Books: Old Myths Made New

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES (401 pp.)—freinstated by Rolfe Humphries—Indiana University ($3.95; paperback, $1.75).

The general rule with classics is—time mutes, translators mutilate. Poet Rolfe Humphries' rendition of Ovid's Metamorphoses is a glowing exception. A skillful poet himself (Forbid Thy Ravens, The Wind of Time), Humphries, 60, soaked up a love of Latin from his teacher father, who once played baseball for the New York Giants. Four years ago, when his translation of Virgil's Aeneid appeared, critics hailed it as the best since Dryden's. This is only the second time in the last hundred years that...

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