005 – Dead Poet’s Society

Listen:

Your brave podcasters really fail to carpe diem (seize the day!), and instead get stuck into the booze and books.  In this case the bracing delights of ancient Roman satire.  Join us, join the Juvenal Club - and, as one of our other dead poets rightly said: Nunc est bibendum - let’s drink! 

Battle of the Books - Round 5

• Horace -  Satires and Epodes

• Martial -  The Epigrams

• Juvenal -  The Satires

• Wild Cards:

• Petronius - The Satyricon

• Seneca - The Pumpkinification of Claudius

The more recent Penguin Classics translations tend to preserve more of the scabrous filth.

Shortcuts

Italian art-house master produced a loose adaptation of The Satyricon in 1969.  Kinky, camp, psychedelic, and striking, but a difficult watch and only loosely related to the original material.  X-rated, though not as much as Caligula (the Director’s Cut)

The story of Patrick Leigh Fermore and the Nazi general is told in the Powell and Pressburger film Ill Met By Moonlight, with Dirk Bogart... and the awkward moment from Greek This Is Your Life is available on YouTube.

Not a shortcut, but perhaps an embodiment of the spirit of this podcast: if you haven’t done already, do watch Dead Poets Society - the perfect film for breakfasting champions!

Battle of the Booze

Fatalone Gioia del Colle Primitivo Riserva Puglia, Italy, in honour of the poet Horace’s famous wet dream in Brinidisium.  Created by a hard-living lady-killer, at 15% this red is deliciously punchy, but definitely not a breakfast wine...

Poll of Champions

We want your votes!  Which book would you save?  Vote here!

Feedback

We’d love to hear from you with thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions – click here

And do send us your own filthy epigram: we’ll give a prize for the best one!