Pepin, Ronald E.

About the author: Ronald E. Pepin received his PhD in Classics from Fordham University. He is a Professor of Humanities at Capital Community-Technical College in Hartford, Connecticut. Author of numerous articles in scholarly journals, Dr. Pepin has also published Literature of Satire in the Twelfth Century; Scorn for the World: Bernard of Cluny’s De Contemptu Mundi; and The Satires of Lodovico Sergardi.

An English Translation of Auctores Octo; a Medieval Reader

1999 0-7734-7951-1
Provides accurate English translations of eight Latin texts used extensively in schools during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. The Auctores Octo (“eight authors”) was employed to impart moral values to youth and to teach them the Latin language. Among the works included are the famous Distichs of Cato and Eclogue of Theodulus, as well as collections of proverbs, fables, and a Biblical epyllion (Tobias). These are now made available in English for the first time as a complete set. Each work is prefaced by an essay on its author and content; a general introduction traces the history and vast influence of the “Eight Authors” over several centuries in European life and letters. The translation is based directly on an edition of Auctores Octo published at Lyon in 1538, collated against modern editions of the Latin where they exist. This book of ancient prestige and prominence is here offered anew in clear English prose to scholars of medieval and early Renaissance studies.

Literature of Satire in the Twelfth Century a Neglected Mediaeval Genre

1989 0-88946-316-6
Recent anthologies give the impression that formal satire faded with Juvenal or Apuleius and did not reappear until Erasmus. This neglect of the entire medieval period omits the most prolific era for Latin verse satire in literary history, an oversight this study rectifies.