Horace

Horace was a Roman lyric poet who lived through the civil wars and the establishment of Augustus’s rule. A former supporter of Brutus, he later wrote poetry about friendship, politics, rural retreat, artistic craft and the uneasy benefits of restored order.

Horace was born in Venosa and died in Rome. Horace fought on the republican side at Philippi before receiving pardon and entering the literary circle of Maecenas; his Odes, Satires and Epistles became models of Latin lyric and moral reflection.

Complete Works of Horace (Satires, Odes, Epodes, Carmen Saeculare, Epistles, Ars Poetica) presents Horace through his surviving poetry rather than as a character in a later historical narrative. The collection shows him moving between satire, lyric, literary friendship, moral reflection and the political settlement of Augustus’ Rome. Read together, the works reveal both the public poet associated with Maecenas and the more private voice concerned with moderation, mortality, friendship and the limits of ambition.