"Despite the resurgence of interest in the field of late antiquity,
there are still too few authors from the period available in
translation--and of the few who are translated, most, like
Ausonius, are available only in arcane and unreadable English.
Ausonius is one of the more accessible late antique writers, and
Slavitt's choice of texts to translate reflects his
accessibility--the "Cento" gives us a taste of Ausonius's bizarre
sense of humor, and the "Commemorations" gives us a glimpse into
his personal network of friends, teachers, and relatives, and into
the everyday life of a wealthy provincial city. Slavitt's
translations are simple, direct, often very funny, and sometimes
moving. His "Cento" is a tour de force recreation."--Martha
Malamud, editor, "Arethusa" Ausonius, the most famous of the
learned poets active in the second half of the fourth century, was
born at Bordeaux and taught school there for 30 years before being
summoned to court to teach the future emperor Gratian. He
subsequently held important public offices, returning to Bordeaux
and private life after Gratian's death in 383. The subjects of many
of his poems are typical of the academic world of the time. His
"Commemorations of the Professors of Bordeaux," a sequence of light
verse obituaries of local teachers, in which people are honored--or
gossiped about--in their daily occupations, has been called an
illustrious poetic precedent to Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River
Anthology." To a literary verse translation of the "Commemorations"
David Slavitt has added versions of Ausonius's "Nuptial Cento,"
assembled from snippets of Shakespeare (Ausonius's original is a
pastiche of Virgil), and selected epigrams. "Skill, wit, learning,
poetic dexterity, and flabbergasting irreverence--very Ausonian,
very amusing and impressive too."--"Classical Review" David R.
Slavitt has published more than sixty books: original poetry,
translations (recently "Broken Columns," of Statius and Claudian,
available from the University of Pennsylvania Press), novels,
critical works, and short stories. He worked for seven years as a
journalist at "Newsweek" and continues to do freelance reporting
and reviewing. With Palmer Bovie he coedited the Complete Roman
Drama in Translation series and the Penn Greek Drama Series. Also
of interest: "Epinician Odes and Dithyrambs of Bacchylides"
Translated by David R. Slavitt
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