Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature, and although previously there have been competent scholarly translations of it, until now there has not been a version that is a superlative literary text in its own right. Acclaimed translator Stephen Mitchell's lithe, muscular rendering allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time, to see how startlingly beautiful, intelligent, and alive it is. His insightful introduction provides a historical, spiritual, and cultural context for this ancient epic, showing that Gilgamesh is more potent and fascinating than ever. Gilgamesh dates from as early as 1700 BCE -- a thousand years before the Iliad. Lost for almost two millennia, the eleven clay tablets on which the epic was inscribed were discovered in 1853 in the ruins of Nineveh, and the text was not deciphered and fully translated until the end of the century. When the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke first read Gilgamesh in 1916, he was awestruck. "Gilgamesh is stupendous," he wrote. "I consider it to be among the greatest things that can happen to a person." The epic is the story of literature's first hero -- the king of Uruk in what is present-day Iraq -- and his journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Gilgamesh discovers that friendship can bring peace to a whole city, that a preemptive attack on a monster can have dire consequences, and that wisdom can be found only when the quest for it is abandoned. In giving voice to grief and the fear of death -- perhaps more powerfully than any book written after it -- in portraying love and vulnerability and the ego's hopeless striving for immortality, the epic has become a personal testimony for millions of readers in dozens of languages.

《罗马爱经》是古罗马乃至世界文学史上一部命运多舛的旷世奇书，一部探索男女情爱的经典之作。它与印度的《爱欲经》、中国的《素女经》一起被称为世界性爱文化的经典之作。而相对于其他两部经典，《罗马爱经》通篇洋溢着文学的诗情画意和情爱的浪漫气息；作者引用大量希腊、罗马神话中的爱情故事，以其渊博的知识和精湛的文学造诣描写男女情爱，语言精雕细琢、委婉细腻，对韵律和辞藻的运用登峰造极，即便涉及男女之事也决不伤风败俗，给人以唯美的艺术享受。 第一部分《恋情集》，诗人现身说法，歌咏了对情人科琳娜的爱情；第二部分《爱的技术》，诗要分别向男女宣讲恋爱的技巧和艺术；第三部分《情伤良方》，诗人列举各种方法帮助情场失意的男女消解内心的郁闷和痛苦。