'The École française de Rome, in suggesting and publishing this collection of papers by Pierre Grimal, has honoured one scholar and served many. (...) In all there are nearly one hundred pieces, published between 1938 and 1984, covering four centuries of Latin literature and including some early contributions on monuments, inscriptions and topography, particularly in Rome. (...) The organisation of the collection is simple. The whole of the first volume and part of the second contain pieces grouped together under the names of the Latin authors they discuss, the names being arranged alphabetically. Then follow the articles on material remains and on general themes. (...) The subtitle does justice to G.'s concern with the social and intellectual context of literary works: it also reflects the priority he gives to good writing. The collection is made up largely of occasional pieces, but, even in the more scholarly contributions the style is elegant, the expression clear, and the transitions subtly managed. Dissent is courteously and urbanely conveyed. (...) In his study of tha ancient world, it is ideas that most interest G. For him ideology and philosophical doctrines are the cake, not the icing. (...) We can be grateful to have assembled such a varied collection which exhibits throughout, not only Gallic elegance, but the even rarer rationality and humanity that the study of classics is supposed to bestow.' (MIRIAM GRIFFIN in The Classical Review (New Series), 1988, pp.379-80). From the library of Prof. Carl Deroux.