Customer Reviews

The Complete Odes and Satires of Horace

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This translation by Sidney Alexander kicks David Ferry's in the butt, no exaggeration! David Ferry's absurdly popular version is wildly overhyped, with his friends in academia lining up to contribute glowing blurbs for the cover. Believe me, this is THE translation of Horace that you will want to read and re-read!

A brilliant translation that takes a one-time "required reading" to a new plane. Lively, witty, enjoyable makes Horace a man for the next millenium. Sadly I must tell your readers that the translator Sidney Alexander, a wonderful renaissance scholar who has written extensively on Michaelangelo has died (Dec. 11,1999) at the age of 87.

When I teach Horace, I use this edition. The translations are fluid, and many of the important things are sufficiently annotated. The introduction, in focusing on the Italian Horace, that is, a Horace influenced by Italy, is quite helpful. But to really get what Horace is up to, the translations and commentary by David West are essential. Unfortunately they are very expensive and not always available. West is more attuned to how word order in Latin is the key, and the wealth of scholarly information he provides is unsurpassed. The downside of West is that his editions are less readable.

This may be a fine book of translation but on the whole it is not poetry. Compare versions of any ode translated by Alexander and Ferry and you'll see: Alexander is working with language, Ferry is working with poetry. If you want Horace's poetry, buy the Ferry text.