Pro patria mori

In a famous but occasionally puzzling poem, Horace gives the Emperor Augustus’s view of what a young Roman should aspire to become – a soldier like the epic heroes of old, inured to hardship, a terror to Rome’s enemies and willing to die if necessary for his country. In the illustration, by LĂ©once LeGendre, Hector dies at the hands of the hero Achilles.

Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.