The Works of Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (65 BC-8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. He was the son of a freedman, but he himself was born free. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, he joined the army, serving under the generalship of Brutus. He fought as a staff officer in the Battle of Philippi. Horace is generally considered by classicists to be one of the greatest Latin poets. He wrote many Latin phrases that remain in use including Carpe Diem "seize the day," Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country," and aurea mediocritas "golden mean." His works are written in Greek metres, from the hexameter, which was relatively easy to adapt to Latin, to the more complex measures used in the Odes. Amongst his other works are The Art of Poetry an Epistle to the Pisos (1680), The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry (1966), The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace and The Works of Horace.