Book description
The Roman philosopher and dramatic critic Quintus Horatius Flaccus
(65-3 B. C.), known in English as Horace, was also the most famous
lyric poet of his age. Written in the troubled decade ending with the
establishment of Augustus's regime, his Satires provide trenchant
social commentary on men's perennial enslavement to money, power,
fame, and sex. Not as frequently translated as his Odes, in recent
decades the Satires have been rendered into prose or bland verse.
Horace continues to influence modern lyric poetry, and our
greatest poets continue to translate and marvel at his command of
formal style, his economy of expression, his variety, and his mature
humanism. Horace's comic genius has also had a profound influence on
the Western literary tradition through such authors as Swift, Pope,
and Boileau, but interest in the Satires has dwindled due to the
difficulty of capturing Horace's wit and formality with the techniques
of contemporary free verse.
A. M. Juster's striking new translation relies on the tools and
spirit of the English light verse tradition while taking care to
render the original text as accurately as possible.
"The best edition available of the 'Satires' in English. . .
. Highly recommended."-Choice
Poet A. M. Juster's books include Longing for Laura, a translation of
selected works by Petrarch, The Secret Language of Women: Poems, winner
of the Richard Wilbur Award, and a new translation of Tibullus's
Elegies. Susanna Braund is Canada Research Professor of Latin Poetry and
Its Reception at the University of British Columbia.
