title: The Art of the Epigraph: How Great Books Begin
author: Rosemary Ahern
description: <b>Rosemary Ahern</b> is a writer and editor living in New Yorks Hudson Valley.
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  ![9780062374462_Cover.jpg](../images/9780062374462_Cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/Titlepage.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [DEDICATION](9780062374462_Contents.xhtml#r_idParaDest-1)
  
  
  **TO NINA, SAM, AND EMMA**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [ACKNOWLEDGMENTS](9780062374462_Contents.xhtml#r_idParaDest-2)
  
  
  _Special thanks to the people who helped me with this project: Rosemary
  Brosnan, Lello Coppola, Melanie Weil Goldman, Andrew Eliopulos, Alan Kors,
  David Lubar, Kelly Eckel Mahoney, Ellen Graff Roberts, Liza Voges, Nina
  Wallace, and Allen Winningham._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [EPIGRAPH](9780062374462_Contents.xhtml#r_idParaDest-3)
  
  
  You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting
  of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives,
  trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or
  that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their
  terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still m