Exegi monumentum aere perennius. (Carm. 3. XXX.) SONNET. Look thee, kind Flaccus-genial Cynic-Sage; Thy Monument endures! No North-wind's rage, Nor Rain-drifts harm, though crowding Cycles flit, But Pontiff: ay, Proud Capitol—with it, Thy Vestal, too—are dust, this many an age. Nor burgeons now, thy Fame, as dream't of yore, *The modern name of the Aufidus River. "There are only few books worth reading often and much; but CONTENTS. To Melpomene-The Poet's Monument... Life of Horace.... XXVII. To his Companions-A drinking quarrel, and IX. To Thaliarchus-Soracte, Epicureanism, etc.54–57 To Leuconoë-pessimism, and warning.....56-57 XIV. To Postumus-The flight, and futility of life.58-59 54-55 To Fuscus-Another incident of the Sabine- etc.... 94-97 Notes to the Essay and 'Journey' The Journey to Brundusium, Satire 1. V... Translation, Metrical and Prose Translation, The Translator, Ancient Quantity and Modern Accent, Characteristics and Special Difficulties of the Horatian Poems, etc........162–176 Postscript. Including examples of practice and liberties of the principal rhyming translators, general discussion, etc. 177-207 Addenda-Ode 2. X. Prose renderings of extracts from Satire 2. VI, and of Epode 2: Rhymed versions of Odes 1. V and 1. XXXVIII.... .208-216 .110-111 .111-136 .137-149 150-151 .152-161 PREFACE. ""Tis hard to venture where our betters fail, -BYRON (Hints from Horace). The accompanying "Life of Horace," as compiled from the more strictly biographical features of his writings, is sufficiently explained by the introduction and notes thereto: the longer poems, such as the Epistle to the Pisos, or Art of Poetry, etc. and the fragments of more general character, having been added as appropriately, however partially, illustrating some of his characteristic views and philosophy. Satire 1. V, with the essay thereon, or "The Famous Journey of Horace," is a reprint kindly authorized by the Bibliophile Society: hence its present appearance, with a separate introduction, in somewhat irregular sequence. The metaphrastic method of translation here adopted is novel as regards a faithful adherence not only to the line, but largely to the word, as well as phrase order of the original text, with which a close comparison is invited. In the matter of structure, it has not been sought to do more than fairly approximate the difficult metrical forms of the models, since these appear to be unattainable, in any practicable sense, in English translations. The work, generally, is designed to meet some of the chief objections and difficulties affecting the more conventional translation renderings of Horatian poems which are discussed by the authorities cited in the Appendix. And, in seeking thus to avoid the distortion, personal obtrusion, and irrelevant jingle which, in one form or another, so often attend the rhyming translations, and, as well, the colorless aloofness necessarily characterizing mere prose versions, whatever risk there may be of a certain mechanical effect, or of occasional obscurity, has been frankly accepted. Especially as this latter feature, the obscurity, namely, is equally to be found in the work of both commentators and prose translators-notwithstanding an ample freedom of textual arrangement which the latter enjoy-and, for its correction involves a dangerous, as well as presumptuous, assumption of authority. Drawbacks of the kind last here referred to inevitably attend metaphrastic renderings of the classic structures, but nevertheless such renderings would seem to be most consistent with loyalty to the author, or, at worst, the better choice between necessary evils. The more so if the work of the translator is carried out in a consistently faithful and self-effacing spirit; with due rejection of his everpresent temptation to convert the model into either a personal gloss, or a palimpsest. Such treatment, aside from any shortcomings of its present experimental application, would seem to be reasonably workable with the longer poems-what Horace styled his sermoni propiora, or nearer prose than versehowever doubtful its sufficiency where the more compact and dainty exhibitions of his art are concerned. But, in any case, it should afford assistance to beginners, and to those who seek a revival of half-forgotten acquaintance with the Horatian masterpieces, however inadequate as reproductions these or any translations must necessarily be. In point of fact, the lack of material of this sort to assist my own beginnings or further wanderings in classical poetic literature, together with an increasing impatience over the fantastic inadequacy of the accepted rhyming translations, may account for and perhaps excuse the work here found. A work which has none the less been an agreeable diversion in the course of somewhat active professional occupations, and chiefly possible during the comparative leisure of "a chance of travel" of recent years in remote regions. The present collection and printing of my efforts is in the nature of a ballon d'essai; for better scrutiny, and as a |