zetzel studied at Harvard University and the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London; he has taught at Brown and Princeton Universities and for the last 32 years at Columbia University. He has written extensively on the literature of the first century BCE and on the history of classical scholarship. He has also published two volumes of translations of Cicero.

• Table of Contents PrefaceList of AbbreviationsPart I: A Short History of Roman ScholarshipChapter 1: The Face of Learning Chapter 2: The Origins of Roman Grammar Chapter 3: Word and World: Varro and his Contemporaries Chapter 4: Past and Present: From Caecilius Epirota to Valerius Probus Chapter 5: Finding the Right Word Chapter 6: Dictionaries, Glossaries, Encyclopedias Chapter 7: Commentary and Exegesis Chapter 8: Grammar and Grammarians Chapter 9: Author, Audience, Text Chapter 10: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Chapter 11: Commentaries Chapter 12: Grammars and Other Forms of Erudition Chapter 13: Early Medieval Grammars List of Works Cited Indices ManuscriptsGeneral

Critics, Compilers, and Commentators is a wonderful resource. The works with which it deals "all explain something about Latin texts or the Latin language" (3) and were all written or compiled or otherwise arranged and digested between the beginnings of Latin culture and the end of the eighth century CE. Zetzel has wrestled a billowing mass of material into nine crisp chapters under the rubric "A short history of Roman scholarship"; an extensive bibliographic guide; and forty-seven pages of Works Cited, including digital resources. Just one of these three sections would be worth the price of the book for anyone interested in the teaching and preservation of Latin culture over the longue durée. There is, as far as I know, no comparable work.