For more than two thousand years, the Rhetoric and the Poetics of Aristotle have enjoyed the zealous acclaim of some readers and endured the hostile scrutiny of other. But, in any case, few works of antiquity have had more constant influence in western thought than have these writings. It has long been the hope of the editors of the Modern Library to include these works in complete form, and now permission to use the distinguished Oxford translations by Roberts and Bywater makes this book possible. To it, Professor Friedrich Solmsen has contributed a distinguished introduction and a body of helpful notes.