Black Wolf Books
Garland of the Ancients contains the finest poems from the Greek Anthology, compiled from 700 BCE to 700 CE. Its epigrams speak as fresh and accessible as if written down today. For those who consider concision an art form solely derived from the Far East, this collection will be enlightening for what exists, and what sustains us, in our own tradition.
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These are "marvelous poems" and "a work of inspiration." --David Mason
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The stars, the rivers,
and all the waves
call you back to me.
--Pindar, 6th century BCE
In the tumultuous time of Julius Caesar, during the death throes of the Roman republic, Catullus composed some of the most emotionally-driven poems of any time, any place. Lucid yet multi-layered, they tell of his affair with Lesbia, the untimely death of his brother, and his intimate friendships. They remain as eloquent today as when he first shared them with his poetic coterie some 20 centuries ago.
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The flame of love,
savage as it was,
seared through my bone
to the very marrow.
--From Catullus 100
Famous for two millennia for the Aeneid and Georgics, Virgil is less well known for his love verse. Collected here in one unique volume, it demonstrates his sensitivity, humanity, gentle passion, and his meticulous detail in the composition of timeless songs.
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Like smoke, disintegrating into air,
you disperse, then fade away,
vanishing before my eyes.
For there you left me, alone,
clutching at nothing but
that shadow of your love.
--From Georgic 4
Propertius traced a path first cut by Catullus and composed a suite of desperate, lovestruck elegies for his lover, Cynthia, for which he plunged deep into the madness and obsession of love, as if enslaved. Not known outside scholarly circles, his luminous verse contains layers of complicated expression and meaning which lurk below the surface.
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Not even death's dark day,
can diminish this love.
--From Propertius 2.24A
Exiled by Augustus, ostensibly for immoral verse, but more likely to conceal a political scandal, Ovid protested that if his muse was wanton, his life was chaste. Gathered together here are the finest versions of his love verse to Corinna, also selections from the Heroides in which he wrote in a feminine voice, and his exilic verse to his wife, left behind in Rome.
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​"This collection demonstrates why, across so many centuries, Ovid survives today." --Dona Luongo Stein
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Naked, I take her naked--
--From Amores 1.5
Considered the most elegant elegist of the Augustan Age, the work of Tibullus almost vanished from the toll of time. Rescued in the Renaissance, his love verse, as presented here in a new narrative, provides a Blakean view of pastoral idyll, soon stung by passion's whip, until, at last, a satisfying solace is found with his last lover.
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With your whip, bristling my skin,
I twirl like a top, flying among
your fluttering flag of love.
--From Elegies 1.5
