Exoticorum libri decem Exoticorum libri decem Exoticorum libri decem ("Ten books of exotic life forms") is an illustrated zoological and botanical compendium in Latin, published at Leiden in 1605 by Charles de l'Écluse. On the title page the author's name appears in its well-known Latin form Carolus Clusius. The full title is: "Exoticorum libri decem, quibus animalium, plantarum, aromatum, aliorumque peregrinorum fructuum historiae describuntur" ("Ten books of exotica: the history and uses of animals, plants, aromatics and other natural products from distant lands"). Clusius was not only an original biologist but also a remarkable linguist. He became well known as a translator and
Latin poetry Latin poetry The history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models. The verse comedies of Plautus are considered the earliest surviving examples of Latin literature and are estimated to have been composed around 205-184 BC. The start of Latin literature is conventionally dated to the first performance of a play in verse by a Greek slave, Livius Andronicus, at Rome in 240 BC. Livius translated Greek New Comedy for Roman audiences, using meters that were basically those of Greek drama, modified to the needs of Latin. His successors Plautus and Terence further refined the borrowings