News Archives - Pantheon Poets | Latin Poetry Recited and Translated

Venus and Mars go astray

Posted on April 7, 2026April 7, 2026

In Thebes, royal sisters are refusing to join ceremonies celebrating Bacchus. They will come to regret this, but for now they pass the time by weaving, spinning and telling stories instead, including the one about Venus’s love-affair with Mars. Hear Ovid’s original Latin and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.

A second parting for Orpheus and Eurydice

Posted on April 1, 2026

Ovid retells the famous myth in his Metamorphoses. Hear it in the original and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.

Baudelaire’s Icarus

Posted on March 28, 2026

With an echo of Ovid, Charles Baudelaire, the great French writer, sees himself as a poetic Icarus, who has flown too close to the sun and been scorched by the experience. Hear “Les Plaintes d’un Icare” in French and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.

Ulysses and Du Bellay

Posted on March 20, 2026

To a sixteenth-century French poet in search of an example, it is second nature to look for one in the classical world. Hear Du Bellay’s “Heureux qui comme Ulysse” in the original French and follow in English here.

See the blog post with Odysseus and the sirens here.

Numida’s return

Posted on January 28, 2026

Horace describes a lively party to welcome Numida home from Spain: hear the poem in the original Latin and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.

A prayer for the things that matter

Posted on January 26, 2026

In a temple newly dedicated to Apollo, the God of Poetry, Horace prays to the God to grant him a sound and dignified old age with, most importantly, poetry in it. Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.

A hymn to two archer-gods

Posted on January 21, 2026

Apollo and Diana were brother and sister, and both associated with the bow. Hear Horace’s chorus of boys and girls in Latin and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.

Enjoy wine wisely!

Posted on January 18, 2026

Enjoy wine, advises Horace – but don’t overstep the boundaries!

Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.

The unhappy spirit

Posted on January 12, 2026

In an unconventional but moving ode in which the speaker is a drowned sailor, pleas for burial are combined with reflections on the inevitability of death. Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.