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,
'T_is true, composing is the Nobler Part_,
B_ut 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.
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