What did Jed Bartlet (The West Wing) buy at the bookstore?

Great find! I wonder which translation that was?

Definition of DIDASCALIC

intended to teach (something, such as a moral lesson) : moralistic, didactic; of, relating to, or contained in a didascaly… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

I had never heard the word 'didascalic' before, I thought he completely misread "didactic"

Quote

The nature of things, a didascalic poem, translated from the Latin of Titus Lucretius Carus: accompanied with commentaries, comparative, illustrative, and scientific; and the life of Epicurus. Published under the express auspices of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent; and dedicated to The Right Honourable Lord Grenville ... by Thomas Busby ... In two volumes. Vol. I.

Thomas Busby?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Busby_(composer)

The Nature of Things, A Didascalic Poem, Translated from the Latin of Titus Lucretius Carus; Accompanied with Commentaries, Comparative, Illustrative, and Scientific; and the Life of Epicurus. Published under the Express Auspices of His Royal Highness…

Vol 1 (DRN Book 1 & extra content)

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Nature_of_Things_a_Didascalic_Poem_T/cfkrBTsdjdIC

Vol 2 (includes DRN Books 2-6)

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Nature_of_Things_a_Didascalic_Poem_T/wigrq2-xWtIC

Wow this was posted because it is funny but it has led me to a great PDF through Don of which I was totally unaware. THANK YOU!

Busby is pretty strong in his criticism of Creech:

And it is poetic version! Would be interesting to compare this to the William Emery Leonard translation and see which seems more clear:

(Edit: Arranging these side by side, Busby may in fact be more clear, but maybe at the cost of leaving out significant detail. Reviewing these reinforces my view that poetic versions may sound good and be useful for emphasizing certain points, but can never substitute for a more literal word-by-word translation.)

Another famous section rendered by Busby:

Her life the purchase of a wind for Troy.
Such mighty evils holy phrenzy brings !
Such direful outrage from religion springs !

Quote from Cassius

Wow this was posted because it is funny but it has led me to a great PDF through Don of which I was totally unaware. THANK YOU!

My pleasure

Quote from Cassius

poetic versions may sound good and be useful for emphasizing certain points, but can never substitute for a more literal word-by-word translation.

The poet in me rises up. 😉

First, poetry communicates differently than prose – or it would be prose. Translating poetry into prose in an attempt to achieve more clarity is to attempt something that the poet wasn’t doing to begin with (and this includes didactic – or didascalic – poetry). And Lucretius was, in a sense, translating Epicurean principles from received prose into poetry – as well as into Latin.

Second, all translation is interpretive, even attempts at some literal word-for-word (which may not capture all the nuance of the original – I recall that Buber and Rosenzweig’s translation of the Torah into German was several times longer than the original, as they tried to capture all the meaning-nuance of polysemous classical Hebrew).

So, even working with the original Epicurean corpus, I suspect that clarity and detail will always be subject to multiple perspectives and options, although the major points might be settled. (We see that on here.)

I’m not sure how I came to this, but I get some notifications from Academia.edu:

Wallace Stevens' Epicurean Emperor - proof

Wallace Stevens' Epicurean Emperor - proof

www.academia.edu

Maybe it has some small side interest here.

Stevens has never been a favorite of mine, though I have his Collected Poems. I’m not sure what his criticism of Lucretius was – but I suspect that Stevens just thought himself a better poet (even allowing for the centuries between them).

I have to admire Academia's ability to send out emails. They make Linked In look like amateurs. If I didn't get an email from them every day I think I would worry the world has ended