Maps of the Classics Not so long ago, well-educated people could read classic literary texts in their original language. Today it is possible to teach in a university without being able to read any language other than your own. WexYork Compact Classics have been prepared to offer classic texts in abridged and translated form along with brief introductions and basic notes - nothing too scholarly and specialised. They are not versions, adaptations or re-workings of their originals: simply guides bearing the same sort of relationship to texts that maps do to the territory they describe, in no way replacing them.