Among the praise for Augustus and his family that leads many to find Horace’s fourth book of odes less engaging than the first three, there are a number of poems in which he makes more personal points. In this ode he stakes the claim of the poet, though he may not be a champion boxer or an eminent soldier or statesman, to an important place of his own in the Roman community. Written after Horace was singled out for official recognition during the once-in-a-lifetime Secular Games of 17 BCE, it proudly asserts his standing, not only as a servant of the Muses, but as a public figure in his own right. The boxer shown is a fresco from Pompeii. Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.
Roman society’s respect for the poet
