The Fables of Phaedrus

Title

en_US The Fables of Phaedrus

Description

en_US Original language: lat

en_US First edition

en_US P.F. Widdows

Creator

en_US Phaedrus

Date

2016-01-25T16:07:47Z

en_US 1992-04

en_US 1992

Date Available

2016-01-25T16:07:47Z

Date Issued

en_US 1992

Abstract

en_US This translation represents a major contribution to fable study today, particularly since the last verse translation of Phaedrus into English was Christopher Smart's in 1764! This book offers first a good, short introduction including Phaedrus' life, some sense of the materials in this collection that are not fables (xvii), a sketch of Phaedrus' philosophy, an account of his artistry, and a word on this translation's four-stress-to-the-line meter. The translations, adorned with few notes, move along with a strong rhythm. I have read the first fifteen with some care. The four-stress line works well, but readers of longer portions of the work may find the alliteration burdensome. If Widdows has a fault as a translator, it is that he overinterprets poetry that is deliberately succinct. Thus in I.2 a conservative element concludes that they need a king, in I.3 a moralist lectures the jackdaw, in I.10 a monkey made himself a magistrate, and I.11 adds qualification to the lion's simple put-down of the ass. In I.12 the stag vidit and mirans laudat his horns; Widdows has amazed and admired extravagantly. In I.15 Phaedrus' ten lines become Widdows' sixteen. The footnote to I.10 may miss the point, which is, I believe, that one can in general be sure that both the fox and the wolf are guilty even if that judgment lacks internal logic in this case. In I.13 Widdows has the crow begin to bellow ; I think Phaedrus is careful not to allow for any song before the cheese is lost and the lesson learned. In I.4 Widdows improves on Perry's triple use of another for the Latin's alienum, aliam, and altero. Similarly, he plays wonderfully with load and loot in #18 of Perotti's appendix. I would love to use this book in class!

Identifier

en_US 029272473X (paper : alk. paper)

en_US 1837 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/77403

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US University of Texas Press

en_US Austin, TX

Subject

en_US PA6564.E5 W5 1992

en_US Phaedrus

en_US Title Page Scanned

Type

en_US Book, Whole