"Roman Perseus" Texts Soon on CD-ROM

Current On-Line Coverage
On October 28, 1997, the first installment of Latin texts and tools appeared in the Perseus Digital Library. Featuring selected works of Caesar, Catullus, Cicero, Horace, Ovid, and Vergil, among others, the first release of what is known as "Roman Perseus" had as its centerpiece the Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary and the Latin morphological analysis tool. The release of the Latin texts has generated a large volume of e-mail, much of it requesting more authors and works. A proposal to continue with the second phase of the Roman work was recently submitted to the NEH. Based in large part on the needs of Latin teachers, this proposal, if successful, will begin to address some of the coverage gaps in the Perseus library. Regardless of the status of the proposal, work on adding more texts and commentaries is continuing under the present grant.
"PIP" Paves the Way for a Roman CD-ROM
The recent development of Platform Independent Perseus 2 ("PIP") has laid the foundation for new Perseus software. Faster, more stable, and easier to use than previous Perseus software, PIP (see the feature article on PIP) will be the model for the first Roman Perseus CD release. Just as years of work on the Greek morphological tools eased the development of companion tools for Latin, the programming on PIP will significantly expedite the creation of the Roman Perseus software. Moreover, the scope of this first release will be much smaller than that of either Perseus 1.0 or Perseus 2.0, making the process of CD publication more manageable.
Beta Testing to begin in early 1999
Correspondence and conversations with our users indicate that while the on-line Perseus materials are popular, there is a great demand for a CD release. Although the World Wide Web reaches a large and diverse audience, many users complain that their Internet access is limited. The ever-increasing volume of Internet traffic often means slow or interrupted access for visitors to the on-line Perseus library. Other factors, such as the expense of on-line services, limited bandwidth or modem speed, and unexpected power interruptions, are unwelcome disruptions to on-line Latin reading. A CD-ROM version of the Latin texts and tools will provide those whose Internet access is limited with their own copy of Roman Perseus materials. Additionally, the Roman Perseus software will allow the user to choose the source of the data: one can access the materials from the CDs or from the Perseus Digital Library. So, those who enjoy speedy 'Net access at school may wish to work with data from the Perseus servers during the course of the day and then switch to running Roman Perseus from the CDs on their home computers at night.
Following closely upon the delivery of the PIP software to the distributor, Yale University Press, Roman Perseus will be initially published by the Perseus Project. The Roman CD will feature Caesar's Gallic War, selected speeches of Cicero, Horace's Odes, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and the complete works of Vergil, among others. It will also include the Lewis's Elementary Latin Dictionary, English word searching, and Latin word tools. Like PIP, Roman Perseus will run on both Macintosh® and Windows® (95, 98, and NT). The target date for the commencement of beta testing of the Roman Perseus software is March 1, 1999. All information will be posted prominently on the home page of the Perseus Digital Library.

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document placed on-line 12/29/98, LMC