This collective book surveys the presence and function of philosophy in Roman poetry, finding philosophy in less predictable contexts (before 155 B.C., for instance, or in Valerius Flaccus), or replacing a monolithic view of the philosophical engagement of authors such as Lucretius and Lucan with a more nuanced one. The ten essays, summarized in the Introduction (xi–xxvii), are organised in chronological order, and they cover in a fairly methodical fashion a long stretch of Latin literature, from archaic texts to Flavian epic. The book is completed by a general bibliography (298–330), an Index Locorum (331–50), and a short General Index (351–54).

In terms of overall philosophical influence some points emerge clearly: Empedocles is very influential, especially on late Republican authors; interest in Epicurus is more limited (Lucretius, Horace and, minimally, Vergil)and is primarily mediated by Philodemus; Stoicism, clearly the Hellenistic philosophy most compatible with the Roman Weltanschauung, is a pervasive presence throughout Latin literature.