Epodes (Annotated ed)

Horace, arguably the most successful of the Augustan poets, is one of the best-loved Latin authors.

He was master of the artful, and highly stylized verse of his day, treating political literary and erotic themes with wit and elegance.

Horace's "Epodes, Odes and Carmen Saeculare", written from the beginning to the height of his career as a lyric poet, are among his most significant works.

This fully annotated Latin edition is the first comprehensive English commentary on these works since 1903.

The volume offers help with meter, vocabulary and difficult points of grammar; for advanced students, it places Horace against the background of archaic and Hellenistic Greek poetry, demonstrates his debt to Catullus, and illuminates his relation, to his contemporaries, particularly Virgil.

The full text of the "Epodes" is included and is placed before the "Odes", as it was originally written and published.

Biographical information as well as a discussion of Horace's literary persona expands our view of the poet and his works. Appendices on meter, persons mentioned in the poems, and technical terminology provide all that readers need to understand topical and mythological references, rhetorical conventions and poetic artistry.

Maps identify important places in Horace's life and works.

This edition encourages readers to experience the sound, rhythm, content and construction of the Latin text.

The volume does not attempt to appraise the merits of each poem but, rather, enables readers to make their own judgments, informed by the discussion of significant poetic, rhetorical grammatical and historical elements within each poem.

Based on the belief that poetry is ultimately beyond translation, this volume returns readers to Horace's own words, the most eloquent statement of his extraordinary poetic achievement.