The Plays and Fragments (Oxford World's Classics) 1st Edition

In this review I will compare the three volume Loeb edition of Menander's works and the Oxford World's Classics edition. ("Menander" v1,v2,v3 Loeb Classical Library, trans: W.G.Arnott// "Menander: The Plays and Fragments" Oxford World's Classics, trans: Maurice Balme).Loeb edition:Loeb series contain both Greek and English translations. The translation is good. All of Menander's works (with the exception of Dyskolos) are incomplete, fragmented, and there are alot of missing lines. Loeb's approach is to leave the missing lines as they are. Instead Arnott added a note on what the missing lines would be. So from a readability perspective, reading this edition can be very challenging especially for those works that are extremely fragmented. The value of this edition is in the Greek text and the original translation as-is. It will cater better to the purists who want to read the original Greek text.Oxford edition:The translation is equally good. In this edition Balme decided to supply the missing lines with what he thinks should have been there. As a result, it is highly readable and flow very nicely even for those works that are highly fragmented (for example the Sikyonios). For those who are purists, this edition may be higly speculative and may disagree with the supplied missing lines.But, for the rest of us who simply want to enjoy Menander's works, this edition is prefarable to the Loeb edition.

I have nothing to complain about. Met all of my expectations! The book was in great condition upon arrival. Worth the buy.

Good translation and selection

I read this English edition of Menander's plays as part of my journey through the Western canon. My rating and this review are not of Menander himself, but of this English edition.First, Peter Brown writes an excellent introduction to Menander and not only places him in his historical and literary context but also shows his impact on future playwrights through the Renaissance.Second, Maurice Balme provides a good English translation given the difficult task of dealing with fragments and lacunas. I did not read all the plays presented in this edition. Rather, I read only Dyskolos and Samia. I'm not a fan of the translator "filling in the blanks" where lines or words are missing in the papyri fragments. It makes the plays more readable, but at the expense of accuracy.Third, Balme's end notes are helpful in understanding the historical and literary references found in each play. I just wish they were footnotes and not end notes. I hate having to flip back and forth from the text to the notes.Because of the excellent introduction, the good translation (although I'm not a fan of the "fill in the blank" approach), and the use of end notes instead of footnotes, I've given this English edition of Menander 3-out-of-5 stars.

My daughter needed it for class.

This volume is an excellent collection of all, or almost all, of the known Menander. It includes his sole whole play, Didoskolos, many fragmentary plays, and also many doxai and apocrypha.The translation is fine, but it it's rarely funny. I feel the fault lies with the fragmentary nature of the subject, not with the translator. So many of the fragmentary plays feel like a collection of characters related in some confusing manner (someone's always in love) and interacting to some unknown end. Humour is occasional, not consistent.Also, the notation is sparse and at the end of the book. I've read other translations of Greek comedy that take great care to point out puns and double-entendres in the original text. This collection does so rarely.

Very useful reference material

Menander, the great playwright of his day, was still being talked about at the time of St Paul. Sadly, this is more or less all we have left of his output.

a description ,many thanks