Customer Reviews

Remains of Old Latin, Volume I (Loeb Classical Library No. 294)

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Quintus Ennius, often called "the father of Roman poetry," was one of the most important poets in the history of classical Rome. As Gian Biagio Conte writes in Latin Literature: A History, "During much of Roman literary history Ennius is the most notable of the archaic poets, the most quoted, admired, criticized, and revived." Ennius wrote the Annals, the preeminent epic poem of republican Rome, the first to use hexameter Latin verse. He was one of the great Roman tragic playwrights, writing at least 20 tragic plays. He wrote historical plays, and comedies (although everyone said Ennius' comedies were not very funny). In addition, Ennius was one of the pioneering writers of satire. He also wrote epigrams, other verse, and possibly prose as well.

Unfortunately, none of Ennius' major works survive intact. Even so, we have hundreds of fragments of his work, and they are ill-served by this book. The kindest word expert reviewers have for Warmington's work is "unreliable." His Latin texts are often inaccurate and his translations are imprecise.

This book was first published 76 years ago, and remains in print but largely unchanged today. Since its time, we have seen major advances in scholarship on Ennius' work: H. D. Jocelyn's authoritative The Tragedies of Ennius: The Fragments (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries), Otto Skutsch's controversial but definitive edition of The Annals of Quintus Ennius, important work on Ennius' satires, and the 1989 discovery of lost text from Book VI of the Annals on a papyrus from Herculaneum. None of these important advances are reflected in this book.

Ennius is one of the most important Latin authors. His work deserves a book of its own, not a book shared with Caecilius Statius, and a book that is more complete, more reliable, and more up to date than this one. This is one of the weakest books in the Loeb Classical Library series. I only hope the editors replace it soon.

Since Ennius and Caecilius are said to have shared a house together at some point in their lives, it's very apt that their literary fragments should cohabit this Loeb volume. Too bad they've both been reduced to mere fragments, but that's life! The primary impression gained from looking over the fragments is of how extraordinarily fond (or overfond) of alliteration Ennius was; some of his verses sound like Bottom bellowing in "Midsummer Night's Dream"! As with all the Loeb volumes, there's a page by page English translation.