Horace: Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica (Loeb Classical Library, No. 194) (English and Latin Edition)

The poetry of Horace (born 65 BCE) is richly varied, its focus moving between public and private concerns, urban and rural settings, Stoic and Epicurean thought. In the Satires Horace mocks himself as well as the world. His verse epistles include the Art of Poetry, in which he famously expounds his literary theory. Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 BCE) was born at Venusia, son of a freedman clerk who had him well educated at Rome and Athens. Horace supported the ill-fated killers of Caesar, lost his property, became a secretary in the Treasury, and began to write poetry. Maecenas, lover of literature, to whom Virgil and Varius introduced Horace in 39, became his friend and made him largely independent by giving him a farm. After 30 Horace knew and aided with his pen the emperor Augustus, who after Virgil's death in 19 engaged him to celebrate imperial affairs in poetry. Horace refused to become Augustus's private secretary and died a few months after Maecenas. Both lyric (in various metres) and other work (in hexameters) was spread over the period 40-10 or 9 BCE. It is Roman in spirit, Greek in technique. In the two books of Satires Horace is a moderate social critic and commentator; the two books of Epistles are more intimate and polished, the second book being literary criticism as is also the Ars Poetica. The Epodes in various (mostly iambic) metres are akin to the "discourses" (as Horace called his satires and epistles) but also look towards the famous Odes, in four books, in the old Greek lyric metres used with much skill. Some are national odes about public affairs; some are pleasant poems of love and wine; some are moral letters; all have a rare perfection. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the Odes and Epodes is in volume number 33 Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 BC) was born at Venusia, son of a freedman clerk who had him well-educated at Rome and Athens. Horace supported the ill-fated killers of Caesar, lost his property, became a secretary in the Treasury, and began to write poetry. Maecenas, lover of literature, to whom Virgil and Varius introduced Horace in 39, became his friend and made him largely independent by giving him a farm. After 30 Horace knew and aided with his pen the emperor Augustus, who after Virgil's death in 19 engaged him to celebrate imperial affairs in poetry. Horace refused to become Augustus' private secretary and died a few months after Maecenas. Both lyric (in various metres) and other work (in hexameters) was spread over the period 40-10 or 9 BC. It is Roman in spirit, Greek in technique. In the two books of Satires Horace is a moderate social critic and commentator; the two books of Epistles are more intimate and polished, the second book being literary criticism as is also the Ars Poetica. The Epodes in various (Mostly iambic) metres are akin to the 'discourses' (as Horace called his satires and epistles) but also look towards the famous Odes, in four books, in the Greek lyric metres used with much skill. Some are national odes about public affairs; some are pleasan poems of love and wine; some are moral letters; all have a rare perfection. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the Odes and Epodes is in volume number 33. --Dust Jacket Front Inside Flap HORACE (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65 B.C.) was born at Venusia, son of a freedman clerk who had him well educated at Rome and Athens. Horace supported the ill-fated killers of Caesar, lost his property and became a secretary in the Treasury, and began to write poetry. Maecenas, lover of letters, to whom Virgil and Varius introduced Horace in 39 B.C., became his friend and made him largely independent by giving him a farm. After 30 B.C. Horace knew and aided with his pen the first Emperor Augustus, who after Virgil's death in 19 B.C. engaged him to celebrate imperial affairs in poetry. Horace refused to become Augustus' private secretary and died a few months after Maecenas. Both lyric (in various metres) and other work (in hexameters) was spread over the period 40-10 or 9 B.C. It is Roman in spirit, Greek in technique. In the two books of Satires he is a moderate social critic and commentator; the two books of Epistles are more intimate and polished, the secont book being literary criticism as is also the Ars Poetica which has given us phrases such as 'purple patch'. The Epodes in various (mostly iambic) metres are akin to the 'discourses' (as Horace called his satires and epistles) but also look towards the famous Odes, in four books, in the old Greek lyric metres used with much skill. Some are national odes about public affairs; some are pleasant poems of love and wine; some are moral letters; all have a rare perfection The Roman philosopher and dramatic critic Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-3 B.C.), known in English as Horace, was also the most famous lyric poet of his age. Written in the troubled decade ending with the establishment of Augustus's regime, his Satires provide trenchant social commentary on men's perennial enslavement to money, power, fame, and sex. Not as frequently translated as his Odes, in recent decades the Satires have been rendered into prose or bland verse. Horace continues to influence modern lyric poetry, and our greatest poets continue to translate and marvel at his command of formal style, his economy of expression, his variety, and his mature humanism. Horace's comic genius has also had a profound influence on the Western literary tradition through such authors as Swift, Pope, and Boileau, but interest in the Satires has dwindled due to the difficulty of capturing Horace's wit and formality with the techniques of contemporary free verse. -- Publisher description. http://www.archive.org/details/satiresepistlesa00horauoft