22/05/2024
Horace, Contribution & Works.
Horace was, along with Vergil, the leading Roman poet in the time of Emperor Augustus. He is considered by classicists to be one of the greatest and most original of Latin lyric poets, appreciated for his technical mastery, his control and polish, and his mellow, civilized tone. As well as his lyric or love poetry, he wrote many biting satires and hymns.
Writings:
The surviving works of Horace include two books of satires, a book of epodes, four books of odes, three books of letters or epistles, and a hymn. Like most Latin poets, his works make use of Greek metres, especially the hexameter and alcaic and sapphic stanzas.
The “sermones” or satires are his most personal works, and perhaps the most accessible to contemporary readers since much of his social satire is just as applicable today as it was then. They were Horace’s first published works (the first book of ten satires in 33 BCE and the second book of eight in 30 BCE), and they established him as one of the great poetic talents of the Augustan age. The satires extol the Epicurean ideals of inner self-sufficiency and moderation and the search for a happy and contented life. Unlike the unrestrained and often vituperative satires of Lucilius, though, Horace discoursed with gentle irony about faults and foibles which everyone possesses and should confront.
The “carmina” or odes, published in 23 BCE and 13 BCE, are his most admired works, however, and were developed as a conscious imitation of the short lyric poetry of the Greek originals of Pindar, Sappho and Alcaeus, adapted to the Latin language. They are lyric poems dealing with the subjects of friendship, love and the practice of poetry. The epodes, actually published before the odes, in 30 BCE, are a shorter variation on the form of the odes and represented a new form of verse for Latin literature at that time.
