Foreword

The legacy of Professor Peter L. Smith at the University of Victoria is great. Born in Victoria, Peter graduated high school with the highest marks in the province and took his undergraduate degrees at Victoria College and the University of British Columbia. Having won the Governor General’s Award he attended Yale University where he wrote his PhD focused on the Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric Ausonius. He then had a brief teaching year in Ottawa, but by the early 1960s Peter was home again and began his professional career as a teacher and administrator with the newly formed University of Victoria. In addition to his Classical scholarship, which focused on Latin lyric poetry and drama, Peter wrote a history of the university, A Multitude of the Wise: UVic Remembered (1994) reflecting on the many transformations he witnessed here as UVic became a world-renowned university. Peter had an exacting but jovial manner that students and colleagues can never forget. His demand for excellence impressed anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.

The Department of Greek and Roman Studies is extremely happy to have assisted the University of Victoria library staff with the publication of this textbook which served one of the many popular courses Peter taught for our Department. This book would not be possible without the help and support of Peter’s family, and we gratefully acknowledge his wife Mary Jean, his son Dr. Daniel Hinman-Smith, and daughter Sarah Smith.

The open-access publication of this book in digital format, freely available, follows very much in character with Peter’s efforts to enrich the educational life of students of British Columbia. This book serves as a lasting memorial to one of the University of Victoria’s most revered teachers and friends.

Dr. Brendan Burke
Associate Professor and Department Chair
Department of Greek and Roman Studies
University of Victoria