The Odes

With an Introduction by Antony Lentin
For two millenia the Odes of Horace have been classics of western civilisation, translated into every European language and cherished by generations of readers for their variety and felicity of expression, their evocation of nature, and their ripe wisdom, saved from triteness by irony and humour. Horace himself phrophesied that they would last as long as Latin was spoken, and they have far outlived his prediction. The Odes have been a favourite with English poets since the Renaissance, from Sidney to Milton, Marvell to Wordsworth and Tennyson to Kipling.This is the first complete collection since 1929 to appear in the form of translations drawn from the finest English versions. The Introduction discusses the nature of Horace's appeal, a bibliographical outline is given of the translators featured, and the translations are accompanied by explanatory references.