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Juvenal: Satires Book V

John Godwin

Juvenal’s fifth and last book of Satires consists of three complete poems and one fragment. The poems offer a scandalised exposure of human folly and vice, but the poet also appears to be promoting ... More

Juvenal’s fifth and last book of Satires consists of three complete poems and one fragment. The poems offer a scandalised exposure of human folly and vice, but the poet also appears to be promoting the value of human life and the need to accept our lives without worshipping the false gods of money, power or superstition—and this is delivered in the hugely entertaining tones of a great master of the Latin language. Satires 13 and 14 both deal with the need to use money without being enslaved by avarice, Satire 15 is an astonishing description of the cannibalism perpetrated in a vicious war in Egypt, while the final unfinished poem in the collection looks from a worm’s-eye view at the advantages enjoyed by men enlisted in the Praetorian guard. The Introduction sets Juvenal in the history of Roman Satire, explores the style of the poems and also asks how far they can be read as in any sense serious, given the ironic pose adopted by the satirist. The text is accompanied by a literal English translation and the commentary (which is keyed to important words in the translation and aims to be accessible to readers with little or no Latin) seeks to explain both the factual background to the poems and also the literary qualities which make this poetry exciting and moving to a modern audience.Less

Juvenal Satires: Book IV

Juvenal's fourth book of Satires consists of three poems which are all concerned with contentment in various forms. The poems use humour and wit to puncture the pretensions of the foolish and the ... More

Juvenal's fourth book of Satires consists of three poems which are all concerned with contentment in various forms. The poems use humour and wit to puncture the pretensions of the foolish and the wicked, urging an acceptance of our lives and a more positive stance towards life and death by mockery of the pompous and comic description of the rich and famous. In Satire 10, Juvenal examines the human desire to be rich, famous, attractive and powerful and dismisses all these goals as not worth striving for. In Satires 11 and 12, he argues for the simple life which can deliver genuine happiness rather than risking the decadence of luxury and the perils of sea-travel and legacy-hunting. Self-knowledge and true friendship are the moral heart of these poems; but they are also complex literary constructs in which the figure of the speaker can be elusive and the ironic tone can cast doubt on the message being imparted. The Introduction places Juvenal in the history of Satire and also explores the style of the poems as well as the degree to which they can be read as in any sense documents of real life. The text is accompanied by a literal English translation and the commentary is keyed to important words in the translation and aims to be accessible to readers with little or no Latin. It seeks to explain both the factual background to the poems and also the literary qualities which make this poetry exciting and moving to a modern audience.Less

The Roman Hannibal: Remembering the Enemy in Silius Italicus' Punica

Claire Stocks

SiliusItalicus’ Punica, the longest surviving epic in Latin literature, has seen a resurgence of interest among scholars in recent years. A celebration of Rome's triumph over Hannibal and Carthage ... More

SiliusItalicus’ Punica, the longest surviving epic in Latin literature, has seen a resurgence of interest among scholars in recent years. A celebration of Rome's triumph over Hannibal and Carthage during the second Punic war, Silius’ poem presents a plethora of familiar names to its readers: Fabius Maximus, Claudius Marcellus, Scipio Africanus and, of course, Rome's ‘ultimate enemy’ – Hannibal. Where most recent scholarship on the Punicahas focused its attention on the problematic portrayal of Scipio Africanus as a hero for Rome, this book shifts the focus to Carthage and offers a new reading of Hannibal's place inSilius’ epic, and in Rome's literary culture at large. Celebrated and demonised in equal measure, Hannibal became something of an anti-hero for Rome; a man who acquired mythic status, and was condemned by Rome's authors for his supposed greed and cruelty, yet admired for his military acumen. For the first time this book provides a comprehensive overview of this multi-faceted Hannibal as he appears in the Punica and suggests that Silius’ portrayal of him can be read as the culmination to Rome's centuries-long engagement with the Carthaginian in its literature. The works of Polybius, Livy, Virgil, and the post Virgilianepicists all have a bit-part in this book, which aims to show that SiliusItalicus’ Punicais as much an example of how Rome remembered its past, as it is a text striving to join Rome's epic canon.Less

Herodas: Mimiambs

Graham Zanker (ed.)

Before the publication of the second-century AD papyrus containing eight and a fragmentary ninth of the Mimiambs of Herodas in 1891, Herodas was known only through approximately twenty lines which ... More

Before the publication of the second-century AD papyrus containing eight and a fragmentary ninth of the Mimiambs of Herodas in 1891, Herodas was known only through approximately twenty lines which had survived in quotations found principally in Athenaios and Stobaios. Even after the publication of the papyrus and subsequent work on it, scarcely anything is known of their author. The scant evidence that has survived suggests that he lived in during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphos (285-247 BC), on the island of Kos, and was a direct contemporary of the greatest of the Hellenistic poets, Callimachus, Theocritus and Apollonius. His Mimiambs are short humorous dramatic scenes written in verse, often bawdy, reflecting everyday life and dialect. This book explores what we do know of the poet including the language, dialect and metre that he uses. Each poem is translated and accompanied by an individual commentary with synopsis, information on date, setting, sources and purpose, as well as close examination of vocabulary and grammar. This edition reveals Herodas' work in all its skill and subtlety.Less

Lucretius: De Rerum Natura: Book V

Monica R. Gale (ed.)

For a work written more than two thousand years ago, in a society in many ways quite alien to our own, Lucretius' De Rerum Natura contains much of striking, even startling, contemporary relevance. ... More

For a work written more than two thousand years ago, in a society in many ways quite alien to our own, Lucretius' De Rerum Natura contains much of striking, even startling, contemporary relevance. This is true, above all, of the fifth book, which begins by putting a strong case against what it has recently become fashionable to call 'intelligent design', and ends with an account of human evolution and the development of society in which the limitations of technological progress form a strong and occasionally explicit subtext. Along the way, the poet touches on many themes which may strike a chord with the twenty-first century reader: the fragility of our ecosystem, the corruption of political life, the futility of consumerism and the desirability of limiting our acquisitive instincts are all highly topical issues for us, as for the poem's original audience. Book V also offers a fascinating introduction to the world-view of the upper-class Roman of the first century BC. This edition (which complements existing Aris and Phillips commentaries on books 3, 4 and 6) will help to make Lucretius' urgent and impassioned argument, and something of his remarkable poetic style, accessible to a wider audience, including those with little or no knowledge of Latin. Both the translation and commentary aim to explain the scientific argument of the book as clearly as possible; and to convey at least some impression of the poetic texture of Lucretius' Latin.Less

Reading Catullus

John Godwin

Of all the Roman poets, Catullus is the most accessible for the modern reader. His poems range from the sublimely beautiful to the scatologically disgusting, from the world of heroic epic poetry to ... More

Of all the Roman poets, Catullus is the most accessible for the modern reader. His poems range from the sublimely beautiful to the scatologically disgusting, from the world of heroic epic poetry to the dirt of the Roman streets. This book, which assumes no prior knowledge of the poet or of Roman poetry in general, explores Catullus in all his many guises. In six concise chapters, it deals with the cultural background to his poetic production, its literary context, the role of love, Alexandrian learning and obscenity, and, in the final chapter, considers the coherence and rationale of the collection as a whole. Each chapter is illustrated by readings of a number of poems, chosen to give a representative overview of Catullus' poetry. All quotations from the text are translated, and a brief discursive section of ‘Further Reading’ is provided at the end of each chapter. A timeline giving dates of authors mentioned and a full bibliography are also supplied.Less

Ovid: Metamorphoses: Books XIII-XV (plus indexes to all volumes)

This volume completes this distinguished edition of Metamorphoses. The text is attractively and conveniently laid out, with Latin and translation en face. The translation is in blank verse for the ... More

This volume completes this distinguished edition of Metamorphoses. The text is attractively and conveniently laid out, with Latin and translation en face. The translation is in blank verse for the English reader while being stimulating and thought-provoking for the Latinist. The notes make interesting reading at any level, with a vast store of information from a multitude of sources.Less

Pindar: Selected Odes

Pindar's Odes, blending beauty of poetic form and profundity of thought, are one of the wonders of Ancient Greece. Composed in the first instance to commemorate athletics victories, they fan out like ... More

Pindar's Odes, blending beauty of poetic form and profundity of thought, are one of the wonders of Ancient Greece. Composed in the first instance to commemorate athletics victories, they fan out like a peacock's tail to illuminate with brilliant subtlety and imagination the human condition in general, and how our moments of heroic achievement are inevitably tempered by our mortal frailties. This edition aims to make for the first time a selection of these wonderful, but complex, poems accessible and enjoyable not only to scholars and advanced students but especially to sixth-form students and non-Classicists (including anyone interested in Pindar's influence on English poetry). While particular attention is paid to elucidating Pindar's cryptic chains of thoughts and to explaining the significance of the myths in the odes, much greater help than usual in this series is given with translating the Greek. The selection, which contains Pindar's most famous poem (Olympian 1) and two particularly charming mythical stories (in Pythian 9 and Nemean 3), illustrates Pindar's range and variety by including odes commemorating victors at each of the four major games. The book presents Greek text with translation, commentary and notes.Less

Homer: Odyssey: Books I and II

This edition is produced with particular concern for the student coming to Homer for the first time. The text is given with facing translation and commentary, but the usual apparatus criticus at the ... More

This edition is produced with particular concern for the student coming to Homer for the first time. The text is given with facing translation and commentary, but the usual apparatus criticus at the bottom of each page is replaced by brief notes on Homeric language. This makes the text considerably more accessible for those without Homeric Greek. These notes are cross-referenced to an introduction on Homeric language for those meeting it for the first time. Textual matters are discussed in the commentary itself, though this is, as is usual in the series, mainly concerned with the meaning of the epic.Less

De Rerum Natura IV

J. Godwin

Book IV of Lucretius' great philosophical poem deals mainly with the psychology of sensation and thought. The heart of this book is a new text, incorporating the latest scholarship on the text of ... More

Book IV of Lucretius' great philosophical poem deals mainly with the psychology of sensation and thought. The heart of this book is a new text, incorporating the latest scholarship on the text of Lucretius, with a clear prose facing translation. The commentary concentrates on the thought of the text (relating it to other philosophers beside Epicurus) and the poetry of the Latin, placing the text in relation to Roman literature in general, and attempting to demonstrate the poetic genius of Lucretius. The introduction deals with the didactic tradition in ancient literature and Lucretius' place in it, the structure of De Rerum Natura, the salient features of the philosophy of Epicurus and the transmission of the text.Less