Current Reads in Progress

 Since I no longer have a dedicated team of rabid Serbian Reading Squirrels to read 99% of my books for me (or more like I currently have an administrative/educational job that requires 10+ hours of my time many days of the week, not to mention I’m currently rehabbing a cervical disc injury), my reading time has been slower but mostly steady.  I haven’t finished many books since February, but I’m operating more on a dip and taste approach where I might spend 15 minutes one night on a particular book/language and then an hour plus on another, comparing the originals to the translations as I either refresh or learn new classical languages.

So with that out of the way, here’s what I’ve completed since March and what I’m currently reading:

3.  Marco Girolamo Vida, Christiad (I Tatti Renaissance Library, Latin/English)

4.  Homer, The Iliad Books I-XII (Loeb Classical Library, Greek/English)

In progress:

Homer, The Iliad Books XIII-XXIV (Loeb Classical Library, Greek/English) - partway through Book XIII

St. Augustine, City of God Books I-III (Loeb Classical Library, Latin/English) - partway through Book I

Vishnu-sharman, Five Discourses on Worldly Wisdom (Clay Sanskrit Library, Sanskrit(transliterated)/English - partway through the first section

Soma-deva, The Ocean of the Rivers of Story (Clay Sanskrit Library, Sanskrit(transliterated)/English) - finished the introduction

Valmíki, Ramáyana Book One:  Boyhood (Clay Sanskrit Library, Sanskrit(transliterated)/English) - partway through section one

Statius, Thebaid Books I-VII (Loeb Classical Library, Latin/English) - partway through Book III

Various, One Hundred Latin Hymns:  Ambrose to Aquinas (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Latin/English) - almost complete with introduction

Coulter H. George, How Dead Languages Work - currently on Ch. 2, dealing with Attic Greek

‘Any Al-Qudat, The Essence of Reality (Library of Arabic Literature, Arabic/English) - beginning Ch. 1

Ferdowsi, Shahnameh:  The Epic of the Persian Kings (English only graphic novel adaptation) - a few pages in

Library of Arabic Literature

 Continuing my list of various supranational bilingual editions of “classic” literature, below are the volumes in the Arabic-English Library of Arabic Literature, published by New York University Press.  Begun in 2012, there are at this time a little over 50 volumes in print.  Several of these volumes contain literary works that exist at the interstices of several literary sub-genres and may be of interest to those (such as myself) who enjoy imaginative literature mixed with poetry, philosophical, and religious motifs.

1.  Geert Jan van Gelder (ed.), Classical Arabic Literature:  A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology

2.  Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i (trans. Joseph E. Lowry), The Epistle on Legal Theory

3.  al-Qāḍī al-Quḍāʿī (trans. Tahera Qutbuddin), A Treasury of Virtues:  Sayings, Sermons, and Teachings of ‘Ali, with the One Hundred Proverbs attributed to al-Jahiz

4.  Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī (trans. Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler), The Epistle of Forgiveness vol. I:  A Vision of Heaven and Hell

5.  Ibn al-Jawzī (trans.  Michael Cooperson), Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal Vol. I

6.  Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq (trans. Humphrey Davies), Leg Over Leg Vol. I

7.  Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq (trans. Humphrey Davies), Leg Over Leg Vol. II

8.  Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī (trans. Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler), The Epistle of Forgiveness vol. II: Hypocrites, Heretics, and Other Sinners

9.  ʿĀʾishah al-Bāʿūniyyah (trans. Th. Emil Homerin), The Principles of Sufism

10. Maʿmar ibn Rāshid (trans. Sean W. Anthony), The  Expeditions: An Early Biography of Muḥammad

11. Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq (trans. Humphrey Davies), Leg Over Leg Vol. III

12. Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq (trans. Humphrey Davies), Leg Over Leg Vol. IV

13. Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī and Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān (trans. Tim Mackintosh-Smith and James E. Montgomery), Two Arabic Travel Books:  Accounts of China and India and Mission to the Volga

14. Ibn al-Jawzī (trans.  Michael Cooperson), Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal Vol. II

15. al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān (trans. Devin Stewart), Disagreements of the Jurists:  A Manual of Islamic Legal Theory)

16. Ibn al-Sāʿī (trans. Shawkat M. Toorawa), Consorts of the Caliph:  Women and the Court of Baghdad

17. Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥī (trans. Roger Allen),  What ʿĪsā ibn Hishām Told Us:  or, A Period of Time, Vol. I

18. Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥī (trans. Roger Allen),  What ʿĪsā ibn Hishām Told Us:  or, A Period of Time, Vol. II

19. Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī (trans. Beatrice Greundler),  The Life and Times of Abū Tammām

20. ʿUthmān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nābulusī (trans. Luke Yarbrough), The Sword of Ambition:  Bureaucratic Rivalry in Medieval Egypt

21. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī (trans. Humphrey Davies), Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded, Vol. I

22. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī (trans. Humphrey Davies), Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded, Vol. II

23. Bruce Fudge (ed. & trans.), A Hundred and One Nights

24. Muḥammad ibn Maḥfūẓ al-Sanhūrī (trans. Humphrey Davies), Risible Rhymes

25. al-Qāḍī al-Quḍāʿī (trans. Tahera Qutbuddin), Light in the Heavens:  Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad

26. Ibn Qutaybah (trans. Sarah Bowen Savant), The Excellence of the Arabs

27. Charles Perry (ed. & trans.), Scents and Flavors:  A Syrian Cookbook

28. Ḥmēdān al-Shwēʿir (trans. & ed. Marcel Kurpershoek), Arabian Satire:  Poetry from 18th-century Najd

29. Muḥammad al-Tūnisī (trans. Humphrey Davies), In Darfur:  An Account of the Sultanate and Its Peoples, Vol. I

30. Muḥammad al-Tūnisī (trans. Humphrey Davies), In Darfur:  An Account of the Sultanate and Its Peoples, Vol. II

31. ʿAbdallāh ibn Sbayyil (trans. Marcel Kurpershoek), Arabian Romantic:  Poems on Bedouin Life and Love

32. ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād (trans. James E. Montgomery), War Songs

33. al-Muḥassin ibn ʿAlī al-Tanūkhī (trans. & ed. Julia Bray), Stories of Piety and Prayer:  Deliverance Follows Adversity

34. Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī and Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh (trans. Sophia Vasalou & James E. Montgomery), The Philosopher Responds:  An Intellectual Correspondence from the 10th Century, vol. I

35. Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī and Abū ʿAlī Miskawayh (trans. Sophia Vasalou & James E. Montgomery), The Philosopher Responds:  An Intellectual Correspondence from the 10th Century, vol. II

36. al-Ḥasan al-Yūsī (trans. & ed. Justin Stearns),  The Discourses:  Reflections on History, Sufism, Theology, and Literature, vol. I

37. Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī (trans. Mario Kozah), The Yoga Statues of  Patañjali

38. Jamāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Jawbarī (trans. Humphrey Davies), The Book of Charlatans

39. ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī (trans. Tim Mackintosh-Smith), A Physician on the Nile: A Description of Egypt and Journal of the Famine Years

40. Ḥannā Diyāb (trans. Elias Muhanna), The Book of Travels, vol. I

41. Ḥannā Diyāb (trans. Elias Muhanna), The Book of Travels, vol. II

42. Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (trans. Michael Fishbein and James E. Montgomery), Kalīlah and Dimnah:  Fables of Virtue and Vice

43. ʿAyn al-Quḍāt (ed. and trans. Mohammed Rustom), The Essence of Reality:  A Defense of Philosophical Sufism 

44. al-Māyidī ibn Ẓāhir (trans. Marcel Kurpershoek), Love, Death, Fame:  Poetry and Lore from the Emirati Oral Tradition

45. Ibn Khaldūn (trans. Carolyn Baugh), The Requirements of the Sufi Path:  A Defense of the Mystical Tradition (10/4/2022)

46. Ibn Buṭlān (trans. & ed. Philip F. Kennedy and Jeremy Farrell), The Doctors’ Dinner Party (2/7/2023)

The Clay Sanskrit Library

The Clay Sanskrit Library was established in 2005 and added new volumes of transliterated Sanskrit with facing parallel English translations from then until 2009.  I’m listing this here as I do have a passing interest in learning some Sanskrit just so I can continue to broaden my literary and cultural horizons and to better understand the environments in which these classics were written.  I will list the books owned but not yet read in italics and eventually, if I gain some grasp of Sanskrit, read books will be listed in bold.

1. The Emperor of the Sorcerers (volume one) by Budhasvāmin. trans. Sir James Mallinson
2. Heavenly Exploits (Buddhist Biographies from the Dívyavadána) trans. Joel Tatelm
3. Maha·bhárata III: The Forest (volume four of four) trans. William J. Johnson
4. Much Ado About Religion by Bhaṭṭa Jayanta.  trans. Csaba Dezső
5. The Birth of Kumára by Kālidāsa. trans. David Smith. Foreword by U.R. Ananthamurthy
6. Ramáyana I: Boyhood by Vālmīki. trans. Robert P. Goldman. Foreword by Amartya Sen
7. The Epitome of Queen Lilávati (volume one) by Jinaratna. trans. R.C.C. Fynes
8. Ramáyana II: Ayódhya by Vālmīki. trans. Sheldon I. Pollock
9. Love Lyrics by Amaru, Bhartṛhari & Bilhaṇa. trans. Greg Bailey & Richard Gombrich
10. What Ten Young Men Did by Daṇḍin. trans. Isabelle Onians. Foreword by Kiran Nagarkar
11. Three Satires by Nīlakaṇṭha, Kṣemendra, and Bhallaṭa. trans. Somadeva Vasudeva. Foreword by Mani Shankar Aiyar
12. Ramáyana IV: Kishkíndha by Vālmīki. trans. Rosalind Lefeber
13. The Emperor of the Sorcerers (volume two) by Budhasvāmin. trans. Sir James Mallinson
14. Maha·bhárata IX: Shalya (volume one of two) trans. Justin Meiland
15. Rákshasa’s Ring by Viśākhadatta. trans. Michael Coulson. Foreword by Romila Thapar
16. Messenger Poems by Kālidāsa, Dhoyī, and Rūpa Gosvāmin. trans. Sir James Mallinson
17. Ramáyana III: The Forest by Vālmīki.  trans. Sheldon I. Pollock
18. The Epitome of Queen Lilávati (volume two) by Jinaratna. trans. R.C.C. Fynes
19. Five Discourses on Worldly Wisdom by Viṣṇuśarman. trans. Patrick Olivelle 
20. Ramáyana V: Súndara by Vālmīki.  trans. Robert P. Goldman & Sally J. Sutherland Goldman
21. Maha·bhárata II: The Great Hall trans. Paul Wilmot
22. The Recognition of Shakúntala by Kālidāsa. trans. Somadeva Vasudeva
23. Maha·bhárata VII: Drona (volume one of four) trans. Vaughan Pilikian
24. Rama Beyond Price by Murāri.  trans. Judit Törzsök
25. Maha·bhárata IV: Viráta trans. Kathleen Garbutt
26. Maha·bhárata VIII: Karna (volume one of two) trans. Adam Bowles
27. “The Lady of the Jewel Necklace” and “The Lady Who Shows Her Love” by Harṣa. trans. Wendy Doniger. Foreword by Anita Desai
28. The Ocean of the Rivers of Story (volume one of seven) by Somadeva. trans. Sir James Mallinson
29. Handsome Nanda by Aśvaghoṣa. trans. Linda Covill
30. Maha·bhárata IX: Shalya (volume two of two)  trans. Justin Meiland
31. Rama’s Last Act by Bhavabhūti. trans. Sheldon I. Pollock. Foreword by Girish Karnad
32. “Friendly Advice” and “King Víkrama’s Adventures” by Nārāyaṇa. trans. Judith Törzsök
33. Life of the Buddha by Aśvaghoṣa. trans. Patrick Olivelle
34. Maha·bhárata V: Preparations for War (volume one of two)  trans. Kathleen Garbutt. Foreword by Gurcharan Das
35. Maha·bhárata VIII: Karna (volume two of two)  trans. Adam Bowles
36. Maha·bhárata V: Preparations for War (volume two of two) trans. Kathleen Garbutt
37. Maha·bhárata VI: Bhishma (volume one of two) Including the “Bhagavad Gita” in Context  trans. Alex Cherniak. Foreword by Ranajit Guha
38. The Ocean of the Rivers of Story (volume two of seven) by Somadeva.  trans. Sir James Mallinson
39. “How the Nagas Were Pleased” and “The Shattered Thighs” by Harṣa and Bhāsa. trans. Andrew Skilton
40. Gita·govínda: Love Songs of Radha and Krishna by Jayadeva. trans. Lee Siegel. Foreword by Sudipta Kaviraj
41. “Bouquet of Rasa” and “River of Rasa” by Bhānudatta. trans. Sheldon I. Pollock
42. Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (volume one of two) by Āryaśūra. trans. Justin Meiland
43. Maha·bhárata XII: Peace: “The Book of Liberation” (volume three of five) trans. Alexander Wynne
44. The Little Clay Cart by Śūdraka. trans. Diwakar Acharya. Foreword by Partha Chatterjee
45. Bhatti’s Poem: The Death of Rávana by Bhaṭṭi. trans. Oliver Fallon
46. “Self-Surrender,” “Peace,” “Compassion,” and “The Mission of the Goose”: Poems and Prayers from South India by Appayya Dīkṣita, Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita, Vedānta Deśika. trans. Yigal Bronner & David Shulman. Foreword by Gieve Patel
47. Maha·bhárata VI: Bhishma (volume two of two) trans. Alex Cherniak
48. How Úrvashi Was Won by Kālidāsa. trans. Velcheru Narayana Rao & David Shulman
49. The Quartet of Causeries by Śyāmilaka, Vararuci, Śūdraka & Īśvaradatta. trans. Csaba Dezső & Somadeva Vasudeva
50. Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (volume two of two) by Āryaśūra. trans. Justin Meiland
51. Princess Kadámbari (volume one of three) by Bāṇa. trans. David Smith
52. The Rise of Wisdom Moon by Kṛṣṇamiśra. trans. Matthew Kapstein. Foreword by J.N. Mohanty
53. Maha·bhárata VII: Drona (volume two of four) trans. Vaughan Pilikian
54. Maha·bhárata X-XI: Dead of Night & The Women trans.  Kate Crosby
55. Seven Hundred Elegant Verses by Govardhana. trans. Friedhelm Hardy
56. Málavika and Agni·mitra by Kālidāsa. trans. Dániel Balogh & Eszter Somogyi

Loeb Classical Library: Books Owned

 I’ve been spending quite a bit of time the past two months working on improving on my college Latin (and teaching myself Attic Greek) and the Loeb Classical Library, with its parallel original/English translated text, has been a great use for me.  Since there are over 500 volumes in the series (and newer, revised translations are being released under the old series numbers or occasionally renumbered and/or divided), I think I will list the books I currently own, with the series number beside them (most of newish, but some are older editions I’ve bought over the years), and just add more as I buy more.  As is the norm with me, I’ll bold the books already finished, but the unread books that I own will appear in regular style instead of in italics like I normally due when listing books in a series.

1    Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica (Greek)

6   Catullus, Tibullus, Pervigilium Veneris (Latin)

10  Euripides IV:  Trojan Women, Iphigenia Among the Taurians, Ion (Greek)

11  Euripides V:  Helen, Phoenician Women, Orestes (Greek)

19  Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica (Greek)

20  Sophocles I:  Ajax, Electra, Oedipus Tyrannus (Greek)

21  Sophocles II:  Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Philoctetes, Oedipus at Colonus (Greek)

23 Terence II:  Phormio, The Mother-in-Law, the Brothers (Latin)

24  The Apostolic Fathers, Volume I (Greek)

25  The Apostolic Fathers, Volume II (Greek)

26  Augustine, Confessions I:  Books 1-8 (Latin)

27  Augustine, Confessions II:  Books 9-13 (Latin)

31  Suetonius I:  Lives of the Caesars Books 1-4 (Latin)

33  Horace, Odes and Epodes (Latin)

39  Caesar II, Civil War (Latin)

42  Ovid III:  Metamorphoses Books 1-8 (Latin)

43  Ovid IV:  Metamorphoses Books 9-15 (Latin)

57  Hesiod I:  Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia (Greek)

58  Marcus Aurelius (Greek)

63  Virgil I:  Ecologues, Georgics, Aeneid Books 1-6 (Latin)

64  Virgil II:  Aeneid Books 7-12, The Minor Poems (Latin)

72  Caesar I:  The Gallic War (Latin)

74  Boethius, Theological Tractates, The Consolation of Philosophy (Latin)

90  Xenophon III:  Anabasis (Greek)

91  Juvenal and Perseus (Latin)

92  Clement of Alexandria (Greek)

104 Homer:  Odyssey I:  Books 1-12 (Greek)

105 Homer:  Odyssey II: Books 13-24 (Greek)

108 Thucydides I:  History of the Peloponnesian War:  Books 1-2 (Greek)

117 Herodotus I:  The Persian Wars:  Books 1-2 (Greek)

124 Quintilian, The Orator’s Education:  Books 1-2 (Latin)

145 Aeschylus I:  Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Suppliants, Prometheus Bound (Greek)

146 Aeschylus II;  Oresteia, Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides (Greek)

153 Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History I:  Books 1-5 (Greek)

166 Plato III:  Lysis, Symposium, Georgia’s (Greek)

170 Homer:  Iliad I:  Books 1-12 (Greek)

171 Homer:  Iliad II:  Books 13-24 (Greek)

178 Aristophanes I:  Acharnians, Knights (Greek)

179 Aristophanes III:  Birds, Lysistrata, Women at the Thesmophoria (Greek)

180 Aristophanes IV:  Frogs, Assemblywomen, Wealth (Greek)

181 Lucretius, On the Nature of Things (Latin)

203 Josephus I:  The Jewish War, Books I-II (Greek)

207 Statius II:  Thebaid: Books 1-7 (Latin)

220 Lucan, The Civil War (Latin)

232 Ovid II:  The Art of Love and Other Poems (Latin)

234 Plato IX:  Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles (Greek)

239 Augustine, Select Letters (Latin)

250 Tertullian, Apology,De Spectaculis; Minucius Felix, Octavius (Latin)

254 Seneca, Moral Essays, Volume II (Latin)

265 Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History II:  Books 6-10 (Greek)

294 Fragmentary Republican Latin I:  Ennius, Testimona, Epic Fragments (Latin)

344 Nonnos I:  Dionysiaca:  Books 1-15 (Greek)

347 Cicero V:  Brutus, Orator (Latin)

402 Caesar III: Alexandrian War, African War, Spanish War (Latin)

411 Augustine, City of God I:  Books 1-3 (Latin)

412 Augustine, City of God II:  Books 4-7 (Latin)

413 Augustine, City of God III:  Books 8-11 (Latin)

414 Augustine, City of God IV:  Books 12-15 (Latin)

415 Augustine, City of God V:  Books 16-18.35 (Latin)

416 Augustine, City of God VI:  Books 18.36-20 (Latin)

417 Augustine, City of God VII:  Books 21-22, Index (Latin)

488 Aristophanes II:  Clouds, Wasps, Peace (Greek)

495 Euripides VI:  Bacchae, Iphigenia at Audis, Rhesus (Greek)

496 Homeric Hymns, Homeric Apocrypha, Lives of Homer (Greek)

497 Greek Epic Fragments (Greek)

498 Statius III:  Thebaid: Books 8-12, Achilleid (Latin)

Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library

 Ever since I decided a few months ago to return to reading for pleasure, I have been in the process of collecting books in a few series that interest me for historical, poetical, and linguistic reasons.  Below is the first of a half-dozen series of classics from across time and the world, the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library.  This series is published by Harvard University Press (which also publishes the Loeb Classical Library, the I Tatti Renaissance Library, and the Murthy Classical Library of India) and is still adding works from the medieval Roman Empire, medieval Western Europe in Latin, and pre-1066 Old English works.

The works I own will be marked in italics; those read will be bold.  I will update this list as new volumes are added.

1.  The Vulgate Bible, Volume I: The Pentateuch (Medieval Latin)

2.  The Arundel Lyrics. The Poems of Hugh Primas (Medieval Latin)

3.  The Beowulf Manuscript (Old English)

4.  The Vulgate Bible, Volume II, Part A: The Historical Books (Medieval Latin)

5.  The Vulgate Bible, Volume II, Part B: The Historical Books (Medieval Latin)

6.  The Rule of Saint Benedict (Medieval Latin)

7.   Old Testament Narratives (Old English)

8.  The Vulgate Bible, Volume III: The Poetical Books (Medieval Latin)

9.  Satires: Sextus Amarcius. Eupolemius (Medieval Latin)

10. Histories, Volume I: Books 1–2, Richer of Saint-Rémi (Medieval Latin)

11.  Histories, Volume II: Books 3–4, Richer of Saint-Rémi (Medieval Latin)

12. Miracle Tales from Byzantium (Byzantine Greek)

13. The Vulgate Bible, Volume IV: The Major Prophetical Books (Medieval Latin)

14. Apocalypse: Pseudo-Methodius. An Alexandrian World Chronicle (Byzantine Greek/Medieval Latin)

15. Old English Shorter Poems, Volume I: Religious and Didactic (Old English)

16. The History: Michael Attaleiates (Byzantine Greek)

17. The Vulgate Bible, Volume V: The Minor Prophetical Books and Maccabees (Medieval Latin)

18. One Hundred Latin Hymns (Medieval Latin)

19. The Old English Boethius (Medieval Latin)

20. The Life of Saint Symeon the New Theologian: Niketas Stethatos (Byzantine Greek)

21. The Vulgate Bible, Volume VI: The New Testament (Medieval Latin)

22. Literary Works:  Alan of Lille (Medieval Latin)

23. The Old English Poems of Cynewulf (Old English)

24. Accounts of Medieval Constantinople:  The Patria (Byzantine Greek)

25. The Well-Laden Ship: Egbert of Liège (Medieval Latin)

26. Ysengrimus (Medieval Latin)

27. Old English Poems of Christ and His Saints (Old English)

28. On Difficulties in the Church Fathers: The Ambigua, Volume I (Byzantine Greek)

29. On Difficulties in the Church Fathers:  The Ambigua, Volume II (Byzantine Greek)

30. Saints’ Lives, Volume I: Henry of Avranches (Medieval Latin)

31. Saints’ Lives, Volume II:  Henry of Avranches (Medieval Latin)

32. Old English Shorter Poems, Volume II: Wisdom and Lyric (Old English)

33. The Histories, Volume I: Books 1–5, Laonikos Chalkokondyles (Byzantine Greek)

34. The Histories, Volume II: Books 6-10, Laonikos Chalkokondyles (Byzantine Greek)

35. On the Liturgy, Volume I: Books 1–2, Amalar of Metz (Medieval Latin)

36. On the Liturgy, Volume II: Books 3-4, Amalar of Metz (Medieval Latin)

37. Allegories of the Iliad: John Tzetzes (Byzantine Greek)

38. Poetic Works: Bernardus Silvestris (Medieval Latin)

39. Lives and Miracles:  Gregory of Tours (Medieval Latin)

40. Holy Men of Mount Athos (Byzantine Greek) 

41. On Plato's Timaeus: Calcidius (Byzantine Greek)

42. Old English Psalms (Old English)

43. The Rhetorical Exercises of Nikephoros Basilakes (Byzantine Greek)

44. The Old English History of the World (Old English)

45. Christian Novels from the Menologion of Symeon Metaphrastes (Byzantine Greek)

46. Poems: Venantius Fortunatus (Medieval Latin)

47. The Life of Saint Neilos of Rossano (Byzantine Greek)

48. Carmina Burana: Volume I (Medieval Latin)

49. Carmina Burana: Volume II (Medieval Latin) 

50. The Poems of Christopher of Mytilene and John Mauropous (Byzantine Greek)

51. Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad (Medieval Latin)

52. Two Works on Trebizond: Michael Panaretos, Bessarion (Byzantine Greek)

53. Tria sunt: An Art of Poetry and Prose (Medieval Latin)

54. Saints of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Greece (Byzantine Greek)

55. Architrenius: Johannes de Hauvilla (Medieval Latin)

56. Allegories of The Odyssey: John Tzetzes (Byzantine Greek)

57. The History of the Kings of Britain: The First Variant Version (Medieval Latin)

58. Old English Lives of Saints, Volume I: Ælfric (Old English)

59. Old English Lives of Saints, Volume II: Ælfric (Old English)

60. Old English Lives of Saints, Volume III: Ælfric (Old English)

61. On Morals or Concerning Education: Theodore Metochites (Byzantine Greek)

62. Appendix Ovidiana: Latin Poems Ascribed to Ovid in the Middle Ages (Medieval Latin)

63. Anonymous Old English Lives of Saints (Old English)

64. Homilies: Sophronios of Jerusalem (Byzantine Greek)

65. Parisiana poetria: John of Garland (Medieval Latin)

66. Old English Legal Writings: Wulfstan (Old English)

67. The Byzantine Sinbad: Michael Andreopoulos (Byzantine Greek)

68. Fortune and Misfortune at Saint Gall: Casus sancti Galli, Ekkehard IV (Medieval Latin)

69. The Old English and Anglo-Latin Riddle Tradition (Old English/Medieval Latin)

70. The Life and Death of Theodore of Stoudios (Byzantine Greek)

71. Writings on Body and Soul: Aelred of Rievaulx (Medieval Latin)

72. The Old English Pastoral Care (Old English)

73. Animal Fables of the Courtly Mediterranean: The Eugenian Recension of Stephanites and Ichnelates (Byzantine Greek)

74. Biblical and Pastoral Poetry: Alcimus Avitus (Medieval Latin)

Old School Book Porn: Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia, illustrated by George Cochrane

Last year, I contributed to a Kickstarter for a limited-edition illustrated edition of Dante’s most famous work, La Divina Commedia, that would feature illustrations on virtually every single page by illustrator George Cochrane.  I finally received my Anniversary Edition slipcased hardcover earlier this week and while I’m waiting until after I finish reading certain classic epic poems first, I plan on re-reading Dante, this time in the original Italian.  Thought there might be a few people who might be interested in seeing an image from this marvelously-constructed illustrated edition.

Marco Girolamo Vida, Christiad

 

Regardless of one’s individual beliefs regarding one of the central tenets of Christianity, the execution via crucifixion of Jesus, the Christ, is certainly a story worthy of an epic.  There were for the much of late antiquity and the medieval period, recastings of the Passion in the form of hymns, tractates, and plays.  Yet it was not until the Italian Renaissance of the 14th-16th centuries that greater efforts were made to synthesize Christianity’s greatest story ever told with Greco-Roman dactylic hexameter epic poetry.  The exemplar of this new effort to recombine elements of Christology with themes, motifs, and narrative structures of the early Roman Empire poetry was Marco Girolamo Vida’s Christiad, first published in full in 1536 in Latin.

The Christiad borrows much from Vergil, not just the structure of poetic devices used in his Aeneid but also from the more bucolic Eclogues.  Comprised of six books, the structure of Christiad depends much less on chronological linearity as it does on the introduction of the eternal theme of struggle between the forces of God and those of Satan.  In reading Vida’s descriptions of the legions of hell, I could not help but to be struck by how influential his depictions of the demonic hordes were on Milton’s Paradise Lost, published nearly a century and a half later.  In particular, the invasion of these demons into the bodies of the leaders of the Sanhedrin is chilling in how well he uses the vitriol of Hell’s host to create a vivid contrast between the nobility of Heaven and the baseness of raging, defiled human (amplified by demonic possession) desire for dominion of vice.

This duality easily could have become too didactic to make for an enjoyable read, but Vida adroitly mixes in epic metaphors that, similar to those of Vergil or Homer in their epics, serve to create brief, beautiful asides that do not distract from narrative momentum as much as underscoring what is truly at stake.  However, there are times that the metaphors clang rather than ring out.  One such occasion was a metaphoric comparison of a mob’s clamor to that of a cannonball bursting through.  While to some degree an apt metaphor, this anachronistic description of an event set in the first century did briefly jar me out of the flow of the narrative.

The characters aren’t as well-defined as one might expect from modern literature.  While Vida mostly avoided the repetitious adjectives that Homer in particular would use to establish his warriors, his secondary characters, with the notable exception of Pontus Pilate (who here appears as much more sympathetic to Christ’s plight than he did in the Gospel accounts), are not very memorable.  Although in part necessary due to his fate as a tragic hero, Vida’s Jesus is described more through the speech of others than by any dialogue.  While this is nothing more than a minor annoyance (because the lines themselves are a pleasure to sound out in Latin), it does justify a brief note.

The narrative flows forwards and backwards in time, from Heaven to Hell to Jerusalem and back, in smooth, cascading rhythms.  Vida does an outstanding job capturing the vibe of Vergil’s works, to the point where his Latin is nearly devoid of linguistic innovations that occurred in Ecclesiastical and Medieval Latin.  His hexameters are very polished, with only rare blips like the one I noted above with the metaphor ringing false.  Reading it “aloud” in scansions makes Vida’s accomplishment all the more praiseworthy.

However, there is a latent “but” in this praise.  Vida takes traditional Greco-Latin poetic themes as far as they can go.  And yet, and this is most notable in the final Book VI, the metaphors and similes just pale in comparison to the story Vida wants to tell.  The aftermath of Book V’s crucifixion scene halters, sputters, and just collapses into an overly-extended epilogue that while it does relate the eventual triumph of Christ, it just feels anticlimactic. This reduced narrative power lessened the impact of the whole Christiad for me, moving it from being a near-equal to Milton to something slightly lesser in nature.  That being said, Christiad certainly is one of the finer neo-Latin works of the Italian Renaissance and a work that I would recommend to those who have some background in Latin to read.  For those who aren’t Latinophones, Harvard Univeristy Press’s I Tatti Renaissance Library edition of Christiad does have modern English translation that does capture much of the power of the Latin original.  It certainly is a work that is important even today, even though its influence has waned with the decline of Latin readers.

What I am Reading: March 2022

 If I’m going to be honest to myself and this blog’s past, at least to some limited degree, it might be of interest to the few readers here what exactly it is that I am currently reading in my autumn reading renaissance (pun intended, as you shall soon see).  I have finished two books already this year and am alternating between several others, due in part to the nature of the readings I am doing.

When I began reading again for pleasure after years of barely reading, I began first by sating my years-long curiosity about literary works from the Eastern Roman/Byzantine era as well as the Italian Renaissance period.  In doing several Wikipedia searches, I discovered that Harvard University Press not only was continuing the century-long Loeb Classical Library, but had also launched three complementary lines of bilingual collections:  Dumbarton Oaks (medieval Roman/Byzantine, Old English, c. 400-1300 Medieval Latin literature); I Tatti Renaissance Library (1300-1550 Renaissance Latin works); and the Murty Classical Library of India (primarily focused on works in several Indo-Aryan works of the past five hundred years or so translated into English, many for the first time).  Out of these libraries (and the Loeb Classical Library), I began alternating poems or sections, relearning my college Latin or learning how to read (Medieval) Greek for the first time.  I found myself bouncing back and forth, enjoying the literary connections that I had begun to make between these works.

First, here are the two books I’ve completed, followed by the ones I anticipate finishing by the end of April:

1.  (Trans. by Denison B. Hull), Digenis Akritas:  The Two-Blood Border Lord (translation only, already reviewed)

2.  (Dumbarton Oaks, v. 14):  Pseudo-Methodius, Apocalypse (medieval Greek/English/Latin; Anonymous, An Alexandrian World Chronicle (6th century Latin/English translation).  I may write more about this in the coming month, if time permits.

Books I’m Currently Reading: 

Marco Girolamo Vida, Christiad.  Renaissance Latin epic poetry of the Crucifixion.  Bilingual I Tatti Renaissance Library edition.

Michael Andreopoulos, The Byzantine Sinbad. 11th century Greek version of a pan-Levantine series of tales similar to and yet distinct from The Thousand and One Nights.  Bilingual Dumbarton Oaks edition.

Various, Carmina Burana.  12th and 13th century secular Latin poetry collected from a single surviving manuscript.  Dumbarton Oaks bilingual edition.

Ludovico Ariosto, Latin Poetry.  The 15th/16th century Latin poems that the author of Orlando Furioso had written over the course of his life.  Bilingual I Tatti Renaissance Library edition.

Vergil, Aeneid:  Books I-VI.  The Loeb Classical Library bilingual Latin/English edition.  I’m re-reading Vergil in Latin in preparation for reading an “extension” that was written by Mateo Vegio that’s found in his Short Epics I Tatti Renaissance Library bilingual edition.

I am also working my way slowly through textbooks teaching me the basics of Old English, Old French, and Old Occitan.  Just in the mood these days for discovering these “other” classics and perhaps being one more generational link in the discussion and preservation of these millennium-old works.

Digenis Akritas: The Two-Blood Border Lord (trans. Denison B. Hull)

 

Praises, trophies, and an ode
To thrice-blest Basil, the Border Lord,
A man most noble and most brave,

Whose strength was a gift to him from God.

He overcame all Syria,

Babylon and all Charziané,

Armenia and Cappadocia,

Amorium and Iconium,

And that great famous castle too,

Though mighty and well fortified,

I mean Ancyra – all of Smyrna,

And conquered lands beside the sea.

Now I’ll disclose to you the deeds 

Which he accomplished in this life:

How he filled valiant fighting men

As well as all the beasts with awe,

Having as help the grace of God,

God’s Mother, the indomitable,

The angels and archangels too,

And the victorious great martyrs,

Both the all-glorious Theodores,

The army leader and recruit.

And noble George of many labors

The miracle-working martyrs’ martyr

Sublime Demetrius, the patron

Of Basil, and the boast and pride

Of him who vanquished all his foes,

The Hagarenes and Ishmaelites

And barbarous Scyths who rage like dogs. (pp. 3-4)

It is almost impossible to begin a discussion of Digenis Akritas without first laying out what it is and what is is not:  It is not an “epic” of the style of Homer and Vergil, although the main character of Basil, the titular two-blood border lord, most certainly possesses epic heroic traits; it had a multi-generational gestation period, derived largely from ninth and tenth century events that were interwoven and mutated over generations of folk tales into the forms it reached when the tales of Basil began to be written down in the last centuries of the Roman/Byzantine Empire; it is a simple tale, or perhaps it’s better to argue that it is rooted more deeply in popular motifs than were the simile-ridden epics of the early Empire period.  Digenis Akritas is perhaps best viewed as sui generis, combining the profound Orthodox beliefs of the people with tales of heroism on the borders of the Empire as it struggled to maintain a firm border in the Tarsus Mountains of Asia Minor against Arab raids for over two centuries after the capture of Jerusalem from the Romans.

Digenis Akritas, like most of its contemporaries, existed for centuries in various forms before being published in Western European vernaculars in the 18th and 19th centuries.  In his Introduction, translator/editor Denison B. Hall discusses in depth the histories of six different Greek texts and one Slavonic text that each captured snippets of Basil’s (and his father, the Emir, before him).  Hall chose to use the Grottaferrata version, discovered in a Greek rite monastery of Grottaferrata near Frascati, Italy in 1879, as the core of this English translation, as it contains the clearest tale of Basil and his father before him from beginning to end.

At first glance, Digenis Akritas is an odd poem.  Unlike the classical epics that begin in media res or like modern stories that begin with the protagonist, this poem devotes the first three of the eight books of the Grottaferrata version to his father, the Emir, and how he came to bring his 12,000 strong soldiers over to the side of the Romans, as well as his conversion to Christianity and further adventures before and just after his son Basil was born. While this might at first glance seem to be grounds for a disjointed and uneven tale, a further examination reveals that the first parts are just as integral to the overall poem as those books devoted to our titular hero.  Recall that Digenis Akritas is in origin a collection of folk tales about the borderlands of the 9th and 10th centuries and that with the spread of these tales, more and more elements were grafted onto the core historical events and personages.  The end result is a poem in which the first three books foreshadow the events of Basil’s time on the eastern frontier, creating a sort of doubling effect that does not confuse the reader as much as provide a reinforcement of thematic elements throughout the entire poem.

The anonymous composer(s) of Digenis Akritas did not employ the dactylic hexameters of classical Greco-Roman epic poetry, but rather utilized a fifteen-syllable “political verse” that depended more on a pattern of unstressed-stressed-unstressed syllables to create a strong, flowing rhythm that did not depend upon rhyme.  The English near-equivalent is ten-syllable verse, which Hull uses to create a fast-paced flow to the poem.  The result is an energetic poem that swiftly flows from metaphor to action and back in a matter of a score of lines.  In addition, the religious elements, namely the complementary nature of heroism and faith, are clear and concise.  Digenis Akritas was intended both to entertain and to reinforce Christian morals and for the most part, it succeeds at blending these two seemingly disparate elements into a whole.

I alluded to the difficulties in categorizing Digenis Akritas above, but it is worth repeating that the value one may find in this poem lies in understanding what it is and what it isn’t.  If you read it expecting motifs and strong similarities to Homer or Vergil, for example, you will be disappointed that it is something else. However, if read as what is possesses in its own right, an entertaining and concise series of tales welded together with few seams exposed, Digenis Akritas certainly is an excellent tale and perhaps is one of the better fictions to emerge from the medieval Roman/Byzantine period.

Praise, Trophies, and an Ode: Rediscovering My Love for the Classics

 For nearly five years, I have read fewer than 10 books a year.  I have ever-expanding job duties now, I completed two ultramarathons (abandoned other at 36.3/50 miles), along with six marathons, before a broken left ankle and grade III ligament tear there shelved me before the pandemic delayed matters still.  If anything, the two-year pandemic left me with even less free time, as I work in the educational wing of a mental healthcare facility.  At one point, I sold or boxed up nearly 80% of my books.  It seemed like reading fiction was in the past.

And yet my love for it never truly went away.  If I had a spare 15 minutes or so, I might scour Wikipedia or Quora or other online forums for information on historical periods/regions I didn't study in depth when I earned my BA and MA in History.  Of particular interest was the later Roman Empire, that which managed to survive until the mid-15th century.  Posthumously called the Byzantine Empire, I had read a few books on it, including John Julius Norwich's popular history.  Yet I found myself every now and then wanting to know more.  What was its literature like?  I found myself distrustful of Gibbons' view of it being decadent and pale imitator of its past.

So I finally did some research into medieval Roman literature and I discovered quite an interesting epic, Digenis Akritas.  Originally a series of related oral poems, by the 12th century it had been transformed into a written epic poem, albeit one with no single authorship and with surviving manuscripts that diverge quite a bit in certain particulars.  I plan on reviewing it in the near future, but for now it will suffice to say that its theme (solitary hero of mixed ethnic background guarding the Euphrates border of the Empire against Arab raids) captured my attention.

From there, I went on a bit of a spending spree and I started to buy volumes from these Harvard University Press series:  Loeb Classical Library (pre-500 AD bilingual Greek and Latin texts); Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (500-1400 Medieval Latin, Greek, and Anglo-Saxon texts); and the I Tatti Renaissance Library.  Although I haven't focused as much on this material during the 2004-2016 period of reviews here, I did take two years of Latin in college and have maintained some fluency in reading the text.  My Greek is negligible at the moment, although I know enough from excerpts in Latin texts to compare it to the English translation and work out the meanings of a few hundred words already.

I chose to return to these languages not because of a sense of cultural superiority, but rather because for a long while I've had this nagging feeling that there is a lot of cultural wealth that is endangered of being lost to irrelevancy.  Before this past month, I was ignorant of the fact that was a Neo-Latin epic poem, the Christiad by Marco Girolamo Vida, that retells the Gospels in hexameter verses of high quality.  Nor was I aware of the late 7th century Greek text, Apocalypse, attributed to Pseudo-Methodius, that perhaps is one of the most influential apocalyptic texts after the New Testament canon had been established over two centuries before.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I suspect that over the next couple of months, usually for an hour or so before bedtime or maybe a couple of hours on weekends, I will work my way through a dozen or more of these texts and commentaries, filling in gaps in my knowledge and giving myself things to consider when it comes to form and topic.  There likely will be some reviews to be written of these works, because I believe it's more important that I write a commentaries on what can be gleaned from these works than marveling over Kickstarter records for authors (not demeaning, just noting that it's not as important in the long run) or commenting on casting choices for TV and movie adaptations of certain novels.  While I might address those topics too in the future, I think for now I'm going to focus on what intrigues me more.

Hopefully, there will be a few of you along for the ride.  It's been too long.

Under (De)Construction…

 Not making any firm declarations just yet (I have a few work projects to complete this month first), but I am beginning to feel the urge to write commentaries and perhaps reviews after nearly five years of near-total silence.  I’m not expecting many (or any, really) to notice if/when I do, but I think it may be something that may act as a positive outlet for me.

We’ll see.  After all, I’m not exactly a spring chicken and in the era of Instagram and GoodReads, I may just be a proverbial dinosaur…