The compilers, J.C and M.J. Thornton, have used the translations of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which they believe render more
faithfully than those of any other age the even clarity of Ovid's style.
The volume commences with Marlowe's free translation of The Elegies,
which has a youthful zest about it that might well have saved it from
oblivion even without Marlowe's later fame. Next comes The Letters of
the Heroines, translated by George Turberville, followed by Francis
Wolferton's rendering of the three books of The Art of Love, which has
had few translators. Wolferston's version is here revised and presented
in a way that does not seek to bowdlerize the serious purpose of the
book, while retaining the polite urbanity of the original. Arthur
Golding's version of The Metamorphoses, which conveys in the swing of
the lines and vividness of the language the enthusiasm and enjoyment of
the translation, is also included and reminds one that Shakespeare
plucked his 'odoriferous flowers of fancy' from its pages. Other
selections from this very representative volume include John Gower's
translation of The Festivals, Zachary Caitlin's, John Gower's, and Wye
Saltonstall's Letters from Exile, and Thomas Underdown's Invective
against Ibis.
