AN INFLUENTIAL Latin scholar at Oxford’s Corpus Christi College has died at the age of 87.

Prof Robin Nisbet carried out an important study of the Roman philosopher Cicero and put together a commentary on the first three books of Roman poet Horace’s Odes.

He also produced a range of essays on the literary and textual criticism of Latin poets from Catullus to Juvenal.

Prof Nisbet played an important role in the administration of classics at Oxford University and helped establish the study of classical literature as part of the final honours course in the subject.

Known professionally as RGM Nisbet, he was born on May 21, 1925 into an academic family.

His father was a lecturer at the University of Glasgow where he himself went to study before coming to Oxford’s Balliol College to read for a second undergraduate degree in classics.

Prof Nisbet moved to Corpus Christi College as a junior research fellow in 1951, where he was appointed as a tutorial fellow the next year.

The first scholarly book he wrote was a commentary on Cicero’s In Pisonem in 1961.

In 1969 he married Anne Wood, with whom he had worked closely as college secretary.

The pair moved to Cumnor where they remained together until Anne died in 2004. They did not have any children.

He was elected as Corpus Professor of Latin in 1970 and supervised a large proportion of the doctoral students in Latin of the 1970s and 1980s.

He retired in 1992 and was elected to an honorary fellowship at Corpus, and continued to visit the college weekly until ill-health prevented him from doing so.

Prof Nisbet died on May 14 and his funeral will take place at St Michael’s Church in Cumnor on Monday.