贺拉斯

观点

作为翻译家，受西塞罗的文学批评和理论的影响，用相当的篇幅谈了创作中语言的使用和翻译问题。综合起来，主要有以下两点：

翻译必须坚持活译，摒弃直译；

本族语可通过译借外来词加以丰富。

他在《诗艺》中说过：“忠实原作的译者不会逐词死译”。

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Classical Latin: [ˈkʷiːntʊs (h)ɔˈraːtiʊs ˈfɫakːʊs]; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace ( HORR-iss), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."

Horace also crafted elegant hexameter verses (Satires and Epistles) and caustic iambic poetry (Epodes). The hexameters are amusing yet serious works, friendly in tone, leading the ancient satirist Persius to comment: "as his friend laughs, Horace slyly puts his finger on his every fault; once let in, he plays about the heartstrings".

His career coincided with Rome's momentous change from a republic to an empire. An officer in the republican army defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, he was befriended by Octavian's right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, and became a spokesman for the new regime. For some commentators, his association with the regime was a delicate balance in which he maintained a strong measure of independence (he was "a master of the graceful sidestep") but for others he was, in John Dryden's phrase, "a well-mannered court slave".

Life

In his writings, Horace tells us far more about himself, his character, his development, and his way of life, than any other great poet of antiquity. Some of the biographical material contained in his work can be supplemented from the short but valuable "Life of Horace" by Suetonius (in his Lives of the Poets).

Childhood

He was born on 8 December 65 BC, in what later became Lucania et Bruttium under Augustus. His home town, Venusia, lay on a trade route in the region of Lucania at the border with Apulia. Various Italic dialects were spoken in the area and this perhaps enriched his feeling for language.……

Works

The dating of Horace's works is only approximately known, and scholars often debate the precise order in which they were first "published". There are persuasive arguments for the following chronology:

Satires 1 (c. 35–34 BC)

Satires 2 (c. 30 BC)

Epodes (30 BC)

Odes 1–3 (c. 23 BC)

Epistles 1 (c. 21 BC)

Carmen Saeculare (17 BC)

Epistles 2 (c. 11 BC)

Odes 4 (c. 11 BC)

Ars Poetica (c. 10–8 BC)

Historical context

Horace composed in traditional metres borrowed from archaic Greece, employing hexameters in his Satires and Epistles, and iambs in his Epodes, all of which were relatively easy to adapt into Latin forms.……

Reception

The reception of Horace's work has varied from one epoch to another and varied markedly even in his own lifetime. Odes 1–3 were not well received when first 'published' in Rome, yet Augustus later commissioned a ceremonial ode for the Centennial Games in 17 BC and also encouraged the publication of Odes 4, after which Horace's reputation as Rome's premier lyricist was assured.……

Antiquity

Horace's influence can be observed in the work of his near contemporaries, Ovid and Propertius. Ovid followed his example in creating a completely natural style of expression in hexameter verse, and Propertius cheekily mimicked him in his third book of elegies.……

Translations

The Ars Poetica was first translated into English by Thomas Drant in 1556, and later by Ben Jonson and Lord Byron.

John Dryden, Sylvæ; or, The second Part of Poetical Miscellanies (London: Jacob Tonson, 1685) with adaptations of three of the Odes, and one Epode.

Philip Francis, The Odes, Epodes, and Carmen Seculare of Horace (Dublin, 1742; London, 1743)

——— The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace (1746) Samuel Johnson favoured these translations.

C. S. Calverley, Verses and Translations (1860; rev. 1862) Included versions of ten of the Odes.

John Conington, The Odes and Carmen Sæculare of Horace (1863; rev. 1872)