Horace

I re-read the odes, over a few weeks. I did not study these in school, possibly a blessing: one of my Russian friends tells me she can't enjoy Pushkin, ever since school. About forty years ago I became aware of the central place Q. Horatius Flaccus occupies in European civilization, and determined to get to grips with him. I've bought and inherited some material, over the years. Three slim volumes, and three fatter ones:

[1] A.H. Allcroft and B.J. Hayes (eds). Horace, Odes, Book I. Text and Notes. London. W.B. Clive. No date. Marked 2/- for second-hand sale.
Possibly belonged to my Uncle Billy, who finished at Synge St. CBS in the early 30's. Then again, I may have bought it somewhere, or it might have been Aunt Peggy's. Those two were the only two in my mother's family to complete secondary school. Includes an elaborate account of metres, besides the usual biography, dates, commentary, and vocabulary.
[2] Stephen Gwynn (ed). The Odes of Horace. Book III. Blackie. London, Glasgow and Bombay. No date. One colour plate. Once belonged to A. Lafferty.
[3] T.E. Page. Horace Odes IV. MacMillan 1933. Resold in Green's of Clare St. Owned by D.P. Moffitt, and by L. Sexton, of Ballineen, Ennis Road, Limerick and 64 O'Connell St., Limerick. Many (B+W) illustrations, with interesting commentary. All three of these school texts have extensive vocabularies, tailored to the volume in question.
[4] Horace Odes and Epodes, edited by C.E. Bennett and revised by J.C. Rolfe. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, etc. 1968. Bought this at Brown, in 1970. Text, followed by elaborate notes and commentary, but he expects you to work with a separate dictionary. This is a university text. In effect, he rubbishes what the English editors have to say about the metrical structure, and he has some interesting suggestions about pronunciation.
[5] Anon. The Complete Works of Horace. The original text reduced to the natural English order, with a literal interlinear translation. David McKay. New York. 1964 reprint. (Original Arthur Hinds, 1894). Also bought Brown, 1970, for $3.50. A brutal crib, but very handy, after you get a first impression of the text.
[6] James Michie. The Odes of Horace. Rupert Hart-Davis. 1964. This gives a very free verse translation (using unrelated metres suitable for English). This copy has been around: Simon J. Armad?, Sept 1981, Clare College. Lancashire Library (withdrawn from circulation). It came with some typed notes, as well as the usual (mostly pencil) glosses one finds in all the second-hand texts. Michie's objective was to make Horace accessible, and to compose English verse.

The commentators all agree that Horace had essentially nothing original to say, and that his fame rests on the utter perfection of his way of expressing the ideas. Gwynn says of the odes: "They are undoubtedly the best-known poetry in the world. If every copy of them were destroyed to-morrow, it would be easy to form for instance a committee of the House of Commons, which could restore from memory the entire text with in a week." This was written some time ago, and one doubts that it remains true. My own preference is for content over form, but one has to take seriously a writer of this reputation and perenniel impact. I found it hard work, when first I slogged though [4], using [5] as a crutch. For someone starting in, I think I'd recommend using [6], first. Read the Latin aloud. Then read the English on the opposite page, and go back. Later, poke at the details, referring to whatever you have handy, which should include a decent dictionary. It repays any effort expended.