Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner |
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| Born | Quintus Horatius Flaccus 8 December 65 BC Venusia, Lucania, Roman Republic |
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| Died | 27 November 8 BC (age 56) Rome, Roman Empire |
| Resting place | Rome |
| Occupation | Soldier, scriba quaestorius, poet |
| Language | Latin |
| Nationality | Roman |
| Genres | Lyric poetry |
| Notable work(s) | Odes, Satires, Ars Poetica |
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Quintus Horatius Flaccus (8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintillian regarded him as almost the only Latin lyric poet worth reading, justifying his estimate with the words: "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."[1] But Horace also crafted elegant hexameter verses and scurrilous iambic poetry. His career coincided with Rome's momentous change from Republic to Empire. An officer in the republican army that was crushed at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, he was befriended by Octavian's right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, and became something of 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 (he was "a master of the graceful sidestep")[2] but for others he was, in John Dryden's phrase, "a well-mannered court slave".[3][nb 1] His poetry became from his own time onwards "the common currency of civilization" and, despite a decline in popularity after World War I (perhaps due to popular mistrust of old fashioned patriotism and imperial glory, with which he was identified, fairly or unfairly), he still retains a devoted following.[4] Horatian studies have become so diverse and intensive in recent years that it is probably no longer possible for any one scholar to command the whole range of arguments and issues.[5]
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Most of what we know about Horace the man is based on self-disclosures in his poetry and a short biography probably written by Suetonius.[6] He even has some claims to being the world's first autobiographer[7] Recent scholarship tends to frown on biographical interpretations of literature (critical analysis reveals an author's mask or persona, not necessarily the real person) but Horace seems to be quite open about himself, he mentions events that are verifiable and some inferences about the man thus seem valid.[8]
Born in the small town of Venusia in the border region between Apulia and Lucania (Basilicata), Horace was the son of a freed slave, who owned a small farm in Venusia, and later moved to Rome to work as a coactor (a middleman between buyers and sellers at auctions, receiving 1% of the purchase price from each for his services). The elder Horace was able to spend considerable money on his son's education, accompanying him first to Rome for his primary education, and then sending him to Athens to study Greek and philosophy. The poet later expressed his gratitude in a tribute to his father:
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 prurience, 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. Satires 1.6.65–92
After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Horace joined the army, serving under the generalship of Brutus. He fought as a staff officer (tribunus militum) in the Battle of Philippi. Alluding to famous literary models, he later claimed that he saved himself by throwing away his shield and fleeing. When an amnesty was declared for those who had fought against the victorious Octavian (later Augustus), Horace returned to Italy, only to find his estate confiscated; his father likely having died by then. Horace claims that he was reduced to poverty. Nevertheless, he had the means to gain a profitable lifetime appointment as a scriba quaestorius, an official of the Treasury, which allowed him to practice his poetic art.
Horace was a member of a literary circle that included Virgil and Lucius Varius Rufus, who introduced him to Maecenas, friend and confidant of Augustus. Maecenas became his patron and close friend and presented Horace with an estate near Tibur in the Sabine Hills (contemporary Tivoli). Horace died in Rome at age 56 a few months after the death of Maecenas. Upon his death bed, having no heirs, Horace relinquished his farm to his friend, the emperor Augustus, for imperial needs, and it stands today as a spot of pilgrimage for his admirers.
The reception of Horace's work has of course varied from one epoch to another. In a verse epistle to Augustus (Epistle 2.1), in 12 BC, he argued for classic status to be awarded to contemporary poets, including Virgil and apparently himself,[9] and in the final poem of his third book of Odes he claimed to have created for himself a monument more durable than bronze ("Exegi monumentum aere perennius", Carmina 3.30.1). For one modern scholar, however, his personal qualities are more notable than the monumental quality of his achievement:
"...when we hear his name we don't really think of a monument. We think rather of a voice which varies in tone and resonance but is always recognizable, and which by its unsentimental humanity evokes a very special blend of liking and respect. — Niall Rudd[10]
Yet for men like Wilfred Owen, scarred by experiences of World War I, his voice could seem inhuman:
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The Old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.[nb 2]
The same motto, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, was echoed much more sympathetically in the lyrics of early Christian poets, such as Prudentius, commending an ethos of martydom.[11]
Appreciation of Horace's work varied markedly even in his own lifetime. Thus Odes 1-3 were not well received when first 'published' in Rome yet Augustus later commissioned a ceremonial ode for the Centennial Games in 17 BC, and encouraged the publication of Odes 4, after which Horace's reputation as Rome's premier lyricist was assured. His Odes were to become the best received of all his poems in ancient times and they even seem to have discouraged imitators: no other poet produced a comparable body of lyrics in the four centuries that followed.[12] In another age of Augustan literature, in the eighteenth century, and also in the century leading into it, ode-writing became highly fashionable in England and a large number of aspiring poets did dare to imitate him — both in English and in Latin[13] Other developments in the reception of his work are covered by epochs in the following sections.
Several of his poetry's main themes, such as the beatus ille (an appraisal of simple life) and carpe diem from his Ode to Leuconoe (literally "pluck the day", more commonly rendered into English as "seize the day", but perhaps closer to "enjoy the day") were recovered during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, influencing poets such as Petrarch and Dante. However, those themes were not truly retaken 'til the 16th century, when the Renaissance culture and its admiration of Roman and Greek antiquity was solidly established. In that sense, the influence of Horace can be traced in the works of poets such as Garcilaso de la Vega, Juan Boscán, Torquato Tasso, Pierre de Ronsard and especially in Fray Luis de León. The latter wrote some of the most remarkable "Odes"[14] dealing with the beatus ille precepts.
Moreover, his work Ars Poetica remained as a canonical guide for composing poetry until the end of Romanticism, and it was known and studied by most writers; even though its precepts were not always thoroughly followed, it held an unimpaired prestige when it came to deal with the form, wording and setting of any poem, play or prose work. Further, its influence can be traced in the works of playwrights and writers such as Lope de Vega, Michel de Montaigne, Henry Fielding, Calderón de la Barca, Pierre Corneille, Samuel Johnson,[nb 3] Goethe, Voltaire or Diderot.
Apart from carpe diem, Horace is also known for having coined many other Latin phrases that remain in use today, whether in Latin or translation, including Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country), Nunc est bibendum (Now we must drink), and aurea mediocritas ("golden mean").
His works, like those of all but the earliest Latin poets, are written in Greek metres, ranging from the hexameters which were relatively easy to adapt into Latin to the more complex measures used in the Odes, such as alcaics and sapphics, which were sometimes a difficult fit for Latin structure and syntax.
The works of Horace are: