Customer Reviews

Ovid III: Metamorphoses, Books I-VIII (Loeb Classical Library, No. 42) (Bks.1-8, v. 3)

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Ovid is by far the greatest Roman poet. Certainly, Vergil's work must not be overlooked, with his excellent style and powerful emotion (a favorite scene of mine is the death of Laocoon); however, Ovid surpasses Rome's poet laureate by leaps and bounds: Ovid's dactylic hexameter is ornate and precise, and his poetry contains a daring irreverence that outraged Augustus. Few authors have surpassed the power of Ovid's pen, and his _Metamorphoses_ is his best work.

Although I am not entirely impressed with pedestrian prose translations of poetry, the Lobe edition's side-by-side translation provides the reader an adequate aid to begin to grasp the poet's beauty.

(If one desires to read Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ in English, I highly recommend Rolfe Humprhies's excellent translation.)

The Metamorphoses, of course, is one of, if not the, classical world's greatest mythological treatises. The Loeb edition's convenient format of original Latin text opposite a clear, concise English translation is invaluable for anyone who has ever been interested in Latin, and a wonderful study guide for the Latin scholar. Highly recommended.

As someone uninvolved in the study of antiquities, nor assigned them for a course, it bears mentioning that I chose 'The Metamorphoses' specifically because it has been an inspiration to so much of the world's literature, and that, after reading, I hoped to have a better chance at recognizing and appreciating references to the source material in modern texts. I expected a difficult task, deciphering writing in the style of the King James Bible or Sir Walter Scott's 'The Lady of The Lake', but found that the prose translation, while it does have an archaic ring to it, is still easily accessible to the modern reader - and also an absorbing, sometimes graphic narrative. Since I don't read Latin, I'm at the mercy of Frank Justus Miller, but, for authenticity, the original Latin poem is printed on the left, facing the translation - not necessary for me, but an excellent resource for students.

Those considering 'The Metamorphoses' may be scared off by the idea that it's too difficult or too esoteric - which is what I believed before reading. I will say that readers who have little or no background in Greek and Roman myths may want to start with a modern retelling first, such as Edith Hamilton's 'Mythology', to familiarize themselves with some of the names and locations. (For young children, I'd suggest D'Aulaire's 'Book of Greek Myths' which I found absolutely spellbinding in grade school.) Ovid's style accepts axiomatically that his readers were intimately familiar with his subject. Even though I thought I was already well-grounded in mythology, I still found Ovid worthwhile - other authors, for reasons of taste or personal sensibilities, often omit the most sensational stories (Tereus of Thrace, for example).

The idea of assigning a star value to a work that has survived for two millennia is ridiculous, but I did enjoy it. I found Ovid's habit of connecting the cycle of myths together to be somewhat difficult to follow at times, and struggled with place names also, but overall I found this to be an engaging work in an attractive format, and I look forward to the second volume.

I wrote a thesis on Ovid in college, so I'm a little biased, but this is one great translation. I love the Loeb series in general, and haven't seen a single edition that hasn't been well translated and edited. If you're reading a classic, read a Loeb.

The left page has the original in Latin and the right has an English translation. The set up of the text and plenty of line numbering allows you to easily track the corresponding phrases. There are occasionally some English words or phrases that sound old fashioned which is hardly a surprise since this is a translation almost a hundred years old. The original 1915 translation was corrected for errors in 1921 and the type reset in 1960. The book is a hard cover with good quality opaque paper that will accept pencil notations and erasures without substantial damage. The typeface is clear, well spaced and of adequate size. The six volumes of Ovid's works in this series include two covering the Metamorphoses. I found these to be particularly useful in following what liberties had been taken in other translations of this work.