Cornelius Nepos was a Roman biographer who lived in the first century BC. His simple style of writing has made him a comparatively easy and popular author for use in Latin classes at early school level. This book contains the Latin text of his Lives of Alcibiades, Dion and Atticus, with a short historical introduction and illustrations.

This edition contains three of Nepos' short biographies, and aims to provide beginners with an early means of escape from synthetic Latin. There is a useful general introduction, and further introductions to each Life, a short English summary before each chapter, and annotation that helps with both subject matter and points of syntax and grammar which might present difficulties to the intelligent beginner. The volume ends with a full index of proper names and a comprehensive vocabulary. The lives of Alcibiades, Dion and Atticus were selected for their literary associations and to emphasise continuity between the worlds of Greece and Rome.