This intriguing little poem could not be further away from many of Horace’s usual themes such as the grandeur of Augustus and Rome, the elegant and learned reworking of a literary theme or the pleasures of company, food, drink and love. Here it seems more than usually possible that something uncanny – thunder from a clear sky – has prompted a strong personal response. Horace does sometimes seem to have such impulses towards piety, for example when he escapes unharmed from a meeting with a wolf in Ode 1.23, and when he seems to have a vision of the God Bacchus in Ode 2.19.
See the illustrated blog post here.