Horace: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #740

by Llewelyn Morgan

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.

Genres: Biography

144 pages, Paperback

Published November 23, 2023

About the author

Lecturer in Classics at Oxford University

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reasonable summary of bio, books, reception.

[Josh Friedlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Andrew Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Taylor Swift Scholar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got shockingly little out of this. In all fairness, I did read it while the election results were coming in.