A review by spacestationtrustfund
Posthomerica by Quintus Smyrnaeus
3.0
The original Loeb edition of Quintus Smyrnaeus's Posthomerica was translated by Arthur Way all the way (no pun intended) back in 1913, making it, as one critic aptly phrased things, "occasionally harder to follow than the accompanying Greek text." Don't believe me? Here are the opening lines:
When godlike Hector by Pelëides slainDistinctly do I recall my classmates and I parodying this by proclaiming that we, in our fortress, shivered to see / that mighty text. But don't worry, there's a new one: Loeb published an "updated" version in 2018, including a new translation, introduction, and bibliography, which apparently accounted for the "more than a century of intervening scholarship" since Way's 1913, uh, scholarship. It's okay. The Ancient Greek text included is excellently arranged, however, so if you're a student, I'd definitely recommend it.
Passed, and the pyre had ravined up his flesh,
And earth had veiled his bones, the Trojans then
Tarried in Priam’s city, sore afraid
Before the might of stout-heart Aeacus’ son:
As kine they were, that midst the copses shrink
From faring forth to meet a lion grim,
But in dense thickets terror-huddled cower;
So in their fortress shivered these to see
That mighty man.