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Odes: English Scholar
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There are many different opinions concerning the original language in which the Odes were written. One scholar, W. Frankenburg, was so sure that Greek was the original language that he translated them into Greek.4 Another scholar, H. Grimme, on the other hand, was so convinced that Hebrew was the original language that he translated them into Hebrew!5 The most reliable scholars, translators, and editors of the Odes...–J. R. Harris, A. Mingana, A. Vööbus, J. A. Emerton, and James H. Charlesworth–are convinced that the Odes were composed in Syriac (or Aramaic). The evidence for this is very strong and is based on what has been called “the attractive quality of the extant Syriac.”6 Most scholars also agree that the Odes were probably composed sometime around A.D. 100. One of the strong arguments for such an early date is the discovery of references and perhaps even quotations from the Odes in the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch.7
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The Odes date from the second century, and were probably written in Greek or Aramaic. At least one scholar has suggested they may have an origin in Valentinian Gnosticism, though this is of course speculative. The Church Father Lactantius (third century) quoted from them, and the Pistis Sophia mentions about five complete Odes.
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The translation comes from "The Odes of Horace in Latin and English" (Carcanet, 250 pages, $17.95), translated with an introduction by Len Krisak, and with a learned and witty foreword by the classicist and author Frederic Raphael. As the quote shows, Mr. Krisak, a poet himself, has had the unfashionable audacity to translate Horace in rhyming stanzas. In the case of Horace and other classical authors, it seems doubly suspect. Latin (and Greek) poets never resorted to rhyme, depending for their effects on subtle prosody and on quantitative measures; the varying lengths of short and long vowels provided the verbal music. But the use of rhyme has its advantages. When skillfully done, rhyme obliges the translator to strive for conciseness and felicity of phrase; at its best, as here, in Mr. Krisak's version, it can suggest the compressed elegance of the original.
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In the 17th century, the most important original odes in English are those of Abraham Cowley and Andrew Marvell. Marvell, in his Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland uses a regular form (two four-foot lines followed by two three-foot lines) modeled on Horace, while Cowley wrote "Pindarick" odes which had irregular patterns of line lengths and rhyme schemes, though they were iambic. The principle of Cowley's Pindaricks was based on a misunderstanding of Pindar's metrical practice, but was widely imitated, with notable success by John Dryden.
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In later years, Gray produced a third batch of odes. These are based on original texts in Norwegian, Icelandic and Welsh and tell gory ancient stories. Gray attempts to render in English verse some of the effects of the originals.
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The initial model for English odes was Horace, who used the form to write meditative lyrics on various themes. The earliest odes in the English language, using the word in its strict form, were the magnificent Epithalamium and Prothalamium of Edmund Spenser.
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