Jane Curran, “Wieland’s Revival of Horace,” IJCT 3 (1996-1997), pp. 171-184.

In eighteenth-century Germany, there arose a tremendous enthusiasm for translating, particularly from texts written in the Classical languages. Translation theorists in this period outline two possible methods: either the emphasis lies with the ancient source or with the modern idiom. Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813) translated the Epistles (1782) and Satires (1786) of Horace into lively verse in a loose iambic pentameter scheme. The translations, with their accompanying introductions and commentaries, display Wieland’s expertise as a Classical scholar and his skill as a poet. By contrast, in the Horace translations of Johann Heinrich Voß (1751-1826), too strict an adherence to the metrical and syntactical features of the original produces an unnatural German style. Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700-1766) translated Horace’s Ars Poetica as a preface to his own treatise on poetry, Versuch einer critischen Dichtkunst (1730). Gottsched’s allegiance lies with contemporary literary style; he translates freely, using rhyming Alexandrines. Wieland’s method, a mean between these two extremes, provides the most faithful reproduction of the Roman poet.