My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was happy to find an eBook version of Horace’s Odes that were translated by John Conington. I have his Aeneid queued up on my shelf and it’s always neat to read multiple works translated by the same person. You kind of get a feel for how they see the original language. But, having found a cool copy of what I wanted to read, I wasn’t overly thrilled with Horace. I’m glad I read this and will turn to it again in the future, I am sure. At least to read two odes that dealt with the seasons and were beautiful.

Book I, Ode 4 (“Solvitur Acris Hiems”) was a wonderful homage to the coming of spring, surely something that many of the Romantic poets must have read and enjoyed:

The touch of Zephyr and of Spring has loosen'd Winter's thrall; The well-dried keels are wheel'd again to sea: The ploughman cares not for his fire, nor cattle for their stall, And frost no more is whitening all the lea.
The other piece I liked covered the full turn of the seasons, Book 4, Ode 7 ("Diffugere Nives"):
Naked the Nymphs and Graces in the meads The dance essay: "No 'scaping death" proclaims the year that speeds This sweet spring day. Frost yields to zephyrs; Summer drives out Spring, To vanish, when Rich Autumn sheds his fruits; round wheels the ring,— Winter again!"