(Paperback)

Examines the varied ways in which cultured Roman aristocrats, of very different periods, used their country estates as retreats in which to compose literature and to escape from politics, while others adapted that same tradition of otium ('cultured leisure') to present radical and competing visions of society and literature alike.

(Hardback)

Examines the varied ways in which cultured Roman aristocrats, of very different periods, used their country estates as retreats in which to compose literature and to escape from politics, while others adapted that same tradition of otium ('cultured leisure') to present radical and competing visions of society and literature alike.