Introductory note on Buddha (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)

Siddhartha Gautama, who became the god Buddha, renounced the world and spent seven years in meditation. Then one day, while sitting under a fig tree, he became inspired with exalted and sublime conceptions of life and death. The rest of his life was spent in teaching and converting mankind. (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)

Introductory note on Benjamin Franklin (Volume 1, Harvard Classics)

Poor at twenty, rich at forty, internationally famous at fifty. Benjamin Franklin once walked the streets of Philadelphia alone, poor, and with no education. Yet he rose to be a leader because he learned the secret of careful reading. (Volume 1, Harvard Classics)

Franklin made U. S. plenipotentiary in France, Oct. 26, 1778.

Introductory note on Thomas Babington Macaulay (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)

After the publication of Machiavelli's "The Prince," the Sultans became more addicted to strangling their brothers, tyrants became more merciless, and murderous plots increased. The influence of that book, as Macaulay points out, spread over Europe and Asia. (Volume 27, Harvard Classics)

Thomas Babington Lord Macaulay born Oct. 25, 1800.

Introductory note on Aeschylus (Volume 8, Harvard Classics)

Cassandra knew through a prophetic vision that a sword would pierce her heart. Agamemnon, her captor, took her to his home where an avenging wife, Clytemnestra, awaited. The tragedies of the doom that requited the sins of the House of Atreus are among the most powerful ever written. (Volume 8, Harvard Classics)

Introductory note on Plutarch (Volume 12, Harvard Classics)

When only a boy, Cæsar was captured by pirates. While awaiting ransom he entered into every sport and game with them. Once freed, he quickly returned with forces that captured the outlaws. Then he took deliberate revenge. (Volume 12, Harvard Classics)