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Horace: Odes IV and Carmen Saeculare: Odes Book IV and Carmen Saecvlare
The Carmen Saeculare was composed and published in 17 BCE as Horace was returning to the genre of lyric which he had abandoned six years earlier; the fourth book of Odes is in part a response to this poem, the only commissioned poem we know from the period. The hardening of the political situation, with the Republic a thing of the past and the Augustan succession in the air, threw the problematic issue of praise into fresh relief, and at the same time provided an impulse towards the nostalgia represented by the poet's private world. Professor Thomas provides an introduction and commentary (the first full commentary in English since the nineteenth century) to each of the poems, exploring their status as separate lyric artefacts and their place in the larger web of the book. The edition is intended primarily for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, but is also important for scholars.
311 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 23, 2011
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About the author
Horatius
3,544 books330 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 23, 2022
Would have liked to see translations of the poem titles.
August 17, 2025
8/10
Favourite poems: "Qualem ministrum", "Ne forte credas" and "Est mihi nonum".
Well if you love Augustus so much, why don't you marry him?
Favourite poems: "Qualem ministrum", "Ne forte credas" and "Est mihi nonum".
Well if you love Augustus so much, why don't you marry him?
June 5, 2018
Running notes:
Alas, on a second reading, it seems that historical incident and not literary quality maintains the "Carmen Saeculare". It's stiff, prickly, civically attentive with little in the way of a genuinely felt sentiment -- yes, that ain't the intent, but it's still a drag. I confess there are artful turns: the variation of forms seen in "o colendi / semper et culti" (lines 2-3) just sparkles. Also line 61 "fulgente decorus arcu" (adorned with gleaming bow) is fine -- but I tend to adore lines on Phoebus Apollo's bow, anything that smacks of the Homeric epithet "ἀργυρότοξος" is a thing of magic & beauty to me. From a grammatical standpoint, that the chorus speaks in 1st person singular ("reporto", 74) instead of a collective plural is bracing, unexpected. I can't recall how Pindar handled the person of his chorus... Thomas' commentary adjusts my perspective: "The choral singular is a much-discussed feature of Greek choral lyric." Ah, thank you.
Alas, on a second reading, it seems that historical incident and not literary quality maintains the "Carmen Saeculare". It's stiff, prickly, civically attentive with little in the way of a genuinely felt sentiment -- yes, that ain't the intent, but it's still a drag. I confess there are artful turns: the variation of forms seen in "o colendi / semper et culti" (lines 2-3) just sparkles. Also line 61 "fulgente decorus arcu" (adorned with gleaming bow) is fine -- but I tend to adore lines on Phoebus Apollo's bow, anything that smacks of the Homeric epithet "ἀργυρότοξος" is a thing of magic & beauty to me. From a grammatical standpoint, that the chorus speaks in 1st person singular ("reporto", 74) instead of a collective plural is bracing, unexpected. I can't recall how Pindar handled the person of his chorus... Thomas' commentary adjusts my perspective: "The choral singular is a much-discussed feature of Greek choral lyric." Ah, thank you.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews