Horace pokes fun at Iccius, who sets himself up as a student of philosophy, for abandoning it to seek a profit from military service. Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here; see the illustrated blog post here.
In Apollo’s newly-dedicated temple, Horace prays for the things that matter to him. The dedication has been an important public occasion, but his poem has a very personal feel, as he looks ahead to an old age to which he is resigned – provided he retains health, his mental faculties and the ability to write and enjoy poetry. Hear Horace’s original Latin and follow in English here.
In the illustration , a fresco from Pompeii, a cithara player cradles her instrument.
In a piece which seems to have been written at a dangerous point some years before Horace launched his first three books of odes in 23 BCE, he turns for help to the Goddess Fortuna, while recognising that the fortunes that she has in store for Rome after a long period of civil wars could be bad as well as good. This ode seems as deeply and personally felt as any that Horace wrote, and is surely no mere literary exercise.
In the illustration, from a mediaeval manuscript of the Carmina Burana, Fortuna governs the cycle of life.
Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.
Are the Olympian Gods – if they exist – too remote to take an interest in human affairs, as the followers of the Philosopher Epicurus thought? An awe-inspiring natural event causes Horace to think again about his beliefs. Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.
In this wall painting from Herculaneum, Zeus and Hera celebrate their marriage; see photo credits for licensing details.
See the new Latin poetry selection here, with pieces from Boethius, Horace and Virgil.
On Horace’s Sabine farm, unmolested by her brutal urban boyfriend, Tyndaris sings of Penelope and Circe among the peace and joys of the countryside.
Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.
Anticipating literary immortality, Horace imagines himself as a swan whose song will be heard all over the known world. Hear his Latin and follow in English here as he concludes his second book of Odes.
This Roman fresco of Leda and the swan was found in Pompeii in 2018.