Le rôle de la mer dans la poésie latine.

Klincksieck, Paris, 1935. 546p. Sewn. Carton cover. Uncut. Edges a little bit stained. (Rare). ?The author gives a very full account of the sea and things marine or nautical as treated by all the Roman poets from Plautus and Ennius to Statius and Silius Italicus. Often all the terms used by a single poet are collected, and classified e.g. into ?expressions banales? or ?créations vigoureuses?. Similarly the descriptions of storms , of embarcations, of landings, and of nautical manoeuvres, and the imagery drawn from the sea, are collected as each poet is treated. Naturally this material, with the interesting conclusions drawn from it, means a big book; and this ?mega biblion? might have seemed a ?mega kakon?, were it not for the excellent analytical table of contents (14 pages long) which enables the reader to pick and choose what to read. Constant touch is kept with history. In their proper places are treated the emergence of Rome as a naval power, the development of Baiae and similar places as centres of fashion, and the naval policy of Augustus. The author does not fail to enquire how each poet observed the sea. (?) The final question is that of the Romans? love of the sea; their poetry of the sea contained much that was borrowed but also much that was original, as the author abundantly shows. Had they then the sea in their blood? The answer is no. Their love was an acquired one. (?) The Roman poets excel in the sea-scenes which can be watched from the shore.? (ARNOLD M. DUFF in The Classical Review, 1936, p.179).