The Roman Poets (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series)

Virgil you can take or leave, but Horace and Martial are the cat's whiskers. Horace's odes are beautiful and thought-provoking, and Martial (despite that his name leads the uninitiated to expect battle imagery) was a very funny man. About as far from stuffy as it gets, these Roman poets wrote with passion and wit. Here's Martial on book reviewers (from Epigram I): "So they've summed you up, my little book. / You're now 'a milestone in ironic outlook.' / This the price of your publicity: / MARTIAL VIEWS LIFE VERY SAUCILY / Whatever they say is a load of balls / Certain to send you to second-hand stalls." The Roman Poets is another welcome addition to the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets series. These are beautiful books, sturdily made, and sensibly edited and arranged.