A POETICAL TRANSLATION OF THE WORKS OF HORACE, With The Original Text And Critical Notes Collected From His Best Latin And French Commentators

4 volumes. A New Edition, With additional notes by Edward Du Bois. Small 8vo, bound in contemporary three-quarter calf over blue-green cloth covered boards, the joins tooled in blind, the spines with raised bands gilt ruled, compartments of the spine with central gilt tooled ornaments, two compartments with black lettering labels gilt xxii, 335; [ii], 395; [ii], 345 [1]; [ii], 341 pp. A handsome set, the bindings in very good order, tight and strong, the text-blocks clean, some light rubbing to the tips, one lettering label lost.

Edizione: scarce early printing of francis’ horace into english. includes the odes, epodes, epistles, satires, and several miscellaneous writings. francis was generally unsuccessful as a poet and dramatist, though this translation was held in high regard by his contemporaries.<br> horace, although indebted to the poetry of catullus, lucretius, and vergil among other roman predecessors and contemporaries, represents the pinnacle of the roman lyric achievement. his claim to have transferred into latin the lyric meters of the greeks (archilochus, sappho, alcaeus, xenophanes, theognis and the other lyricists) is unique and unrivaled. the primary characteristic of lyric is its musicality: the variation and repetition of more complex metrical rhythms. the themes of lyric are also varied and include epic heroism, philosophy, politics, religious ritual, the pains and pleasures of life such as banqueting, singing, lovemaking, old age and mortality. lyric by definition combines genres (brevity of expression combined with grand themes) and becomes a depiction of the human experience with all its many contradictions, joys, and sadness. horatian lyric incorporates all these themes within a compressed poetic form. horatian style is deceptive: common words, ideas, and rhythms often mask a sensitivity and depth of thought accomplished through word order and structure. such subtleness, cleverness, humor, and attention to nuance are horace’s strengths, and the tradition of western literature is in his debt. to read horace is to learn the art of poetry.