If you have a Latin or Greek text that you would like to see as a commentary on this website and in paperback, please add your suggestion to the comments to this post.
Recent recommendations have included Euripides’ Bacchae and Thucydides Book 6, and both commentaries are now available as beta editions on this website.
Other authors have made me aware that they are working on the Timaeus and Agamemnon. If I receive any updates, I will pass them along.
I am trying to add a link on each commentary page for corrections (you can comment on a pdf in the link, and I receive an email to address the comment). If you would like to suggest a correction but such a link is not available, please let me know, and I will add the link so that you can make a suggested corrections effortlessly.
Thank you.
Greek and Latin Texts with Facing Vocabulary and Commentary 
Definitely not the Annales or the Timaeus.
Wow, that was a fast–and visceral–response!
The Timaeus
Tacitus please. Anything he wrote.
Thank you again for the suggestion for Tacitus. I am partially through the vocabulary for Annales Book 1 but do not have a timeline to complete it.
Tacitus, Thucydides, and Plato are all great! I would also be happy to see a commentary on one of Aeschylus’ plays!
Thucydides 6 or Annales 1 or 14 get my support. The Timaeus or Eutropius, not so much.
How about some excerpts from Marcus Aurelius for all those neoStoics out there, journaling away like the good emperor himself….
I would love a commentary on the Theaetetus!
Philoctetes. I am translating it right now and finding it very hard going. It would benefit from your expertise.
Noted. Yes, I was looking at Campbell’s 1861 Theaetetus commentary earlier today. The Theaetetus would likely be a two-parter (at least 240 pp. in a single commentary). I continue to keep your recommendation in mind. Thanks.
Genesis (Septuagint or Vulgate or both!). Any of the remaining books of the Iliad or Odyssey.
Thank you for the suggestion. James Clauss (U. of Washington) apparently teaches a course in the summer where students of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew read significant portions together in the same class but in their perspective languages (Greek students read the Septuagint, Latin the Vulgate, etc.). It is a very smart idea. I looked into it, and it is possible to have facing Latin and Greek for Genesis 1-25 (death of Abraham) is a single volume. I will continue to give it some thought. Thank you.
It would be great to see both Seneca’s and Cicero’s philosophical works as a Pharr-formatted commentary.
The Oresteia
Second this! Also the Bacchae.
Lots of interest in Aeschylus–Agamemnon, in particular. Thank you for the recommendation.
Aeneid Bks 7-12
Thank you for the suggestion, but I have a feeling that there will be online commentaries of the Aeneid in the near future that will offer far more than a paperback Pharr edition can–and with greater expertise.
I’ve heard The Frogs won a poll you made some time ago. That’d be nice.
Yes, you are right! Sadly, I am still halfway through creating the vocabulary frequency list for the Frogs. It is such a fun read. I promise to work on the vocabulary and see what happens next. Thank you.
The Moselle by Ausonius or Virgil’s Georgics and Eclogues.
I know of several who are working on student commentaries for the Georgics and Eclogues. I will take a look at Ausonius. If I hear more about the Georgics/Eclogues, I will pass that along on this website too. Thank you.
Please consider Plato, Republic, Book VI and VII. The Sun, the Good, the Cave.
I would love to see Tacitus An. I and Thucydides VI commentaries.
Inez Scott’s Ryberg’s article Tacitus’ Art of Innuendo (APA, 1942) was the first article to make me fully appreciate historiography–and Annales Book 1. Thank you for the suggestion. I will keep both titles high on the list.
An initial draft of the Thucydides Book 6 commentary is now available on the website. Thanks.
For some of us, very Greek-challenged, almost anything is great. I remember sending you a note about the Phaedrus, and you pointed out that there was a recent commentary(which I have thanks to you), but some of us will take any additional aid, overlap is good. (I have three commentaries on The Apology, and all of great help as I was grinding through it, and yours was easily the most helpful). One of your repliers suggested something by Aeschylus, with which I agree, even if there are commentaries. Prometheus? Your work is so helpful that you can do something that others have already done, and it is still good (market….of course is another issue…..). Surely the Agammemnon would benefit from one more commentator (you). If not, then more Sophocles — or Euripedes (Hippolytus?). I would finally suggest finishing the Oedipus trilogy — Oedipus at Colonus would be terrific.
Josephus’ Jewish War, please 🙂
Agamemnon, please.
Plotinus 6.9; Areopagite’s _Mystical Theology_. Thank you!
Your recommendations remind my of Christian Wildberg’s article, “Late Antiquity:Whether We Like It or Not,” (on his Academia.edu site) which does an excellent job setting out both the central role of Late Antiquity and its conspicuous absence in academia–and most Classical language programs, in particular. Unfortunately, I have very limited knowledge of Neoplatonism and would be learning alongside the readers. What I like about your suggestion is that the reading selections, if I understand them correctly, are very short–and that is the best way to introduce these authors to readers familiar with Classical Greek. Thank you. I have bookmarked the texts and will read through both carefully.
I’m glad to hear this! I had an honor of knowing Christian Wildberg through all his years at Princeton. He was on my dissertation committee (my thesis was on Clement of Alexandria); then we both participated for many years in the Classical Philosophy Reading group and in the varies events sponsored by the Hellenic Studies Program. I admire your work and use it for my online teaching at the Paideia Institute!
It is a very small world. Well, as I mentioned, I have very little experience of Late Antiquity (outside of reading Augustine) but I will give your suggestions a careful reading. Thank you so much for the encouragement.
I’d love a reader of Nonnus’s μεταβολὴ(homeric paraphrase of John’s gospel)😃
I second that request. There are no good editions of this Nonnos’ work in print.
Thucydides 6 would be very helpful.
A completed initial draft of Thucydides 6 is now on the website. Thank you for the encouragement.
Annales I, please!
Aristotle’s Metaphysics 1 and 4 or 6 ?
A graduate level seminar on Metaphysics Zeta helped me realize that my strengths lay elsewhere–very humbling. Thanks for the suggestion.
Concur with suggestions above for Thucydides (though more interested in Books 1, 3, and 7 than Book 6), Georgics and Eclogues, Agamemnon, or any remaining Iliad and Odyssey books. Many thanks for making so much valuable material available already!
I’d love anything Greek, but my personal wishlist in rough order of preference would be:
* Theocritus
* Plutarch (a Greek life or a Delphic dialogue)
* Hesiod
* Aristophanes (Frogs would be great)
* I’d second the Agamemnon
* more Euripides (especially the Hippolytus)
thanks again for all your work!
Homer’s Iliad, Book A. Would be a great companion to your Books 6 and 22.
Second choice: Hesiod’s Theogony, Works and Days would also be great, but may be too large a chunk.
I’d like to see one of your commentaries done on Thucydides – Book 1 maybe, or 2. The old “Macmillan Red” books by Marchant are useful but of limited help to today’s students. Another suggestion – Livy VI, though there is a ‘Green & Yellow’ on that.
Would love to see some more Greek Tragedies – perhaps Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound? Or Agamemnon? But any would be great! Also any Aristophanes! My first introduction to Greek was with the JACT series with lots of fun adapted Aristophanes and I’ve wanted to read the originals since then! 🙂
Also, if you’d be up for doing Oedipus at Colonus to complete the trilogy that would be brilliant!
Plato’s Gorgias
I would love to see Plato’s Protagoras included in the series. It is a rich dialogue that is not taught as frequently as it should be. And thank you so much for all of the textbooks you have already written.
Dear Mr. Steadman,
I would lead a class in Plato Phaedrus were a text like your available!,
Or Ovid Heroides.
Thank you very much for making excellent study guides available.
George Wendell
Have you considered Epictetus?
Cicero’s De Officiis Bk I, where the student will see interesting moral reasoning and many interesting stories to illuminate the reasoning.
Hesiod’s Theogony
A book from St. Augustine’s City of God
A book from Cicero’s De Re Publica
Pliny’s letters on the eruption of Vesuvius
Book of Job- Greek Septuagint or Latin Vulgate
Thank you for all your contributions to the study of the Classics.
Yes to Pliny’s letters! What about Cicero’s letters to Atticus too? It’s hard to find student friendly editions like yours for epistolography
The AP Latin syllabus and exam (for upper level secondary students in the U.S.) is adding letters from Pliny (6.4, 7.7, 6.16, 6,20, 7.27, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.37 and 10.90) to the curriculum for 2024-25 (?), so I expect that there will be a few student editions available for these letters in the coming year or two and a renewed interest teaching Pliny at the university level in the U.S.
I will certainly give great thought to letters of Cicero as well. There are so many letters. Thank you for the suggestions.
Yes ~800, I think. That’s why I was narrowing down my request to Cicero’s letters to Atticus!
Dear Mr. Steadman. many thanks for all your work to date. I would also like to see Thucydides ., especially since Thucydides is so difficult to read. John King
Plato’s Timaeus would be highly welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for the great work you do Dr. steadman for all would-be Hellenists and Latinists like myself. Greatly appreciated.
Thucydides!!! I’d say 1 or 2, but 6 (or any other book) would be awesome. Agamemnon, Trojan Women, Electra, Lysistrata, Timon, Enchiridion, Sappho, Anacreontea… Your commentaries have brought me so much pleasure, eagerly looking forward to the next one.
if you are considering Latin the Annales would be very useful, or perhaps Juvenal.
For Greek, I would love to see Frogs, Philoctetes or a few more books of the Iliad. Oh, and Demosthenes. I don’t understand why Demosthenes doesn’t get more love on here. His Greek is beautiful.
Thank you for the suggestions. You are right about Demosthenes–To be honest, I have never read much Demostheses, which I suspect is one of the reasons that I have not approached him since. I will give him a closer look.
LUCIANO DI SAMOSATA. GRAZIE INFINITE PER LA GENEROSITÀ!
Nimis and Hayes have written many excellent Pharr-formatted commentaries on Lucian’s works. If you have not seen them before, I recommend that you look up Stephen Hayes and Evan Hayes and Lucian on Amazon.com. Thank you.
Any of the following would be great:
Plato:
~ Republic, Book 7
~ Phaedrus
~ Cratylus
~ Sophist
~ Theaetetus
Heraclitus!
Thank you for all your work – I love using your books!
I would very much like to read Aeschylus’s, The Agamemnon-a wonderful, wonderful play! I have the Denniston and Page edition, well-commentated, but I appreciate the rapidity with which one can read any particular work using your excellent commentary. This is slightly tangential, but I would like to read more of Herodotus’s, The Histories, in Attic Greek- I have the 1963 Bristol Classical Press’s, Tales of Herodotus, a sign of laziness!, but I am a post-beginner enthusiast.
Thank you for creating these. I really appreciate the ease of reading. Personally, I would love to have all of Homer in these editions. More realistically, I’d enjoy Tacitus or Thucydides. After them, Aristophanes. Thanks for asking. Best
I don’t think there is a need for new comments on Plato. This author has already received the most significant attention from you. I would agree with the proposal to make a commentary on Demosthenes, ancient Greek oratorical prose is wonderful.
As for Latin Literature. Tacitus is a terribly boring author. Your comment won’t save him. Juvenal is an excellent idea.
Would love anything from Diodorus Siculus!
Thank you for your wide-ranging output so far. We are a group of senior citizens who enjoy reading all Greek and Latin writers, and your volumes are appreciated for the support they give us.
Thucydides, Aristophanes, Tacitus and Juvenal would be high on our list of suggestions.
Thank you for your work.
My Wish List:
Plato Gorgias or Phaedrus
Aristotle Physica I or De Anima I
Euripides Bacchae
Aeschylus Persae
Aristophanes Birds
Herodotus II
Thucydides I
Xenophon Oeconomicus or Hiero
Thank you for making these works more accessible!
For Latin, Apuleius’s Metamorphoses would be thoroughly enjoyable. His idiosyncratic style, while entertaining, makes him challenging at times. Suetonius and Statius are two other Latin suggestions.
For Greek, authors outside the classical period of Greek literature would be welcome. Appian, Arrian, Plutarch, and Dio Cassius to name a few. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius too.
Thank you!
+1 to the Meditations, which I think would fill an important gap.
I would love to see the following:
Juvenal’s Satires
Seneca’s Tragedies
Lucan’s Civil War
Many thanks
You know what would be very, very fruitful for beginners to have? Your edition of the Euthyphro.
Euthyphro, I think, is the most accessible and the best dialogue for beginners of Ancient Greek to start reading Plato. It is short, funny, interesting, not too difficult philosophically, and does not give too much trouble to those wanting to read Plato in the original. Therefore, your help with the vocabulary and some (rarely occuring) troublesome syntax would make it ideal to start Plato. What say?
Cicero’s De Amicitia and Somnum Scipionis, please!!! I haven’t been pleased with the editions or excerpts that are out there–if anyone knows of something good, say so–and I would really love leading our advanced Latin students through these interesting and influential texts!
The final chapter of Roma Aeterna contains the Somnium Scipionis, annotated by Ørberg.
Thanks, Bellerophon. I was aware of Oerberg’s inclusion of that text, but the LLSPI method makes it more difficult to skip and dip into later parts. I am hoping for something more independent. But that can be a starting point, I guess.
Noted. De Amicitia was once part of the Collegeboard AP Latin curriculum, so the materials that were developed–and are still available–were targeting AP level students rather than year 3 students, etc.
There’s an excellent Bryn Mawr commentary on the Somnium Scipionis.
Am seconding Apuleius’s Metamorphoses.
Agree. Also, Odyssey, Book 21-24. Wondered why you had stopped at the end of Book 20? We miss your help and expertise!
I think the Agamemnon would be a great addition – it is rarely touched by undergrads on account of its complexity.
Thank you for the suggestion.
Anything written by Tacitus or Thucydides.
Thank you for the suggestions.
“On Ancient Medicine” (Also known as “De Vetere Medicina”), a treatise of the Corpus Hippocraticum.
As you may know, Nimis and Hayes published a commentary on On Airs, Waters, and Places (amazon link) and another work on Galen (amazon link). I will give it some thought. Thank you.Thank you for your suggestions, I’m aware of those works. “On Ancient Medicine” is one of the shortest treatises, but perhaps one of the most important. And, as you probably know, the texts of the Corpus Hippocraticum vary wildly. Anyway, I am immensely grateful just for your consideration.
Lysistrata!
Thank you for the suggestion. There is a lot of interest in Aristophanes.
Sappho… Or an anthology of lyric poetry
Unfortunately, a commentary on Greek lyric poetry is beyond my limitations, but I agree with you that a Pharr-formatted volume would be very attractive. Over the years several Classicists have reached out to me with their own attempts at such a commentary, but I do not think any of their efforts have reached print yet.
Are you sure that someone is actually doing Agamemmnon? The person that claimed to be annotating it on Reddit said that they had made only personal notes, without any actual intention of publishing the commentaries.
The Bio of Classics professor Louise Pratt at Emory University says that she is writing a textbook on Aeschylus’ Agamemnon as a companion to her previously published textbooks on Plato’s Symposium and the Essentials of Greek Grammar (both on Amazon here and here)
There was someone else who had started working on such a commentary, but I have not been in contact with that person for some time. If I learn more, I will share it.
Procopius of Caesarea. Some selection of the most interesting sections of “History of the Wars”, e.g. the one about the justinian plague. Perhaps even some of his ” Secret History”. By what I could find, looks like he strived to use a pure form of Attic, putting a lot of effort to explain whatever vocabulary alien to the classic period. Or Anna Komnene and her “Alexiad”. Something from the Byzantine period. Or Dionysius Thrax and his “The Art of Grammar”. But I would trade all of that plus my left arm any day to see a Pharr-formatted comentary of the “On Ancient Medicine”. (:
I would love to see more works of Greek epic verse, since those (maybe together with Plato and sacred texts) seem to be the most common motivators for beginning students.
I would like most of all to see Theogony. Its syntax and vocabulary are generally within the reach of beginning-intermediate students. It directly covers mythology which draws many people to classics (think D’Aulaires’.) Its language provides strong inroads to Homer, with some lines almost directly lifted from (or shared with?) him. The entire poem moreover fits into the space of less than a book and a half of the Iliad or Odyssey. For these reasons I find it to be the ideal candidate.
Thank you so much for the readers, they’ve made my life so much easier.
It would be amazing if you could do one for Aristotle’s politics.
Thank you for making Latin and Greek more accessible to all students studying Classics. I am very interested in reading Aeschylus or Greek Lyric poetry with my students.
Given that you’ve already done the Nicomachean Ethics Bk.1, Bk. 10 would be an addition that is desirable, as the two could be well read (and taught) together as a unit. Thanks, again, for the great work you do!
My apologies for being slow to respond. It is challenge creating Pharr-formatted editions of Aristotle because there is so much ellipsis, and I unfortunately am losing grasp of Aristotle’s idioms the longer that I am away from academia. This is why the Nicomachean editions are still betas–they need work. I do enjoy reading Aristotle and will keep your recommendation in mind. Thank you.
I want as many of Plato’s dialogues commented on as possible, including Timaeus, Parmenides, The Sophist, The Politician, and Philebus.
Thank you for the suggestions. I love reading Plato and will likely pick up a new dialogue soon.
There is already someone working on the Timaeus, and so I will certain post an update when that commentary is available.
George Rudebusch et al. have published a Pharr-formatted commentary on Plato’s Philebus that is now available on Amazon.com. It is worth a look.
Thank you once again.
Thanks Geoffrey. I’d love to see Timeaus come out. Will it be ready next year and do you have a rough idea of the date? Thanks for your hard work and merry Christmas!
Sorry, I do not have a timeline on the Timaeus commentary, since I am not personally involved in the project. I just know that a reliable author is working on it, and I expect that he will tell me when he has something available. Merry Christmas.
Hesiod’s Theogony would be great, as would 1 and 2 Maccabees (either Septuagint or Vulgate would be equally valuable).
I would love to see the beta editions (Bacchae, Thucydides, Herodotus, the Odyssey 17-20) finished and brought to print. Call me ol’ fashioned, but I really prefer having a physical copy. Other than that, anything thing from the Iliad, Herodotus, Aristophanes, or tragedy. Plato’s Gorgias or Theaetetus would also be welcome.
The Bacchae will appear this spring, but I am unsure about the timing for the rest. Pharr’s format reaches its limits with extended Greek prose–which makes Thucydides, Herodotus, and some of Plato’s longer dialogues such as the Gorgias such a challenge. In any case, I promise to reread the betas and see whether that sparks an interest in creating revisions and ultimately a paperback. Thank you for the suggestions.
No, no, thank you for all your hard work! As an amateur, without these commentaries, I would be probably have given up on greek. That said, I can see how prose stretches the limits of the format. The one thing that I would be most excited to see is a Pharr style commentary on the whole Iliad. The poem has a large vocabulary with a lot of hapax legomena. It is also the key to all subsequent greek literature (not to mention amazing). anyway, I am excited for any text that you put out. thanks again.
I want to see Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI.
If I felt more confident about the current drafts of Books 1, 2, and 3, I would do more Aristotle–especially the Nicomachean
Ethics. Thank you for the recommendation.
Thucydides, Bk 8, which, in a way, seems self-contained and different from the rest of Thucydides.
Xenophon Memorabilia, Bk 1 which students can then use to compare to the contents of the other Apology.
I have not considered Thucydides Book 8 or the Memorabilia, so I will do some extra reading this weekend. Thank you for the suggestion.
Most definitely Tacitus’ Annales I! Tacitus is one of the hardest Latin authors, yet you haven’t covered him yet.
Thank you so much for all the amazing work! Maybe some selection from Diogenes Laertius would be a great addition. I would also like to see some Plutarch in this edition, and also some lyric poetry would be great.
Noted. Thank you for the suggestions. Others have recommended Plutarch’s Life of Alexander.
One more suggestion, if I may: _Asinus aureus_. Thanks again!
I cannot thank you enough for your resources!
AP Latin is proposing new passages from the Aeneid in a few years. Is expanding your Vergil to include these a possibility?
Yes, I just learned about the proposed changes yesterday and am preparing Vergil and Pliny commentaries for the new AP curriculum, where the number of lessons corrresponds to the number of days recommended for each selection by the College Board (37 and 38 days/lesson each). I will post pdfs of drafts when they are completed. Thank you for the heads up!
Love the work that you do! Is there any chance that you could do Statesman (Politicus) of Plato? It is a particularly challenging text with interesting Greek constructions.
Geoffrey, what about the Aesop fables?.
Thanks for your hard work!.
I’d love Odyssey 1-5 (and the rest…). We’ve been sight-reading Homer with your versions, and it has been so much fun, and actually possible, compared to just having the Greek text with the need to scramble for vocabulary and grammar help.
Other than that I’d love more plays. Any of Sophocles and Euripides. Aeschylus and Aristophanes. Whatever you’d like to invest in! Thank you so much for putting the time and effort to produce these texts and for your immense generosity in making these available to us!
Thank you for the recommendations. In hindsight I wish that I had included Odyssey Book 5 with 6-8. Aristophanes’ Frogs and several books of the Iliad remain high on the to-do list.
That’s a wonderful idea! I’ve got your 6-8, if you have time to add book 5…to have help with the wonderful sea and cave images. (I already voted for Aeschylus’ Agamemnon though) – thankyou for your wonderful books!