zlacker

The most important Latin scholar in the world at that time? That is quite a claim. My recollection from Bernard Knox's essay "Closet Modern", collected in Essays Ancient and Modern is that Houseman's work, whatever its quality, was primarily on an author of limited interest.

But good for Houseman recovering from bilged examinations. Jonathan Swift did terribly on his examinations, but then made up for it.

[added}

>> Virgil and the Greeks would have made Shakespeare not merely a great genius, which he was already, but, like Milton, a great artist, which he is not.

Really?

Housema praises Matthew Arnold's essay "On Translating Homer*. When I read it, I found its premise odd: "My one object is to give practical advice to a translator." If this is to say "a translator of Homer", then there are few in any generation who attempt the task. If to translators in general, then an essay of Hilaire Belloc's strikes me as much more to the point. Then "or what he has in common with Milton--the noble and profound application of ideas to life--is the most essential part of poetic greatness." seems to me to offer cover for some pretty bad poetry.