Selected Epigrams (Wisconsin Studies in Classics)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.19 (601 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0299301745 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-11-17 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Therefore it was a delight to read this book Having learned Latin in high school long ago, through an experimental program that leaned heavily on pithy proverbs and catty comments by the ancient Romans, I was familiar with Martial and many of his epigrams. Therefore it was a delight to read this book. The high school Latin left out all of the bawdy epigrams, so reading these produced surprises.Much would be lost in any translation of Martial. A compilation of Martial's views on his compatriots and, A compilation of Martial's views on his compatriots and, to a lesser extent, on Roman society of his era. Gossipy, bawdy, sometimes fawning.
Martial has at last found a translator who not only possesses all the disparate skills needed for the job, but has clearly enjoyed herself hugely while doing it."Peter Green, translator of Juvenal's Satires. An older generation suppressed his hilarious obscenities, while today it's his racism, sexism, class prejudice, and callousness towards the ugly, deformed, or slaves (no poet was ever less P.C. Her rhymed quatrains are as sharp and pointed as Martial's own elegiacs; the Roman's insults and obscenities are preserved with style and relish. "The Roman satirist Martial hasn't had a good deal hitherto from his translators. Now Susan McLean, a witty and metrically skillful poet in her own right, has seen her opportunity in Martial. than Martial) that cause offense
This lively translation accurately captures the wit and uncensored bawdiness of the epigrams of Martial, who satirized Roman society, both high and low, in the first century CE. Finalist, Literary Translation Award, PEN Center USA . The selections cover nearly a third of Martial's 1,500 or so epigrams, augmented by an introduction by historian Marc Kleijwegt and informative notes on literary allusion and wordplay by translator Susan McLean. His pithy little poems amuse, but also offer vivid insight into the world of patrons and clients, doctors and lawyers, prostitutes, slaves, and social climbers in ancient Rome