Harvard Classics

Introductory note on Sophocles (Volume 8, Harvard Classics)

Antigone, an orphan princess, defies a king's mandate and risks her life to do her duty to her brother. What is this duty which her brother calls her to perform and the king forbids? (Volume 8, Harvard Classics)

Sophocles died at Athens, Jan. 30. 405 B. C.

Introductory note on Charles Darwin (#2) (Volume 29, Harvard Classics)

South of Patagonia is Tierra del Fuego - "The Land of Fire." The natives of that primitive country are today almost extinct. Darwin made a careful and vitally interesting study of that land and its ill-fated inhabitants. (Volume 29, Harvard Classics)

Darwin married Emma Wedgewood, Jan. 29, 1839.

Introductory note on Thomas à Kempis (Volume 7, Harvard Classics)

A pure heart, says Thomas à Kempis, comprehends the very depths of Heaven and Hell. And it is by the wings of simplicity and purity that man is lifted above all earthly things. (Volume 7, Harvard Classics)

Introductory note on Dante Alighieri (Volume 20, Harvard Classics)

Dante fell madly in love with Beatrice at first sight; but it is doubted if he ever spoke to her in this world. He tells of his happy meeting with Beatrice in Paradise. (Volume 20, Harvard Classics)

Dante victim of political persecution in Florence, Jan. 27, 1302.

Introductory note on Herodotus (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)

A king who entombed his daughter in a golden cow --- the worship of the bull and the cat --- scandal of the court and the gossip of the temples is given by Herodotus in his delightful story of old Egypt. (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)