Birthdate: 8. December 65 BC
Date of death: 27. November 8 BC
Other names: Quintus Flaccus Horatius, Flaccus Quintus Horatius, Квинт Гораций Флакк
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace , was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus . The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."Horace also crafted elegant hexameter verses and caustic iambic poetry . The hexameters are amusing yet serious works, friendly in tone, leading the ancient satirist Persius to comment: "as his friend laughs, Horace slyly puts his finger on his every fault; once let in, he plays about the heartstrings".His career coincided with Rome's momentous change from a republic to an empire. An officer in the republican army defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, he was befriended by Octavian's right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, and became a spokesman for the new regime. For some commentators, his association with the regime was a delicate balance in which he maintained a strong measure of independence but for others he was, in John Dryden's phrase, "a well-mannered court slave".
Book I, epistle i, line 14
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri,
quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.
Book I, epistle xii, line 4
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Pauper enim non est, cui rerum suppetit usus.
si ventri bene, si lateri est pedibusque tuis, nil
divitiae poterunt regales addere maius.
Context: He is not poor who has enough of things to use. If it is well with your belly, chest and feet, the wealth of kings can give you nothing more.
Book I, epistle xii, line 19
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors
Book II, satire iii, line 50 (trans. Conington)
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
Original: (la) Ille sinistrorsum, hie dextrorsum abit : unus utrique
Error, sed variis illudit partibus.
Book I, ode iii, line 21 (trans. by John Dryden)
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
Original: (la) Nequiquam deus abscidit
Prudens Oceano dissociabili
Terras, si tamen impiae
Non tangenda rates transiliunt vada.
Book I, epistle xviii, line 71
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.
Book II, epistle i, lines 156–157
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio.
Book I, epistle xi, line 27
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Caelum, non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt.
Book I, epistle iv, line 13–14
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum.
grata superveniet, quae non sperabitur hora.
Original: (la) Si vis me flere, dolendum est
primum ipsi tibi.
Source: Ars Poetica, or The Epistle to the Pisones (c. 18 BC), Line 102
Book III, ode i, line 4
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
Original: (la) Virginibus puerisque canto.
Book I, epistle ii, line 27
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.
Book I, satire ix, line 59
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
Original: (la) Nil sine magno
vita labore dedit mortalibus.
Book II, satire ii, line 6
Satires (c. 35 BC and 30 BC)
Original: (la) Adclinis falsis animus meliora recusat.
Book I, epistle ii, lines 37–39; translation by C. Smart
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Nam cur
quae laedunt oculum festinas demere; si quid
est animum, differs curandi tempus in annum?
Book IV, ode vii, line 16
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
Original: (la) Pulvis et umbra sumus.
Do you count your birthdays with gratitude?
Book II, epistle ii, line 210
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Book I, epistle xviii, line 84
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)
Original: (la) Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.
