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Rating: 
Summary: Greek texts, excellent commentaries, no translations...
Review: Well...
If you want a very good anthology of Hellenistic
poetry, with the Greek texts available for your
own translation, and excellent commentaries and
notes -- then this is your volume.
There is a total of 81 pages of Greek texts of
poems -- pp. 83 to 274 are detailed, highly
interesting, and enlightening commentaries on
the wordings, allusions, and implications in
the various poems, delivered with scholarly
insight, interest, verve, and never dullness.
Example -- here is a commentary on a Greek
word in an excerpt from Apollonius' epic
poem, -Argonautica, Book 4-, concerning Talos:
[astar/aulios]"the homing star". "This is a
good example of Ap.'s allusion to Homeric
philological problems." The editor then goes
on to give the quote in Greek, as well as
telling how Homer uses the word poetically,
and then how Apollonius changes the order of
his use of the word in his own poetic foot
placement. The relation to "aulios" is explained
as meaning "it brings relief to wretched plough-
men, i.e., signals their return home. Nor is
this mere pedantry: the 'gloss' is particularly
apt, since 'ploughing the sea' is a common
metaphor for rowing. The ploughmaen can rest;
but the heroes' work is only just begun."
The other notes in the commentaries are just
as insightful and interesting and enrich the
appreciation of the pieces.
The only drawback, at this price, for the
general readership is the fact that with all
this richness of detail and scholarly insight,
there are no translations. This book is meant
for students of Greek to use as a text for study
or class work. General readers would greatly
benefit, as would non-Greek reading scholars,
if only the translations had been supplied as
well.
The poets covered with various poems, pieces,
and excerpts are: Callimachus, Cleanthes, Aratus,
Nicander, Theocritus, Simias, Phanocles, Apollonius,
Moschus, Bion, Rhianus, Lycophron, Herondas, Machon,
as well as Epigrams, and Drinking Song.
There are also 4 pages of maps and a very good
Introduction.
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