Variety ─ The Life of a Roman Concept

At first sight, the idea of variety may seem too diffuse, obvious, or nebulous for deeper scrutiny, but modern usage masks the richness of the long history of the term. This book examines the meaning, value, and practice of variety from the vantage point of Latin literature and its reception and reveals the enduring importance of the concept of variety up to the present day.

William Fitzgerald looks at the definition and use of the Latin term varietas and how the notion of variety has played out in different works and authors. He shows that, starting with the Romans, variety has played a key role in our thinking about nature, rhetoric, creativity, pleasure, aesthetics, and empire. From the lyric to elegy and satire, the concept of variety has helped to characterize and distinguish different genres. Arguing that these ancient Roman ideas and controversies about the value of variety have had a significant afterlife up to our own time, Fitzgerald reveals how modern understandings of diversity and choice derive from what is ultimately an ancient concept.

William Fitzgerald is professor of Latin language and literature at King’s College London. He is the author of several books, includingMartial: The World of the Epigram, also published by the University of Chicago Press.