The Odes of Horace (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity)

206 Pages·2008·0.46 MB·English

by  Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)

The Odes of Horace

The Odes of Horace
Translated by Je=rey H. Kaimowitz
Introduction by Ronnie Ancona
The Johns Hopkins University Press
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© 2008 The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
Horace.
[Carmina. English]
The odes of Horace / translated by Je=rey H. Kaimowitz ; introduction by Ronnie Ancona.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-8995-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8018-8995-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-8996-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8018-8996-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Horace—Translations into English. 2. Laudatory poetry, Latin—Translations into
English. 3. Verse satire, Latin—Translations into English. 4. Rome—Poetry. I. Kaimowitz,
Je=rey H. II. Title.
PA6395.K35 2008
874(cid:2).01—dc22 2008007275
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Contents
Preface vii
Translator’s Note ix
Introduction, by Ronnie Ancona xvii
The Odes of Horace 1
Book I 3
Book II 55
Book III 89
Book IV 143
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
Still another translation of Horace’s Odes? Yes, because in this metrical
translation I hope to have brought something new to the ever quixotic
challenge of trying to render Horace’s inimitable lyric poems in English.
All the versions are o=ered in verse schemes reminiscent of Horace’s
meters but fi rmly based on English prosody; I comment on metrics at
greater length in the Translator’s Note. My goal has been literary. The
translations are intended as poems in their own right. Though I have
worked to keep as close to the original as possible, literary values, includ-
ing metrical discipline, lead to results that are not always literal. For ex-
ample, references are sometimes modifi ed for the sake of more immedi-
ate clarity and comprehension and are occasionally omitted entirely, if I
feel this can be done without sacrifi cing the overall meaning and move-
ment of the poem. The basic Latin text I have employed is the fi fth edi-
tion of Horace’s works, edited by F. Klingner and published by Teubner.
A list of points in the Odes where I have used readings other than those
of Klingner appears at the end of the Translator’s Note. To facilitate com-
prehension and accessibility, I have annotated the translation throughout,
explaining various references. The notes are generally not intended to be
interpretative; the textual choices and the translation itself seem inter-
pretation enough. For the sake of convenience, annotation for a name or
topic that appears more than once is usually repeated or provided with a
cross reference.
There are many whose help I have enjoyed during the genesis of this
translation. The late Hugh Ogden and the late Millie Silvestri were very
supportive in the early stages of the project. I also appreciate the encour-
agement I received from the editors of Classical World, the Formalist, and
Connecticut Review by their publication of versions of the translations in
their journals. Jayne Gaebel and Robert Gaebel each carefully read and
commented on the completed translation, and Robert Palter similarly read
and commented on the fi rst two books, and for this I owe all three of them
a great debt. In addition, the comments of the Johns Hopkins Press’s out-
side reader were extremely helpful. I also want to thank Michael Lonegro,
acquisitions editor for humanities and ancient studies at the Johns Hop-
kins University Press, for championing this translation; Ronnie Ancona,
for her fi ne introduction, which so beautifully contextualizes and intro-
viii PREFACE
duces Horace and his poetry; and Barbara Lamb, for her expert copyedit-
ing. Most of all, I am grateful to my wonderful wife, Llyn, with whom I
have shared over the years many of the drafts of the poems and whose
encouragement, patience, and hardheaded feedback have been of inesti-
mable help.
Translator’s Note
Reading the Odes
The Odes of Horace present a complex array of subjects and infl uences. The
varied themes include a great deal about the enjoyment of life and aware-
ness of its evanescence, friendship, amorous love and hate, patriotic refl ec-
tions on the Roman state, mythology, the beauty and simplicity of country
life, the poetic vocation, and all this through the lens of Horace’s often
bemused but sympathetic eye. There is also the panoply of Greek authors
who infl uenced Horace’s writing, explicitly and implicitly, including his
innovations in metrics, unique in its range and extent in Roman poetry.
Thus he makes frequent mention of Aeolic poetry, song native to the island
of Lesbos, whose two great exponents were Alcaeus and Sappho. He also
refers to the delicate poetry of Anacreon of Teos and to the powerful verse
of the great choral poet Pindar of Thebes, whose infl uence is crucial in the
complex architecture of many of Horace’s poems. At the same time, the
infl uence of the themes and sophisticated pose of Hellenistic Greek poetry,
notably the epigram, though not acknowledged explicitly, is evident in
many of the Odes, as well as the infl uence of Hellenistic philosophy, notably
Epicureanism and Stoicism. Though striking out on a new departure for
Roman poetry, Horace’s work also refl ects the infl uence of distinguished
Latin writers who were his predecessors and contemporaries—writers
like Ennius, Catullus, Lucretius, Vergil, and the writers of Roman elegy.
One of the most attractive and striking characteristics of Horace’s
poetry is his use of language. Horace’s ideals in writing are evident in the
verse itself, but we are also fortunate to have his explicit statement of what
he valued in his art, particularly with regard to diction and word placement,
in his literary epistles, especially the last of the series, Epistle II.3, The Art
of Poetry. Here are two revealing passages:1
Take material, would-be writers, suited to your
strength and ponder long what your shoulders will and will not
1. The translation is my own; the text follows D. R. Shackleton Bailey’s edition (Stuttgart:
Teubner, 1985), but without emending potenter (according to his talents) to pudenter (with a
proper sense of restraint) in line 40; see the commentary of Niall Rudd in Horace Epistles,
Book II, and Epistle to the Pisones (‘Ars Poetica’) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1989), 155– 56.