Horace

A biography of Horace, one of the most popular poets from antiquity, revealing the little-known man behind his famous lines Quintus Horatius Flaccus (658 BCE) wrote some of ancient Romes greatest poetry, melding languages and cultures with youthful ideals and a realists recognition of the dictatorial world around him. Horace is famed for his fine phrases, lyric sex, and guidance on how to live, but he was a poet maddened by war, and many of his most self-revealing poems have rarely been read. He could be sublime and obscene, amusing and abusive, a model of moderation and anything but. In this book, the first modern retelling of Horaces life, Peter Stothard follows the poet from his birth as the son of a formerly enslaved father through his rise to the highest circles of Roman society. He shines a light on how shattering experiences in the war to save Romes republic shaped the loyal servant and revolutionary artist he became. With astute scholarship and sympathy, Stothard explores the poets legacy of dark insecurity, bright pleasure, and troubled service to the politics of his time.