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Title: Martial in English (Penguin Classics) by Martial, A. J. Boyle, J. P. Sullivan ISBN: 0-14-042389-3 Publisher: Penguin USA Pub. Date: 01 December, 1996 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Penguin does it again!
Comment: If you want to begin exploring Martial, this is a great place to start. They've gathered the best from nearly a hundred different translators, 1540-1992. There's naughty, nice, imitations, inspirations and a ton o' wit packed in the pages. It will certainly give you an idea of whose translations you would like to read in greater depth. Several more famous poems are given in multiple translations (indexed, handily, in the back).

On the other hand, the book also works as something you just dip into. The editors went out of their way to find obscure as well as well-known translations and it pays off. Some of the reprintings from rare manuscripts are delightful, like this one from THE MOST ELEGANT AND WITTY EPIGRAMS OF SIR IOHN HARRINGTON, KNIGHT (1618):

"That he is hoarse, yet still to prate doth please,
Proves he can neither speak, nor hold his peace."

Or you can dwell in the excellent modern translations of Peter Whigham, Dudley Fitts, Dorothea Wender, J.P. Sullivan, Olive Pitt-Kethly, Philip Murray, Ezra Pound etc.

I'm on a serious Pengiun Poets in Translation series binge. I've gathered all the ones I know of in a Listmania List, if you didn't already find this page from it. This is not my favorite of the books, but its still probably the best way to meet Martial, the legendary Roman epigrammatist. What this particular edition does well is allow you see how Martial was translated by and continues to influence English poets in a chronological order. Hence, one learns a great deal about English poetry by reading the book, as well as Martial.