A LATIN ANTHOLOGY
A Book of Latin Poetry : From Ennius to Hadrian. By E. V. Rieu. (Methuen. 3s. 6d.)
A BOOK of 120 pp., including commentary, which is to give a bird's-eye view of Latin poetry of the classical period, would seem, at first blush, to be a sheer impossibility. If so, Mr.
lieu has achieved the impossible. But he has done so by a strict limitation of his field : he renounces the attempt to illustrate dramatic or satirical poetry, and aims rather at showing how the several poets with whom he is concerned treated certain specified themes than at giving us " A Thousand Gems of Latin Poetry." It is true that the excluded varieties will creep in, the former disguised as lyric in extracts from Seneca's choruses, and the latter as descriptive poetry in part of the Canidia episode from Horace's Satires. The limit of date has obviously been stretched for the sake of Animula
vagula blandula :—
" Dear soul of mine, glad, gentle, curious, free, Friend of this mortal frame, and bosom-guest, What of the land thou presently shalt see, Where thou must roam, pale, naked and oppressed, And all thy laughter unremembered be 1" But, in the main, it must be conceded that this selection attains a remarkable unity. A few examples -will illustrate Mr. Rieu's method. Lesbia's sparrow finds its pendant in the well-known inscription on the tomb of a favourite lap-dog, and a more remote parallel is provided in Statius's epitaph on a parrot. The handling of narrative by Ennius, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan and Statius can be compared and contrasted. The Stoic Manillas is set offagainst the Epicurean Lucretius ; both treat of man's place in the world, and the later poet stands comparison with the earlier much better than their respective reputations would suggest. The emotions of Catullus returning to Sirmio may be compared with those of Martial looking forward to comfortable rustication in his native Spain. The notes abound in cross-references from one piece to another, which enable the reader to turn readily from the imitation to the model, or from one of two contrasting treatments of the same subject to its antithesis. It is surprising how many famous passages are included. The most conspicuous omission is that of the lament for Mareellus in Aeneid VI. It could, however, be wished that Mr. Rieu had given a few more specimens of the worst poets. Shins Italicus is represented, but where is Cicero The notes are admirably adapted to the needs of those whose schooldays are over. The compiler fends off his reader from tempting mistranslations, but never " encumbers him with help." It is thus all the more astonishing that a book which speaks so highly for Mr. Rieu's scholarship and taste should be disfigured by the appreciations of the Latin poets which arc interspersed among the notes. The intimate acquaintance which he shows with what is best in Latin verse, and why it is best, has somehow failed to purge his own style.
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