Introduction

Horace's life was over some very important times in the Roman Empire's history. He lived through the civil war between Caesar and Pompey and 48 BCE Caesar defeated Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus. Caesar went on to rule Rome solely until his assassination in 44 BCE. After his death, there was more fighting led by Brutus and Cassius against Antony and Octavian, who were the heirs to Caesar. Horace was a part of the republican forces that were defeated at the battle of Philippi in 42 BCE by Antony and Octavian. Then Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide which cemented Octavian's power. During all of this Horace was writing.

Horace's full name is Quintus Horatius Flaccus and he was born on December 8th, 65 BCE in the town of Venusia in Italy. His father was a freedman or ex slave who worked as an auction agent. Horace was brought to Rome for his early education where he received the usual education for a person of the equastrian or senatorial class in Rome. After his primary education he went on to study philosophy at the university in Athens. During his time in the university there was political turmoil following Caesar's assassination. Six months later Brutus came to Athens recruiting men for his army- Horace was one of those men. He was appointed military tribune, which was considered a very high honor for someone who were not headed for the Senate. That position gave him the title of equestrian. Brutus' republican army lost at the Battle of Actium. Horace's lands were given to Octavian's soldiers and he was left without a job. This opened up the door for him to become a poet. He got a job as a clerk for the trustees of the public treasury. He made a decent salary, but more importantly it gave him time to write. Eventually he began sharing his writings and he became friends with another poet, Vergil. Vergil connected Horace with Maecenas, who became a sponsor of Horace. Maecenas also connected Horace with Augustus. Horace died on November 27, 8 BCE.

Horace wrote his poetry over a period of thirty years. His first publication was Book 1 of the "Satires" in 35 BCE and he published Book 2 five years later. Horace followed in Lucilius' footsteps because he believed him to be the founder of the Latin satire. Then he started writing Epodes. He was inspired by the style of Archiliochus of Paros and he modeled his own writings after him, but used his own subject matter such as political and sexual topics. He then wrote 103 poems of the "Odes" in a collection of 4 books. They were lyrics poetry and they were considered to be written in the meter used by Greek poets. His last piece of writing is the "Epistles". They were letters that raised issues of literary or philosophical matters.