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Very Short Introductions #740

Horace: A Very Short Introduction

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Very Short Introductions : Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

Horace was one of the greatest poets during the reign of Augustus and is seen as mark of cultural sophistication since this time. This Very Short Introduction examines how Horace's poetry has exerted enormous influence but argues that it is best understood within the traditions of ancient literature.

Llewellyn Morgan guides the reader through the dizzying vagaries of Horace's biography, which reflects the political and social instability of the period. His poetry, and the life he artfully constructs and presents to us in it, engages both with the greatest crisis that Rome had ever faced, and its resolution by the first Emperor. Horace is Rome's laureate, and through him we experience the anxieties and triumphs of his age. For posterity, Horace has served for a model of the good life, a promoter of enlightened retirement, but has also exemplified poetic artistry, and is the most creative manipulator of the Latin language, even among his remarkable contemporaries.

ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

144 pages, Paperback

Published November 23, 2023

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41 people want to read

About the author

Llewelyn Morgan

15 books15 followers
Lecturer in Classics at Oxford University

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Illiterate.
2,787 reviews56 followers
May 13, 2024
Reasonable summary of bio, books, reception.
Profile Image for Josh Friedlander.
834 reviews135 followers
October 19, 2025
Horace was once a fixture of school curricula, and the book opens with Aurel Stein (fun fact: named after Marcus Aurelius, no connection to Oral Roberts) meditating on Horace over the plains of Xinjiang. There is also a great story about one of my favourite writers, Patrick Leigh Fermor, completing the line for a Nazi general he had kidnapped in Crete (long story...) - the German began
Vides ut alta stet nive candidum
Soracte nec iam sustineant onus…
And Fermor continued:
Silvae laborantes geluque
Flumina constiterint acuto
Horace was the regime poet of Augustus, Rome's golden age, and the Secular Games, whose early work is ribald and funny, and late work is pensive and bucolic.

I don't know Latin, and am not so motivated to read poetry in translation. As an enjoyer of ancient culture and poetry, I definitely understand the appeal, and it's possible that Horace's humanism and range are more appealing to modern sensibilities than Virgil, Ovid or Lucretius. Ultimately, this book didn't persuade me to do the work and learn Latin to read Horace in the original (or understand the lines above), but I can believe that it would be great.
Profile Image for Andrew Bailey.
27 reviews
October 17, 2024
Five stars, not because it's the best book I've read, but because I'm not sure what else I could expect of a short introduction to the topic. I feel introduced to Horace.
Profile Image for Taylor Swift Scholar.
424 reviews10 followers
November 17, 2024
I got shockingly little out of this. In all fairness, I did read it while the election results were coming in.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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