The Roman word carmen , usually translated as song, Thomas Habinek argues, encompasses a rang of practices including ritualized speech, poetry and storytelling. In this study he seeks to explore the world of verbal production and its significance for Roman culture, and how mastering and controlling it was a means to power. 'Ritual mastery of the chaos of everyday life, embodied and enacted in song, produced and transmitted the beliefs on which Roman culture was founded and by which Roman communities were sustained'. With Latin extracts given and translated into English throughout, Habinek examines the performance of rites of the Salian priests, and the fraternal societies, the Roman lore of the origins of song, song as a bodily practice, its relationship to play, and its differentiation from other practices, and resistance to the power brought by the mastery of song. A challenging read.