I picked up a copy of David Ferry's translation of Horace's Epistles at Bookmans earlier this week. I am quite charmed by Horace's down-to-earthiness and his straight-forward moralizing.
I was also surprised to find Kant's call to Reason, sapere aude, in the Roman poet. I suppose it isn't really Kant's, then.
Dare to be wise; get started. The man who puts off
The time to start living right is like the hayseed
Who wants to cross the river and so he sits there
Waiting for the river to run out of water...
How could you not like that simile?
1 comment:
You know what else makes me smile? Watching your daughter dance to MC Hammer THROUGH MY NEIGHBORHOOD. That is one awesome kid you've got there.
Horace- I'm not sure what I think of him yet. Carpe diem: very nice. Carmen Saeculare and "Bright blood of Venus and Anchises" and other claptrap: mm, not so much.
Anyway, happy new year!
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