The Thebaid: Seven against Thebes (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity)

Author - Publius Papinius Statius ... [Goo?] [Posters]
Charles Stanley Ross ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from The Johns Hopkins University Press was reviewed on 25-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:0801886368 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. The Thebaid: Seven against Thebes (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity) Reference Book. Classifications : Greek Classics Literature & Fiction Subjects Books General Criticism & Theory History & Criticism Literature & Fiction Subjects Books General AAS Criticism & Theory History & Criticism Literature & Fi . Click the following link to view the cover of The Thebaid: Seven against Thebes (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity).

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1) Paperback Book The Thebaid: Seven against Thebes (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity) by The Johns Hopkins University Press. As noted by the publisher and the previous reviewer, perhaps the greatest thing about this translation is simply that people are translating Statius again, this edition being produced by Charles Stanley Ross, professor of English and Comparative Literature at Purdue University. It´s hard to imagine why this poem hasn´t gained more attention in modern times; not only is it one of the only two surviving finished epic poems of ancient Rome (Ovid´s Metamorphoses being the first - Virgil hadn´t finished revising the Aeneid and Lucan´s Pharsalia is incomplete), but its influence throughout the ages has been immense, as the translator notes in the introduction.

The great thing about this translation is that it´s readable and enjoyable - in other words, it usually doesn´t *feel* like a translation to the reader. Take this passage from Book III, for example, describing the effect of Jupiter´s speech admonishing the other gods:

He spoke, and his commands astonished them.
You would have thought them mortal, since
nobody uttered one word as they listened,
not otherwise than as at sea, where winds
have made their peace or where the coasts recline
in unresisting sleep, when summertime
caresses silver leaves, and dying breezes
finger the clouds. Then lakes and ponds subside,
the sun burns rivers dry, and streams run silent.

This is not to say that the translation is flawless - as with all translations, it takes liberties and makes sacrifices, some of which I agreed with and some of which I didn´t, but on the whole none of them were beyond what one might expect when turning a Latin epic into an English epic.

As for the other material in the book - the introduction is decent, and shows the translator´s background in comparative literature; aside from descriptions of Statius´ life and times, most of it is devoted to comparing the Thebaid to other works, such as the Aeneid and the Divine Comedy (Ross´ interest in Statius´ connections with Dante is apparent throughout), or discussing medieval interpretations of the poem. If you´ve read around these areas, nothing will be terribly original, but it´s a good overview, even if it does make some strangely obtuse remarks at times (as a medievalist myself, I find the notion that medieval audiences probably liked Statius´ poem mostly because it´s violent and over-the-top kind of insulting, especially after Ross has spent pages upon pages discussing various medieval intellectual and cultural responses to Statius´ epic - also, I agree with the previous reviewer´s comment regarding Ross´ remarks on portrayals of sexuality in the poem).

My main complaint for this edition is that the lines are numbered only once in a while and according to the Latin text, which does not correspond to the line numbers in the English text - for example, a line numbered 345 will be followed by 13 lines in English, but the line after that is numbered 355. While this does make it easier to follow along with the Latin, if you´re using the Latin, then you probably don´t need a translation (or at least not a poetic translation - the Loeb editions would be more useful for this). Aside from the difficulty of citing lines from this edition, it makes it very difficult to use the notes in the back, which are also referenced by line to the Latin edition - unless you happen to be looking up one of the few numbered lines, you´ll have to do some searching to find the note you are looking for.

Nevertheless, these things are marginal to the real point of this translation - it presents a good English version of an important classical work that has received far too little attention recently. If prose translations of poems just aren´t up your alley, then this will be a good place to start to get to know Statius and a good translation to read for enjoyment.¤

2) Paperback Book The Thebaid: Seven against Thebes (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity) by The Johns Hopkins University Press. Is Statius due for a comeback? His epic The Thebaid, admired by Dante and popular through the late Renaissance, fell out of favor in the nineteenth century. It was dismissed as derivative of the Aeneid (which it undeniably is; but of course the ancients did not necessarily consider originality in the arts to be a virtue), and was ranked with the tragedies of Seneca as too artificial in its rhetoric (and in its emphasis on violence and horror).
To those of us who have lived through the latter part of the twentieth century, the poem can seem all too modern. The narrator continually says how terrible war and violence are, but the poem positively exults in macho aggression and battlefield action. The world of The Thebaid is a bleak one, in which even the dead seem to be miserable. (The idea that the dead are not really gone, but continue to exist in another dimension, and can quite readily return to interact with the living, is another unsettling characteristic of the poem.)
For decades, the only English translation of The Thebaid readily available was the Loeb Classical Library edition, with the Latin text (with variant readings, from the various surviving sources) and the prose translation, by J.L.Mozley, on facing pages. (The Loeb edition takes up two pocket-sized hardbound volumes, and includes Statius´ unfinished epic, The Achilleid; a third volume contains Statius´ miscellanous poems, the Silvae.) In 2003 Loeb replaced the Mozely translation with a new one, by D.R.Shackleton Bailey, and also revised the Latin text, taking advantage of the latest scholarship. Both translations are good; I´m not sure I don´t prefer Mozley´s, so if you already own the older edition of the Loeb, it has not necessarily become obsolite.
Having the Latin original available is, I think, a real advantage: even if you have only vague memories of your high school or college Latin, you may be surprised by how much of the original you can follow, by glancing back and forth between the Latin and the English. This also shows how difficult Statius is to translate into English. Like other Latin poets, he is a master of what we would call the "run-on sentence," and he has the often maddening habit of using personal pronouns without antecedents (virtually all of the translators make discreet adjustments in these two areas, so that the English syntax flows more accessibly).
There is a 1990 Oxford University Press edition of the poem, with a verse translation by A.D. Melville, which I have not read. The paperback version of this is apparently out of print, although used copies can be found; the hardback can still be ordered directly from Oxford University Press in England (it´s not available from OUP´s American branch).
But Melville´s translation would have to be very good to equal the new one by Charles Stanley Ross. If you just want The Thebaid in English, without the Latin original, you need look no farther. Ross uses iambic pentameter, occasionally slipping in rhyme (and near-rhymes--some of the latter are subtle that you may miss them, unless you are reading aloud). Mercifully, he does not try to update the work or "dumb it down." Statius´ rhetorical flights and mythological name-dropping (many of the references are to obscure myths) are an intrinsic part of his style. Ross has found an English style that is properly formal and elevated, without being stuffy, that also manages to incorporate the poet´s frequent shifts to a blunter, more naturalistic manner.
I do wish that the notes were true footnotes, i.e., placed at the bottom of the relevant pages, instead of being banished to the back of the book. Others may disagree, and prefer not to have the notes present as a potential distraction on the pages they are reading. (The Loeb edition´s notes are more numerous and comprehensive.)
Ross includes a good introduction to the work. I would question only his assertion that there is not much sex in the poem. He seems to have missed the curious thread of matter-of-fact homoeroticism that runs through The Thebaid, and which may be an inevitable by-product of all of that raging testosterone.
Finally, this book is beautifully laid out and printed, on high-quality paper--not a minor consideration, since the price is a bit step for a volume of relatively modest physical dimensions. (For a few more dollars, you can acquire all three of the Loeb Statius volumes, and thus get the Silvae and the Achilleid as well as The Thebaid.)
I have really enjoyed this book, and recommend it highly. It would be wonderful if Ross would now turn his attention to Silius Italicus´ epic Punica--another neglected work that deserves a new English translation, and wider circulation.¤

3) Paperback Book The Thebaid: Seven against Thebes (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity) by The Johns Hopkins University Press.

A classical epic of fratricide and war, the Thebaid retells the legendary conflict between the sons of Oedipus -- Polynices and Eteocles -- for control of the city of Thebes. The Latin poet Statius reworks a familiar story from Greek myth, dramatized long before by Aeschylus in his tragedy Seven against Thebes. Statius chose his subject well: the Rome of his day, ruled by the emperor Domitian, was not too distant from the civil wars that had threatened the survival of the empire. Published in 92 A.D., the Thebaid was an immediate success, and its fame grew in succeeding centuries. It reached its peak of popularity in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance, influencing Dante, Chaucer, and perhaps Shakespeare. In recent times, however, it has received perhaps less attention than it deserves, in large part because there has been no accessible, dynamic translation of the work into English.

Charles Stanley Ross offers a compelling version of the Thebaid rendered into forceful, modern English. Casting Statius´s Latin hexameter into a lively iambic pentameter more natural to the modern ear, Ross frees the work from the archaic formality that has marred previous translations. His translation reinvigorates the Thebaid as a whole: its meditative first half and its violent second half; its intimate portrayal of defeat and retribution, and the need to seek justice at any cost. In a wide-ranging introduction, Ross provides an overview of the poem: its composition, reception and legacy; its major themes and literary influences; and its place in Statius´ life. And in a helpful series of notes, he offers background information on the major characters and incidents.

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 22-Nov-2008, 08018863689780801886362, 830-2X0-700-540-800-5X0-680-8

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