Horace: A Life

Of all the Roman poets, Horatius Flaccus (65 BC to 8 BC) is undoubtedly the greatest. His vast corpus of work (the Epodes, Satires, Odes, Epistles and the Ars Poetica) spanned all aspects of Roman life: politics, the arts, religion, and the authority of the emperor, while his poems about friendship, philosophy, love and sex still have considerable universal appeal. For two thousand years he has been kept alive by scholars who have felt a great affinity with the benign personality that emerges. But not since Fraenkel's life of Horace in 1957 has a substantial biography of the poet been undertaken. This book makes a real attempt to present a complete picture of the life of Horace and the world in which he lived. It considers the details of Horace's romantic liaisons and why he never married, what the status of his father - a freedman - meant to the poet, and his distinctive brand of philosophy.

In this first substantial biography of the poet Horace since 1957, Peter Levi presents a complete picture of the life of Horace and the world in which he lived.
Horace's work spanned all aspects of Roman life: politics, the arts, religion, and the authority of the emperor while his poems about friendship, philosophy, love, and sex still have universal appeal. This biography focuses on the poet's work and development by considering details of Horace's romantic liaisons and why he never married, what the status of his father--a freedman--meant to the poet, and his distinctive brand of philosophy. "Horace: A Life" provides fascinating insight into one of the greatest of the Roman poets.