Horace (redirected from Horatius Flaccus)

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (hôr`əs), 65 B.C.–8 B.C., Latin poet, one of the greatest of lyric poets, b. Venusia, S Italy. He studied at Rome and Athens and, joining Brutus and the republicans, fought (42 B.C.) at Philippi. Returning to Rome, he was introduced by Vergil to Maecenas, who became (c.38 B.C.) his friend and constant benefactor. Maecenas gave him a farm in the Sabine Hills, where he lived thereafter except for lengthy visits to Rome. His first book of Satires appeared in 35 B.C., the Epodes c.30 B.C., the second book of Satires in 29 B.C., three books of Odes c.24 B.C., and the first book of Epistles c.20 B.C. The fourth book of Odes, the second book of Epistles, a hymn (the Carmen Saeculare), and the Ars Poetica, or Epistle to the Pisos, appeared c.13 B.C. Horace was an unrivaled lyric poet. His early poems show the influence of the Greek Archilochus, but his later verse displays complete and individualized adaption of Greek meters to Latin. As his genius matured, Horace's themes turned from personal vilification to more generalized satire and to literary criticism. He gives a vivid picture of contemporary Roman society and represents especially the spirit of the Augustan age of Rome—a time of peace, when the arts were cultivated earnestly without pretense. He had much influence on European poetry.

Bibliography

See Loeb translations by H. R. Fairclough (rev. ed. 1929) and C. E. Bennett (rev. ed. 1964); poetic translations by J. Michie (1965) and N. Rudd (1979, repr. 1981); biography by P. Levi (1998); studies by E. Fraenkel (1957), S. Commager (1962), L. P. Wilkinson (1951, repr. 1965), D. A. West (1967), and C. D. N. Costa, ed. (1973).

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Horace

 orig. Quintus Horatius Flaccus

(born December 65, Venusia—died Nov. 27, 8 BC, Rome) Latin lyric poet and satirist. The son of a former slave, he was educated in Rome. He fought in Brutus's army in the upheaval after Julius Caesar's murder but gained the favour of Octavian (later Augustus) and achieved virtually the status of poet laureate. His early works include books of Satires and Epodes, but his fame rests chiefly on his books of lyrical Odes and verse Epistles, including the treatise Ars poetica, which sets down rules for the composition of poetry. The Odes and Epistles, frequently on themes of love, friendship, and philosophy, significantly influenced Western poetry from the Renaissance through the 19th century.

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Horace

Latin name Quintus Horatius Flaccus. 65--8 bc, Roman poet and satirist: his verse includes the lyrics in the Epodes and the Odes, the Epistles and Satires, and the Ars Poetica

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Horace 

(full name, Quintus Horatius Flaccus). Born 65 B.C., in Venusia; died 8 B.C., in Rome. Roman poet and the son of a freedman.

After Caesar’s assassination in 44 B.C., Horace sided with the republicans. At the Battle of Philippi (42 B.C.), which ended in failure for the Republic, Horace fled from the battlefield. After amnesty was proclaimed he purchased a position as a quaestor scribe. In 38 B.C. he joined the circle of Maecenas.

The first works by Horace were two books of satires, or “talks,” on moral and literary themes modeled on Greek diatribes (around 35–30 B.C.). In the same period he also wrote books of epodes, poems primarily accusatory in character. Later he became increasingly reconciled to the empire. Between 30 and 13 B.C. he wrote four books of lyric verse (odes). The first book contains philosophical meditations in the Epicurean vein, and to some extent the Stoic. The second is devoted to problems of poetry. The letter to the Pisos, which then, as now, was entitled the Ars poetica, occupies a special place. The creative art of Horace, a remarkable master poet and the author of brilliant and harmonious intellectual poetry, is a pinnacle of Roman literature; he enriched that literature with the meters of Greek lyric poetry, which were new to it.

In the age of classicism, Horace was the exemplar of poet and theorist. His Ars poetica served as the foundation of N. Boileau’s Art of Poetry (1674). In Russia, Horace’s ode “Memorial” was translated by M. V. Lomonosov and reworked by G. R. Derzhavin, A. S. Pushkin, and V. Ia. Briusov. Pushkin’s poem “Who of the Gods Has Restored to Me” is a free translation of the seventh ode of Horace’s second book of odes.

WORKS

Opera. Edited by F. Klingner. Lipsos, 1959.
In Russian translation:
Ody, epody, satiry, poslaniia. Moscow, 1970.
Poln. sobr. soch. Edited and with annotations by F. A. Petrovskii. Moscow-Leningrad, 1936.

REFERENCES

Blagoveshchenskii, N. M. Goratsii i ego vremia. St. Petersburg, 1864; 2nd ed. Warsaw, 1878.
Istoriia rimskoi literatury, vol. 1. Moscow, 1959.
Smiley, C. N. Horace: His Poetry and Philosophy. New York, 1945.
Fraenkel, E. Horace. Oxford, 1957.
Stegen, G. Les Épitres littéraires d’Horace. Namur, 1958.
Perret, J. Horace. Paris, 1960.
Commager, S. The Odes of Horace. New Haven-London, 1962.

IU. F. SHUL’TS