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Silvae (I Tatti Renaissance Library)

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Angelo Poliziano, the fifteenth century scholar-poet, is considered "one of the finest Neo-Latin poets of the Renaissance," (vii) and this collection from the I Tatti Renaissance Library makes it clear why. Each of the four "silvae" pays homage to the great poetic works of antiquity. "Manto" is about the poet Virgil and his hometown of Mantua, and contains a summary of his complete works. Those who know Virgil's Latin will especially enjoy Poliziano's clever variations on favorite lines from the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid. In the "Rusticus," Poliziano pays tribute to Hesiod and Virgil by trying his hand at bucolic poetry. He describes the pleasures of life in the country with the clarity and earthiness of one who has really lived it. The "Ambra" does for Homer what the "Manto" did for Virgil; it's a very cool portrait of the life of Homer. Finally, the "Nutricia" represents Poliziano's vision of the complete panoply of great authors, from the Greeks and Romans to Dante Alighieri and Lorenzo de Medici.

For scholars, this collection is interesting as a work of Renaissance poetics and as an indicator of where classical scholarship stood in the latter half of the fifteenth century. As usual with I Tatti books, you are given a helpful introduction, the original Latin text, notes on the Latin and its English translation, and a select bibliography.

For poetry lovers, especially those who love ancient and especially epic poetry, these four "silvae" can't be missed. Poliziano's Latin is impeccable, of course, but Charles Fantazzi has produced an admirable prose translation that reads very well as English.