Born Quintus Horatius Flaccus on December 8, 65 B. C., Horace became one of Rome's outstanding poets. He lived only 57 years and was early Imperial Rome's greatest lyric poet. His father, a former slave, saved up his money to provide his son with a good education. Later Horace went to Athens for further training. While there, Brutus who had just participated in the murder of Caesar, persuaded Horace to serve under him as an officer in his army trying to resist the Second Triumvirate. He enlisted in the republican army where he was a tribune. After Octavian defeated Brutus in the Battle of Philippi, Horace's military career was ended. When he returned home, he found his father had died and their farm had been lost in the confiscations of the Triumvirs.

Horace was able to get a job as a public clerk., keeping the records for the quaestors. In his spare time he wrote poetry which caught the attention of Virgil who introduced him to Maecenas, a patron of the arts and an advisor to Augustus. This new relationship gave Horace financial freedom that allowed him to write poetry all the time. Horace also received a villa from Maecenas where he could go and relax and spend time writing poetry.

Horace wrote on a scroll like this.

A number of his poems are about the tension between the city and the country. He also wrote about leisure, business, and politics. He wrote satires, odes, and epodes. The satires express his rejection of public life and his need to aim at wisdom through serenity. He also discusses ethical questions including the race for wealth and position, the uselessness of going to the extreme, and the need for mutual tolerance. In 20 B. C. he published twenty short epistles. His most famous of the longer epistles was The Art of Poetry.

Horace is not a writer of the youth, but writes about the middle-age troubles.

After Virgil's death in 19 B. C., he became the main poet of Rome and the Imperial Court. In 17 B. C. , Augustus decided to revive the Secular Games and he asked Horace to write the hymn for the occasion.

Horace remained unmarried throughout his life. He is sometimes described as short and stout. He even speaks of himself as prematurely grey and bald, liking sunshine, and a little quick -tempered, yet easy -going.

Through his poetry one can learn much about Horace's personality, his development and his manner of living. Though sometimes it is hard to pin down his actual beliefs with certainty.

Horace has been an influence on poets from the Renaissance to modern times.

 

 Written by David and Tim