Dear Friends,

I have the following enquiry from a classical friend of a classical friend.

I have just bought a copy of the Kipling Horace Liber Quintus and it is signed by the owner "To the audacious originator of the 39th Ode of the 1st book" and signed WEF. Does either mean anything to you?

It looks as if WEF was the original owner and then gave it to another person, who had written a similar 'spoof' ode, giving it the number 39 of Book 1.

Horace had 38 odes in his book (23 BC). The 38th is 'Persicos odi, puer, apparatus', which Maurice Baring rendered as

Persian pomp offends me, boy,

Linden-ribboned wreaths annoy,

Search me not the garden close

For a late October rose,

Crowns of myrtle leaf will do,

One for me and one for you,

When you pour me out the wine,

When I drink beneath the vine.

I wonder if the spoof 39th was a recantation of this liking for rustic simplicity?

Can anyone help about the identity of WEF and of the author of the 39th ode? Has anyone seen the ode?

Best wishes to all,

Susan Treggiari