The Works of Horace Rendered into English Prose. By William
Coutts, M.A. (Longmans and Co.)—Mr. Coutts is certainly com- petent to translate Horace. This does not imply that his book was wanted. If he could have solved the insoluble, and, as he puts it himself, produced a version "at once faithful and idio- matic "—well and good. As it is, he does not, we think, approach the unattainable as near as some of his predecessors.
We take " Miserarum est neque amori dare ludum " 12) as a sample. "The pursuit of toilsome Minerva" is ambiguous for " studium operosae Minervae." The words really explain teias ; " the web, busy Minerva's toil," we would suggest. Lavit should not be " bathes," which might suggest that Neobule sees him as he swims. She sees him when he comes fresh from the bath, and so lavit should be " has bathed." " To receive the boar that lurks in the dense thicket" is really without meaning. Latitantent is a pregnant construction, and must be given in some such way as " when he breaks from covert."
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