Horace
hor'es (65-8 B. C.), a Latin poet whose full name was Quintus Horatius Flaccus. He was the greatest of Roman writers. He was born near Naples. His father, who had been a slave, was a collector of taxes. Young Horace was educated at Rome and Athens. In the latter city he became interested in philosophy. He describes himself while there as "searching after truth among the groves of the Academy." In politics and war, Horace followed the fortunes of Brutus. He shared in the rout which followed the battle of Philippi, and makes reference in one of his odes to the inglorious casting away of his shield. When Augustus became supreme Horace returned to Rome and was stripped of his property. He secured a clerkship and shortly after became acquainted through his friend Virgil with Maecenas, the great patron of Roman letters, whose protection he henceforth enjoyed. He was now able to devote himself to literature. Maecenas gave him a farm in the Sabine hills near Tivoli. Here he led the quiet life of a student and poet, exchanging its peace, when he desired, for the excitement of the city. His works consist chiefly of odes, satires, and epistles. It has been said that the satires were inspired by his life in Rome, the odes by his life on the Sabine farm. His Ars Poetica, or The Art of Poetry, a composition in verse, contains sound advice to young writers. The works of Horace are considered too difficult for high schools and academies, but they are favorites with the college student of Latin. The influence of Horace is ever wholesome.
SAYINGS.
There is a medium in all things.
A well prepared mind hopes in adversity and fears in prosperity.
I count not the votes of the fickle mob.
It is not every man's lot to gain the port of Corinth.
He alone is rich who makes a proper use of his riches.
Virtue even in rags will keep warm.
Brave men were living before Agamemnon.
Even the worthy Homer sometimes nods.
The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbors.
SAID OF HORACE.
No ancient writer has been at once so familiarly known and so generally appreciated in modern times as Horace. . . . From his Satires, which deal chiefly with the manners and outward lives of men, we know him in his relations to society and his ordinary moods; from his Epistles, which deal more with the inner life, we best understand his deepest convictions and the practical side of his philosophy; while his Odes have perpetuated the finest pleasure which he derived from art, nature, and the intercourse of life, have idealized some of the graver, as well as the lighter aspects of his reflection, and given an elevated expression to his sympathy with the national ideas and movement of his time.--William Y. Sellar.