Hi,
I recently read, in The Roman Way by Edith Hamilton, that the Odes of Horace are nearly untranslatable. Yes, of course it is true that any poetry will never translate perfectly -- meaning is always lost. However, whereas some or even most of the meaning can be translated from many poems, the odes seem rather elusive in this regard. It is the way he says these things, it seems, and not the sometimes mundane things which he says. How can you translate that? Still, I hear many --some very distinguished-- have tried, and it is dubious have succeeded. Anyone have any experience in this area? What is the best translation of one or all of Horace's Odes?