As cultured (nearly),
As yours was, Horace! You alone,
Unmatched, unmet, we have not known.
But it is not only to comparatively independent creation that we must look. The dynamic power of Horace is to be found at work even in the translation of the poet. The fact that he has had more translators than any other poet, ancient or modern, is itself an evidence of inspirational quality, but a greater proof lies in the variety and character of his translators and the quality of their achievement. A list of those who have felt in this way the stirrings of the Horatian spirit would include the names not only of many great men of letters, but of many great men of affairs, whose successes are to be counted among examples of genuine inspiration. Translation at its best is not mere craftsmanship, but creation,—in Roscommon's lines,
'Tis true, composing is the Nobler Part,
But good Translation is no easy Art.
Theodore Martin's rendering of I. 21, To a Jar of Wine, already quoted in part, is an example. Another brilliant success is Sir Stephen E. De Vere's I. 31, Prayer to Apollo, quoted in connection with the poet's religious attitude. No less felicitous are Conington's spirited twelve lines, reproducing III. 26, Vixi puellis:
VIXI PUELLIS NUPER IDONEUS
For ladies' love I late was fit,
And good success my warfare blest;