Horace. In 1592, Luis de Zapata
published at Lisbon a not very successful verse translation of the _Ars
Poetica_. In 1616, Francisco de Cascales of Murcia published _Fablas
Poeticas_, containing in dialogue the substance of the same composition,
which had been translated by Espinel, 1551-1624, and which was
translated again in 1684, twice in 1777, and in 1827. Seville founded a
Horatian Academy. The greatest of the Spanish translators of Horace
entire was Javier de Burgos, whose edition of four volumes, 1819-1844,
is called by Menendez y Pelayo the only readable complete translation of
Horace, "one of the most precious and enviable jewels of our modern
literature," and "perhaps the best of all Horaces in the neo-Latin
tongues." The nearest rival of Burgos was Martinez de la Rosa. The
greatest Spanish scholar and critic of Horace is Menendez y Pelayo,
editor of the _Odes_, 1882, and author of _Horacio en Espana_, 1885.
In the index of _Horacio en Espana_ are to be found the names of 165
Castilian translators of the poet, 50 Portuguese, 10 Catalan, 2
Asturian, and 1 Galician. There appear the names of 29 commentators. Of
complete translations, there are 6 Castilian and 1 Portuguese; of
complete translations of the _Odes_, 6 Castilian and 7 Portuguese; of
the _Satires_, 1 Castilian and 2 Portuguese; of the _Epistles_, 1
Castilian and 1 Portuguese; of the _Ars Poetica_, 35 Castilian, 11
Portuguese, and 1 Catalan. The sixteenth century translators were
distinguished in general by facility and grace, the freshness and
abandon of youth, and a considerable degree of freedom, or even license.
Those of the eighteenth show a gain in accuracy and a loss in spirit.
_v_. IN ENGLAND
The appeal of Horace in England and English-speaking countries has been
as fruitful as elsewhere in scholarship, with the possible exception of
Germany. In its effect upon the actual fibre of literature and life, it
has been more fruitful.
A review of Horatian study in England would include the names of Talbot
and Baxter, but, above all, of the incomparably brilliant Richard
Bentley, despite his excesses, themselves due to his very genius, the
most famous and most stimulating critic and commentator of Horace the
world has seen. His edition, appearing in 1711, provoked in 1717 the
anti-Bentleian rejoinder of Richard Johnson, and in 1721 the more
ambitious but equally unsuccessful attempt to discredit him by the
Scotch Alexander Cunningham. The pri
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