The reader will get acquainted with outstanding examples of ancient Greek (Tirtei, Archilochus, Sappho, Anacreont, Pindar and others) and ancient Roman (Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid and others) lyrics. A special section of the book gives an idea of ​ ​ the tradition of translating ancient authors in Russian poetry from A. D. Kantemir to A. A. Blok.