Juvenal and Persius (Loeb Classical Library No. 91) [Hardcover]

Juvenal (Author), Persius (Author), G. G. Ramsay (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674991028 | ISBN-13: 978-0674991026 | Publication Date: January 1, 1918 | Edition: Revised

THIS EDITION HAS BEEN REPLACED BY A NEWER EDITION

Juvenal, Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (ca. AD 60–140), master of satirical hexameter poetry, was born at Aquinum. He used his powers in the composition first of scathing satires on Roman life, with special reference to ineptitude in poetry (Satire 1); vices of fake philosophers (2); grievances of the worthy poor (3); and of clients (5); a council-meeting under Emperor Domitian (4); vicious women (6); prospects of letters and learning under a new emperor (7); virtue not birth as giving nobility (8); and the vice of homosexuals (9). Then subjects and tone change: we have the true object of prayer (10); spendthrift and frugal eating (11); a friend's escape from shipwreck; will-hunters (12); guilty conscience and desire for revenge (13); parents as examples (14); cannibalism in Egypt (15); privileges of soldiers (16, unfinished).

Persius Flaccus, Aulus (AD 34–62), of Volaterrae was of equestrian rank; he went to Rome and was trained in grammar, rhetoric, and Stoic philosophy. In company with his mother, sister and aunt, and enjoying the friendship of Lucan and other famous people, he lived a sober life. He left six Satires in hexameters: after a prologue (in scazon metre) we have a Satire on the corruption of literature and morals (1); foolish methods of prayer (2); deliberately wrong living and lack of philosophy (3); the well-born insincere politician, and some of our own weaknesses (4); praise of Cornutus the Stoic; servility of men (5); and a chatty poem addressed to the poet Bassus (6).

Editorial Reviews

Review

It is a pleasure to see that nowadays acclaimed specialists take honour in preparing editions for the Loeb Classical Library. S. Braund has greatly advanced the study of Roman satirists with a number of important articles and monographs...So her name as the editor of this volume is more or less a warrant for the highest possible quality. The introduction is, in a word, magnificent: in merely 39 Loeb pages, S. Braund manages to give a broad, relevant overview of the whole genre, its origins and earliest representatives, while also setting the tone for a more modern approach of Roman satire as a genre in which the poet creates satiric mouthpieces (personae), who play a specific, exaggerated role rather than voicing the author's personal views. Persius and Juvenal are also presented, in 12 succinct but very helpful pages...The text reads as smoothly and easily as if it had been written without any special effort--mostly a mark of excellence and a sign of meticulous work...The texts of Persius and Juvenal are, no doubt, the most important part of the book. And here too, everything is truly excellent. Every text is preceded by a short introductory paragraph, setting out the general outline of the poem and adding some cautious general remarks about its aims and style...In her prose translation, S. Braund has consciously and explicitly avoided both old fashioned words (to mention one example, she even objects to 'therefore') and trendy idiom: the book is intended 'for a long shelf life' (p.vii). She has succeeded remarkably well in her task...So is there anything in this book that is less than perfect? Hardly, I would say...This volume is a truly great achievement, a most welcome addition to the Loeb Classical Library, and a must-buy for all institutional and private libraries of Latin literature.
--Vincent Hunink (Bryn Mawr Classical Review ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Susanna Morton Braund is Professor of Classics, Stanford University. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library; Revised edition (January 1, 1918)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674991028
• ISBN-13: 978-0674991026
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,935,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Update, September 19, 2005

By 

Gregory Olsen "renaissance man" (San Ramon, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Juvenal and Persius (Loeb Classical Library) (Hardcover)

This is a new update to a LCL volume that was from 1913. It contains the text of Persius' (A.D. 34-62) and Juvenal's (circa A.D. 127) satires. The update is really well done. The introduction provides an excellent introduction to the genre and a background on the transmission of the text.

The translation is well done. It is a prose translation of the Latin poems. Generally the translation is accurate with "idiom-for-idiom" translation, using equivalent contemporary American expressions for ancient slang. The translation has extensive footnotes to explain historical, mythological, literary, and geographic references. This is very handy for a reader without a mastery of classical literature.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Servicable but in dire need of revision, July 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Juvenal and Persius (Loeb Classical Library No. 91) (Hardcover)

This Loeb Classical Library edition of Juvenal and Persius was first published in 1918 and was last revised in 1940. The translations are servicable, but this particular volume badly needs the revision that other Loeb volumes have been receiving under the skilled hand of G.P. Goold, currently general editor of the series. The translations of the Juvenal satires in the current volume have been censored where Juvenal was evidently felt by the standards of 1918 to have been too indecent (cf. II.49-50 for an example; the Latin, however, is untouched). While one can understand the reticience of the editor given his era, this censorship should really be remedied in a future revision (as it has been in the Loeb "Catullus" edited by Goold). Until then Peter Green's fine translation for Penguin contains a complete rendering which will allow the reader to judge for himself or herself whether or not to be shocked by what Juvenal says.

6 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful, June 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Juvenal and Persius (Loeb Classical Library No. 91) (Hardcover)

This translation of Juvenal is masterfully done, with both the original latin and English translation in a small and easy to carry book. Juvenal is to satire what Shakespeare was to the play.