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scipio_africanus's review
5.0
Passionate, Eloquent, and Manly. From politics to unrequited love. The epitome of Roman poetry. Cant reccomend it enough. A time capsule and window into another world full of war, love, and intrigue. Inspiration for Shakespeare and other great poets and writers.
jramm's review
4.0
In the Introduction, Translator David Ferry says that his translation seeks to emulate Horace's "formal variety by working in a variety ... of metrical lines...) Ferry seems to take this a step further than admitted in the Introduction with several poems exhurberant with exclamations, very modern informal phrasing and word choice (imho). The "volatility of tone" in Horace comes shining through.
An example:
To the Republic - Horace
O ship, O battered ship, the backward running waves
Are taking you out to sea again! Oh what to do?
Oh don't you see? Oh make for port! The wind's gone wild!
Your sails are torn! Your mast is shaking! Your oars are gone!
Your onboard gods gone overboard! How long, how long
Can the eggshell hull so frail hold out? Oh ship so proud,
Your famous name, your gilded stern, your polished decks,
Your polished brass, so useless now, O storm's play thing,
O ship my care, beware, beware the Cyclades!
An example:
To the Republic - Horace
O ship, O battered ship, the backward running waves
Are taking you out to sea again! Oh what to do?
Oh don't you see? Oh make for port! The wind's gone wild!
Your sails are torn! Your mast is shaking! Your oars are gone!
Your onboard gods gone overboard! How long, how long
Can the eggshell hull so frail hold out? Oh ship so proud,
Your famous name, your gilded stern, your polished decks,
Your polished brass, so useless now, O storm's play thing,
O ship my care, beware, beware the Cyclades!
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