Horace: An Introduction

Drawing of Horace; Credit: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/horace

Born in 65 B.C. in Apulia, Italy, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, better known as Horace today, began his ascent from modest son of a freedman to one of Ancient Rome's most influential poets, critics, and satirists. Though his family was far from wealthy, Horace's father, determined to give him the best possible education, sent Horace to Rome to study under respected grammarian Orbilius and later to Athens to further explore his interests in literature and philosophy.

Yet Horace's poetic journey was not without trials and tribulations. In 44 BC, he joined the army of Brutus (who you may know as the infamous assassin of Julius Caesar). After finding himself, two years later, on the losing side of the Battle of Philippi (where Marc Antony and future Emperor Augustus crushed Brutus' army), Horace fled the battlefield, abandoning his shield. This act of self-preservation, deemed cowardly and treasonous in Ancient Rome, ended both Horace's military career and his claim to his family's estate.

Thankfully, after being named emperor, Augustus granted amnesty to former enemies, including Horace, allowing Horace to return to Rome a free man. There, he took a job as a Treasury clerk and began taking his literary career seriously, hoping to break into the ranks of recognized, supported (monetarily and socially) poets. His networking attempts paid off, allowing him to befriend literary giants such as Varius and Virgil and, around 38 BC, catch the attention of Maecenas, trusted advisor of Augustus and prominent patron of the arts.

With Maecenas' support, Horace published his first major, two-volume work, Satires, in 35 BC. Well received by the public, Satires cemented Horace's position as a respected Roman poet. This work, moreover, witnessed the emergence of Horace's distinct style. Satires illustrated his mastery of metrical form as well as his conversational, engaging tone (achieved through his "medley" approach, mixing various topics in easily digestible ways). As a gift for his achievement, Maecenas gifted Horace a small plot of farmland in the Sabine Hills, where he retreated and enjoyed a simple, peaceful life devoted to expanding his literary footprint.

Over the next two decades, Horace published several influential collections, including Epodes in 29 BC, the first three books of Odes in 23 BC, and Epistles in 20 BC. His reputation as a Roman poet grew so esteemed that, in 17 BC, Emperor Augustus commissioned him to write a ceremonial piece for the Saecular Games (a form of national celebration). Even through the last decade of his life, Horace continued to write, releasing a second book of Epistles in 14 BC, a fourth book of Odes the year after, and, finally, his most enduring magnum opus Ars Poetica just before his death in 8 BC.

Horace is, today, most remembered for the Odes, a compilation of lyrical poetry dedicated to celebrating everyday moments. Well known for his platitude that poetry should both "instruct and delight," Odes absolutely achieved the latter while not sacrificing the former, providing timeless insights into poetry and life. As fellow poet Alexander Pope remarked, Odes expressed "what oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.”

In a different vein, Horace's Ars Poetica remains a foundational text for poets and critics alike, urging writers to read broadly, write precisely, and embrace criticism. His instructions greatly influenced not only the next generation of Ancient Roman poets but poets for centuries to come; modern poetic giants have engaged with Ars Poetica as, in author Aimee Nezhukumatathil words, “a way of knowing, of seeing a poet’s rhetoric.”

Horace's works and their emphasis on reason, morality, and the beauty in the everyday stand the test of time and establish him as a powerful figure of Augustan literature. Though this post provides only the broadest strokes of Horace's life, we hope this context will allow our future poetic analysis of Horace's works to be as in-depth and insightful as possible. As always, please leave a comment below with any interesting facts about Horace's life or work you think we should revise this post to include, or suggest poems of his we should analyze first!