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The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace
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136 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 1998
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About the author
Horatius
3,527 books327 followers
Odes
and
Satires
Roman lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus exerted a major influence on English poetry.
(December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC)
Horace, the son of a freed slave, who owned a small farm, later moved to Rome to work as a coactor, a middleman between buyers and sellers at auctions, receiving 1% of the purchase price for his services. The father ably spent considerable money on education of his son, accompanied him first to Rome for his primary education, and then sent him to Athens to study Greek and philosophy.
After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Horace joined the army, serving under the generalship of Brutus. He fought as a staff officer (tribunus militum) in the battle of Philippi. Alluding to famous literary models, he later claimed to throw away his shield and to flee for his salvation. When people declared an amnesty for those who fought against the victorious Octavian Augustus, Horace returned to Italy, only to find his estate confiscated and his father likely then dead. Horace claims that circumstances reduced him to poverty.
Nevertheless, he meaningfully gained a profitable lifetime appointment as a scriba quaestorius, an official of the Treasury; this appointment allowed him to practice his poetic art.
Horace was a member of a literary circle that included Virgil and Lucius Varius Rufus, who introduced him to Maecenas, friend and confidant of Augustus. Maecenas became his patron and close friend and presented Horace with an estate near Tibur in the Sabine Hills (contemporary Tivoli). A few months after the death of Maecenas, Horace died in Rome. Upon his death bed, Horace with no heirs relinquished his farm to Augustus, his friend and the emperor, for imperial needs, and it stands today as a spot of pilgrimage for his admirers.
(December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC)
Horace, the son of a freed slave, who owned a small farm, later moved to Rome to work as a coactor, a middleman between buyers and sellers at auctions, receiving 1% of the purchase price for his services. The father ably spent considerable money on education of his son, accompanied him first to Rome for his primary education, and then sent him to Athens to study Greek and philosophy.
After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Horace joined the army, serving under the generalship of Brutus. He fought as a staff officer (tribunus militum) in the battle of Philippi. Alluding to famous literary models, he later claimed to throw away his shield and to flee for his salvation. When people declared an amnesty for those who fought against the victorious Octavian Augustus, Horace returned to Italy, only to find his estate confiscated and his father likely then dead. Horace claims that circumstances reduced him to poverty.
Nevertheless, he meaningfully gained a profitable lifetime appointment as a scriba quaestorius, an official of the Treasury; this appointment allowed him to practice his poetic art.
Horace was a member of a literary circle that included Virgil and Lucius Varius Rufus, who introduced him to Maecenas, friend and confidant of Augustus. Maecenas became his patron and close friend and presented Horace with an estate near Tibur in the Sabine Hills (contemporary Tivoli). A few months after the death of Maecenas, Horace died in Rome. Upon his death bed, Horace with no heirs relinquished his farm to Augustus, his friend and the emperor, for imperial needs, and it stands today as a spot of pilgrimage for his admirers.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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January 11, 2022Epode III - Garlic !
If any man, with impious hand,
should ever
Strangle an aged parent ,
Make him eat garlic, it's deadlier
than hemlock ,
O you strong stomachs that cull
it !
What poison is this that's
burning my entrails ?
Has viper's blood mixed with these
herbs
Betrayed me ? Or
has Canidia been tampering
With this unfortunate dish ?
Medea, intoxicated with her
Jason,
That most handsome of
Argonauts ,
Smeared him all over with this ,
While he tried to yoke
Those bulls unused to the
harness :
She took revenge on her rival
with gifts of this,
Before mounting her winged
dragon.
Never did such a vapour from any
dog-star
Settle on parched Apulia :
Nessus' gift burnt Hercules'
shoulders with no less
Effective a fiery heat.
If ever, my dear Maecenas, you
aspire
To repeat the jest , I just pray
that your girl with her hands
obstructs your kisses,
and takes the far side of the bed !
If any man, with impious hand,
should ever
Strangle an aged parent ,
Make him eat garlic, it's deadlier
than hemlock ,
O you strong stomachs that cull
it !
What poison is this that's
burning my entrails ?
Has viper's blood mixed with these
herbs
Betrayed me ? Or
has Canidia been tampering
With this unfortunate dish ?
Medea, intoxicated with her
Jason,
That most handsome of
Argonauts ,
Smeared him all over with this ,
While he tried to yoke
Those bulls unused to the
harness :
She took revenge on her rival
with gifts of this,
Before mounting her winged
dragon.
Never did such a vapour from any
dog-star
Settle on parched Apulia :
Nessus' gift burnt Hercules'
shoulders with no less
Effective a fiery heat.
If ever, my dear Maecenas, you
aspire
To repeat the jest , I just pray
that your girl with her hands
obstructs your kisses,
and takes the far side of the bed !
July 19, 2018
Horace wrote during the time of the Pax Romana when the power of the Roman Empire was at its height. The translations in this collection where written by an Englishman in the era of the Pax Britannica when the power of the British Empire was at its height. It should then not be a surprise that Horace winds up sounding like Tennyson. John Connington the translator himself notices that he has made Horace sound like Tennyson but is not sure how it happened.
Suffice to say that the poetry in this work is virile and entirely appropriate to an imperial age. I enjoyed the book tremendously. As Horace certainly had the reputation of being a cheerleader for the Emperor Augustus and his regime, I suspect it gives a very authentic representation of the style and sensibility of Horace.
Suffice to say that the poetry in this work is virile and entirely appropriate to an imperial age. I enjoyed the book tremendously. As Horace certainly had the reputation of being a cheerleader for the Emperor Augustus and his regime, I suspect it gives a very authentic representation of the style and sensibility of Horace.
November 23, 2024
My first exposure to Horace, and I quite enjoyed him. I will definitely be returning to his work from now on.
May 24, 2015
I was happy to find an eBook version of Horace's Odes that were translated by John Conington. I have his Aeneid queued up on my shelf and it's always neat to read multiple works translated by the same person. You kind of get a feel for how they see the original language. But, having found a cool copy of what I wanted to read, I wasn't overly thrilled with Horace. I'm glad I read this and will turn to it again in the future, I am sure. At least to read two odes that dealt with the seasons and were beautiful.
Book I, Ode 4 ("Solvitur Acris Hiems") was a wonderful homage to the coming of spring, surely something that many of the Romantic poets must have read and enjoyed:
Book I, Ode 4 ("Solvitur Acris Hiems") was a wonderful homage to the coming of spring, surely something that many of the Romantic poets must have read and enjoyed:
The touch of Zephyr and of Spring has loosen'd Winter's thrall;The other piece I liked covered the full turn of the seasons, Book 4, Ode 7 ("Diffugere Nives"):
The well-dried keels are wheel'd again to sea:
The ploughman cares not for his fire, nor cattle for their stall,
And frost no more is whitening all the lea.
Naked the Nymphs and Graces in the meads
The dance essay:
"No 'scaping death" proclaims the year that speeds
This sweet spring day.
Frost yields to zephyrs; Summer drives out Spring,
To vanish, when
Rich Autumn sheds his fruits; round wheels the ring,—
Winter again!"
May 27, 2022
Horace lived in the last half of the 1st century B.C.E. and wrote some of the greatest lyric poetry in ancient Rome. While the Odes often describe commonplace activities they still allow various interpretations by the reader based on construction, vocabulary and imagery. The activities are often as simple as inviting a friend for a drink or wishing a friend a safe journey. While describing what are often mundane activities they often yield deeper meanings like "remember you are going to die" or "stay in the middle, don't go too far out." The beauty of the poems, even in translation , is undeniable. He often praises famous men, refers to the gods and his muse, while praising his friend and benefactor, Maecenas.
I found reading these poems an antidote to the revulsion that I had while reading the brutality of battles and even daily life in the histories of Livy and Tacitus. Rome during this era was resplendent in artistic beauty. The poetry of Horace is evidence of some of that beauty.
I found reading these poems an antidote to the revulsion that I had while reading the brutality of battles and even daily life in the histories of Livy and Tacitus. Rome during this era was resplendent in artistic beauty. The poetry of Horace is evidence of some of that beauty.
January 2, 2022
he’s mercilessly mean to random people & to a tree that fell on him, he really misses augustus caesar, and he’s generally displeased w modern ppl’s moral failures, but his best poems are definitely the love poems. liked having the latin next to the translation, helped me answer my own questions!
“Oh put me down in the Arctic tundra, where
never a tree is freshened by summer’s breeze,
in the zone where mists hang low beneath a dismal sky,
Oh put me down where the sun’s chariot
swings too low for human habitation—
still I’ll love my sweetly smelling Lalage,
love her sweet chatter.” (1.22 17-24)
“Oh put me down in the Arctic tundra, where
never a tree is freshened by summer’s breeze,
in the zone where mists hang low beneath a dismal sky,
Oh put me down where the sun’s chariot
swings too low for human habitation—
still I’ll love my sweetly smelling Lalage,
love her sweet chatter.” (1.22 17-24)
February 23, 2022
Took a while to get into. Would have liked to see translations of the poem titles.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews