Horace
Leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus
The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as the only Latin lyrics worth reading.[1] During the reign of Augustus, the Roman lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, commonly called Horace, was preeminent.[2] Horace lived through the period when Rome was transformed from a republic into an empire.[3]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Quintus Horatius Flaccus
- Born
- 8 December 65 BC
- Birthplace
- Venusia, Italy, Roman Republic
- Died
- 27 November 8 BC (aged 56)
- Place of death
- Rome, Italy, Roman Empire
- Resting place
- Rome, Italy
- Occupation
- Soldier
- scriba quaestorius
- poet
- Language
- Latin
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
His father was a freedman who worked as a collector of money at auctions, according to Horace's own account.[4] Horace left Rome and continued his formal education in Athens, arriving at nineteen years of age.[5] Maecenas, who was Octavian's chief civil aide, became Horace's friend, and Horace then acted as a voice for the new administration.[3] Horace died at age 56, shortly after Maecenas died, and was buried near Maecenas's tomb.[6]
What the cited sources add
Suetonius recorded that Augustus offered Horace the post of personal secretary, but Horace refused the office.[4][7] Suetonius described Horace as short and fat, as the poet himself described in his Satires.[7] Horace served as tribune of the soldiers in the war of Philippi at the instance of Marcus Brutus.[4] Suetonius noted that Horace purchased the office of scribe to a quaestor after obtaining a pardon.[7]
Maecenas expressed his fondness for Horace in his last will and testament with the remark to Augustus: "Be as mindful of Horatius Flaccus as of myself".[4] Augustus showed no resentment when Horace refused the secretarial post and continued trying to win his friendship.[4]
References
- Wikipedia, "Horace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Quintilian 10.1.96: translation by Donald A. Russell (Loeb Classical Library, 2002). The only other lyrical poet Quintilian thought comparable with Horace was t (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Horace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Suetonius, Life of Horace. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Horace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: J. Michie, The Odes of Horace, 14; N. Rudd, The Satires of Horace and Persius, 10; Quoted by N. Rudd from John Dryden's Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire, excerpted from W.P.Ker's edition of Dryden's essays, Oxford 1926, (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Suetonius, Life of Horace.. facts only, no text reused. penelope.uchicago.edu
- Wikipedia, "Horace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: V. Kiernan, Horace: Poetics and Politics, 25; Odes 2.7; E. Fraenkel, Horace, 8–9 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Horace" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Suetonius signals that the report is based on rumours by employing the terms "traditur...dicitur" / "it is reported...it is said" (E. Fraenkel, Horace, 21) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Fraenkel, Eduard. Horace. Oxford: 1957, p. 1.<br /> For the Life of Horace by Suetonius, see: (Vita Horati). facts only, no text reused. gutenberg.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Horace (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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