Horace

:For other people named Horace, see Horace (disambiguation).

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Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading lyric poet in Latin, the son of a freedman, but himself born free. His father, though poor, spent considerable money on Horace's education, accompanying him first to Rome for his primary education, and then to Athens to study Greek and philosophy. Horace never took for granted his father's care and sacrifice, and his relationship with his father remains one of the most endearing personal episodes to survive from the classical period. In his own words (note that some of the beauty is lost in translation):

Related Topics:
December 8 - 65 BC - November 27 - 8 BC - English-speaking - Lyric - Latin - Freedman - Rome - Athens - Greek - Philosophy

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:If my character is flawed by a few minor faults, but is otherwise decent and moral, if you can point out only a few scattered blemishes on an otherwise immaculate surface, if no one can accuse me of greed, or of pruriance, or of profligacy, if I live a virtuous life, free of defilement (pardon, for a moment, my self-praise), and if I am to my friends a good friend, my father deserves all the credit... As it is now, he deserves from me unstinting gratitude and praise. I could never be ashamed of such a father, nor do I feel any need, as many people do, to apologize for being a freedman's son.

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::Satires 1.6.65-92

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After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Horace joined the army, serving under the generalship of Brutus. He was in the Battle of Philippi, and saved himself by fleeing. When an amnesty was declared for those who had fought against the victorious Augustus, he returned to Italy, only to find his father dead, and his estate confiscated. Horace was reduced to poverty. He was, however, able to purchase a clerkship in the quaestor's office, which allowed him to get by and practice his poetic art.

Related Topics:
Julius Caesar - Brutus - Battle of Philippi - Amnesty - Augustus - Quaestor

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Horace was a member of a literary circle that included Virgil and Lucius Varius Rufus; they introduced him to Maecenas, friend and confidant of Augustus. Maecenas became his patron and close friend, and presented Horace with an estate near Tibur, contemporary Tivoli.

Related Topics:
Virgil - Lucius Varius Rufus - Maecenas - Augustus - Tibur - Tivoli

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Perhaps the finest translator of Horace was John Dryden, who successfully adapted most of the Odes into English verse for readers of his own age. These translations are favored by many scholars despite some textual variations. Others favor unrhymed translations.

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Horace's surviving work includes:

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• Four books of Odes (or Carmina), longer poems, usually on mythological subjects;
• A book of Epodes, containing shorter poems;
• Two books of Satires, and
• Two books of Letters or Epistles, and
• The Carmen Saeculare.

One of the Epistles is often referred to as a separate work in itself, the Ars Poetica. (This work was first translated into English by Queen Elizabeth I).

Related Topics:
Ars Poetica - Queen Elizabeth I

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Horace is generally considered by classicists to be, along with Virgil, the greatest of the Latin poets. He wrote many Latin phrases that remain in use, in Latin or in translation, including carpe diem, "seize the day," and aurea mediocritas, the "golden mean." His works are highly derivative of Greek models, and written exclusively in Greek metres, from the hexameter, which was relatively easy to adapt to Latin, to the more complex measures used in the Odes, like alcaics and sapphics, which were sometimes a difficult fit for Latin structure and syntax. No Latin writer handles these metres with such grace, precision and lightness of touch, although Catullus comes close. The Satires and Epistles are his most personal works, and perhaps the most accessible to contemporary readers unable to appreciate the verbal magic of the Odes.

Related Topics:
Classicist - Virgil - Latin phrases - Carpe diem - Metre - Hexameter - Alcaic - Sapphic - Syntax - Catullus

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Horace: Works ►