: Well, no wonder he wanted to see her so much. As in time, she stands in a small orchard, located on an unexpected flat clearing among the hills, cool, quiet, spacious, so contrasting with the oppressive architectural giants of Rome of the Augustan era. Exquisite location at the foot of the garden. The building itself is not that interesting. "His" bedroom, "his" triclinium:, the usual trappings of patrician comfort. Imagination completes the charming nymphaeum: four fountains, flowers, pillared patio, fish pond, piscina . We are accompanied by a pleasant elderly guide - although just in such places there is no desire to see him. Here it is just right to wander all day, just enjoying the fact that you are in the places where Horace lived. Both Maecenas and Virgil. You feel the presence of Horace, clear, close, in the grasses, in the atmosphere, in the cicadas and the huge red and red hornets flying on the sticky stems of the olives; you go down the stone path to the source of Banduzia: a stream of cold water - “potabile that fredissima”, the guide suggests. The cryptic saxis cavis makes sense: water spouts from the edge of a narrow moss-clad mountain glacier about ten feet high and flows criss-cross in thin streams into a small reservoir littered with aquatic plants. Huge water thistles eight feet high. Literally nothing has changed here.

We're moving on our way; a huge, butter-colored moon hung over the mountains, shining with dark blue, illuminating Tivoli, and then Rome; such a disgusting return to 1962.

The gulf between Horace and his servants. Their absolute inability to understand his poems: otherwise they would still be in the world of multi-strike folk poetry, the poetry of Plautus and Ennius. Their strange Roman master, spewing a stream of broken words. His syllabic probably sounded as crazy to them as Webern's music to the bus conductor in Balham; pure madness. So if Horace felt the need to go to Rome and Tivoli, then in order to be heard; so with Martial and Juvenal. The very choice of words against their will drove them to a city they despised.

Roman sky at sunset. Peach, amber, lemon, pinkish tones, merging with blue, smoky gray, drown in each other. At this moment, the city can be forgiven for everything. Gliding bats and caressing ponentino. I can't imagine what Rome would be without him. Impossible to imagine. So we are indebted to the city for this wind.

D. and M. went back to England. Not too early, to be honest. In relation to Denis, it is impossible not to feel sympathy and pity, but being patient with Monica is not easy. For the sake of Denis, we tried our best, but at times the balance was kept in the balance.

The usual model of Monica's behavior is a fierce desire to compensate for her own inferiority complex, invariably acquiring ugly forms, the determination to insist on her own, belittling the opinions of others. Her eternal desire to resist anything is almost a conditioned reflex; and when this reflex does not make itself felt and she agrees with something that others say, it is sincerely surprising.

Denis, by virtue of his gentleness (aka weakness), did not do what he had to: he did not make her less absurd and quarrelsome. Sometimes he took our side, but always with a touch of self-apology, self-condemnation, as if such a demonstration of independence was played out especially for us.

Here she will start talking incessantly, repeating hackneyed clichés, uttering meaningless maxims; E. and I just keep silent, but Denis - Denis is invariably attentive: yes, yes. Yes honey. Indulging her and feeding her insatiable thirst for attention.

One of her most unbearable roles is the role of the wife-little-girl. A sort of spoiled crybaby: "I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm hot." Sometimes the whining goes on for hours, interspersed with falsetto singing and constant: “Denis, you are happy; are you happy, Denis? Hello, Denis! (with a Lancashire accent).

She must have been aware that this was annoying: even Denis sometimes began to cut her off at corners. But this made Monica's whimpering and tossing from side to side only gain strength, just as when it was obvious that her antics were frankly annoying and did not amuse us at all. She has a nasty, almost malevolent desire to bend her own line against the opinions of others.

Sudden bouts of ostentatious concern for Denis: poor Denis, Denis never thinks of himself. Denis is so kind, to the point of absurdity.

And her gait is always too fast, as if she knows where she is going, and nothing will stop her. The wide hips are immobile and the arm movements are too jerky, causing her shoulders to rotate and sway. It is very reminiscent of how women volunteered for the Navy during the war. The direct opposite of the Italian way of moving or the light English gait of E. Showy step; she does not realize that he makes her masculine.

Once Monica took it into her head to display how she was swayed in the car - just because somehow earlier she had become ill from Asti Spumante. Everyone convinced her that wine cannot be judged on a single occasion, but that was not the case: she preferred to remain right - and sick.

Spat with me: she invariably takes me too seriously and, whenever I open my mouth, puts on a defensive stance. Once I said that life is too short to be immersed in the study of small cultures; she immediately responded:

Small cultures are just as important as large ones.

To my remark that skating on a frozen river reminds of the universal human lot, she snapped:

I don't feel like a skater at all. I know what I'm doing and what I'm aiming for.

And when I noticed that in developed countries the behavior of ordinary people is becoming more and more stereotyped (formed under the pressure of society), I objected:

It seems to me that there is nothing wrong with ordinary people and they are all different.

Thank you Lord, I have bad taste, - Denis said another time. - All I need is wine, which I can drink a lot.

This absurd provincial view of all drinks as pure alcohol.

And finally, accents: as soon as M. feels that the ground is slipping from under her feet, she resorts to these disgusting accents. And Denis sings along with her.

Denis's misfortune is in his really softness that knows no limits, hopeless reverence for life, inability to destroy anything, even a wasp. Here he is, maddened, racing down the road from Horace's estate, only because a emaciated dog ran a few yards behind us, prowling in search of food. Depressed at the sight of a frog diving from my hands into the bowels of a hot car engine. A moment later, she jumped out, alive and unharmed, but he still can not come to his senses.

Quintus Horace Flaccus (65 BC-8 BC) is a poet of the ancient Roman era. The period of his work coincided with the civil war, the end of the republic and the birth of the new regime of Octavian Augustus. In the literature of ancient Rome, this was the "golden age".

Origin

Horace was born on December 8, 65 BC. e. His father in the past was a slave, later released, owned a modest estate in the Italian commune of Venusia (a military colony of Rome in southeastern Italy, located at the junction of the regions of Apulia and Lucania). The full name of the poet is known from his works. When Emperor Augustus gave him the commission to compose the "Jubilee Hymn", the caption to this work indicated "The song was written by Quintus Horace Flaccus."

Since Horace's parent was a freedman, his son was legally equated with a freeborn child. But all the same, such an origin in social society was considered inferior, it was completely possible to smooth it out only after one generation. This fact influenced the creative direction and outlook of the future poet.

Horace did not mention his mother anywhere and never in his works, therefore nothing is known about the woman who gave birth to him. There are only a few references to a certain nanny Pullia.

Education

The family lived quietly on a provincial estate and led a fairly economical life. But when the boy began to grow up, his father decided to leave everything and move to Rome. He wanted his son to enter a higher society, and for this it was necessary to get a decent education in the capital. Horace described his father as a poor and honest peasant. Nevertheless, he managed to find an occupation in the capital, with the help of which he covered the costs of a decent education for his son. In Rome, my father got a job as a commission agent at auctions. The buyer and the seller paid him one percent of the transaction.

All the stages of education that the Roman nobility of that time went through, Horace successfully withstood. He received his initial training at the Roman School of Orbilia, where they were taught the Latin Odyssey by the ancient Roman playwright and poet Livius Andronicus and the ancient Greek storyteller Homer.

Then he continued his studies in Athens at the Platonic Academy, where he studied Greek philosophy and literature. This Academy gave university knowledge, was considered a higher school, young Roman aristocrats studied there. For example, the son of the ancient Roman philosopher, orator and politician Cicero studied with Horace. At the Academy of Athens, Horace studied the Greek language very well, then even wrote his poetic works in it.

Civil war period

The study of philosophy and literature in Athens, Horace had to be interrupted, since in 44 BC. e. Caesar was killed, which was the beginning of the civil war. Six months passed after the death of the ruler, and Brutus appeared in Athens. He began to attend philosophical classes, but in fact, during the lectures, he was engaged in recruiting supporters of the republican system into his team. Brutus urged to fight Caesar's successors - Antony and Octavian.

Horace supported the Republicans, sided with Brutus and joined his army. In the Roman legion, he got an unexpected command post of a military tribune. In fact, he became an officer of the legion, and then such positions were mainly given to the children of the privileged ancient Roman estates (senators or horsemen). Such a position could well serve as the beginning of a military career, and in peacetime with it one could find work in the class bodies of city government.

Most likely, by this time, Horace's father had sufficient funds that allowed his son to be enrolled in the estate of horsemen. In ancient Rome, all this was determined as a result of a qualification - a kind of census of property and the state of citizens in order to divide society into military and socio-political estates.

In the autumn of 42 B.C. e. at Philippi, the battle of the republican troops under the leadership of Cassius and Brutus with the army of Octavian and Antony took place. The Republicans were defeated and fled. Horace then revised his views, completely changed his position regarding power and later said many times that these were his early republican adventures and illusions that almost cost him his life. Although this was the first sign of cowardice, Horace did not hide: he remained alive only because he threw down his shield and fled from the battlefield.

Return to Rome

At the beginning of 41 BC. e. Horace returned home to Venusia, by which time his father had already died. And the native province was included in the list of settlements that were given as a reward to the veterans of Caesar's army. All property and inheritance of Horace was confiscated.

In 40 BC. e. an amnesty was declared for the supporters of Brutus, and Horace left for Rome. Although he complained about the poverty and beggarly situation that forced him to write poetry, Horace had funds, which he paid to get a position in the college of quaestor scribes. He worked as a secretary, thereby securing his residence in Rome and the opportunity to freely engage in literature.

After 1-2 years, he composed his first poetic works in Latin. These were verses in the ancient classical hexameter meter, which were later included in the first book of the Satyr and the iambic Epodes. He met two poets Lucius Varius Rufus and Publius Verilius Maron, and they, in turn, introduced the aspiring poet to Octavian's colleague and good friend Gaius Cilnius Maecenas. He patronized the arts and under Octavian held a position similar to the minister of culture.

Friendship with the Maecenas

For nine months, the Maecenas thought about it and, in the end, decided to bring Horace closer to him. Once in such an environment, the poet still remained balanced and prudent, he never tried to stand out, did not flatter anyone, followed with due attention all the socio-political reforms that the ruler Octavian carried out. Perhaps, in some ways, Horace did not agree with the policy of the ruler, but he was infinitely grateful to him only because the peace that everyone had been waiting for had finally returned to Italy after a hundred years of civil wars.

Octavian made an offer to Horace to become his personal secretary, but such a position did not attract the poet, and he politely refused. Despite the fact that the position of secretary was very tempting and profitable, Horace did not want to lose his independence, which he greatly appreciated.

Horace traveled a lot with Maecenas. They visited Cape Palinur, where Octavian suffered a naval defeat, the Italian sea port of Brindisi, and Cape Actium, where the last great naval battle between ancient Roman fleets took place in antiquity.

Horace repeatedly noted in his poems that their relationship with the Maecenas was based solely on friendship and respect for each other, regardless of social status. Their relationship never had the character of "patron and subordinate." Horace never abused this friendship and did not demand anything from the Maecenas, he did not even try in this way to return his father's house, which was confiscated in Venusia.

Creation

Horace had a calm disposition, and he did not like city life with its worries and troubles. The poet preferred to live in a quiet village. In 33 BC. e. he acquired an estate on the Tibur River in the Sabine Mountains. There is no exact data - whether he was able to buy the estate with his own funds or was it a gift from the Maecenas.

Here he wrote his famous works:

• the second book "Satire";
• a collection of 17 poems "Epodes";
• the first collection of lyrical poems "Songs";
• the first book of the Epistles (it included 20 verses);
• second collection of "Messages".

In 17 BC. e. in Rome, the period of civil wars ended, the era of renewal and prosperity has come. The celebrations of these events were planned large-scale and complex, the scenario was developed very carefully. The announcements said that no one had ever seen such a ceremony and would never see it again, the most noble people of Rome were to take part in it.

In this regard, Octavian instructed Horace to compose a hymn for the ceremony, which was supposed to be the end of the festive events. For the poet, this was the highest praise, thus the state recognized that in Roman literature Horace was listed in a leading position. He wrote the "Jubilee Hymn", which was sung simultaneously by 27 girls and 27 young guys in the temple of Apollo Palatine. The poet received recognition and popularity.

His satire was different from others. He never attacked the shortcomings of his contemporaries, did not try to change the behavior of people, and even more so to punish them for something, his works did not splash with rage. In all his satires, it is clear that he is an extremely benevolent person, he did not directly blame anyone, but, on the contrary, offered to reflect on the nature and essence of people. He never touched upon current politics in his work, he did not switch to personal likes and dislikes. His ridicule and teachings were of a general nature and left the right to draw their own conclusions.

Horace died of a sudden illness on November 27, 8 BC. e. Patron died 59 days before. Horace was a full 56 years old, he bequeathed all his literary heritage to Octavian Augustus. The disease came and progressed so abruptly and quickly that Horace could not even sign the tablet with the will. He made it orally in front of witnesses.

He was buried not far from the grave of the Maecenas. On the planet Mercury, a crater was named after Horace.

Quint Horace

lat. Quintus Horatius Flaccus; very often just Horace

ancient Roman poet of the "golden age" of Roman literature

short biography

Full name Horace, the famous ancient Roman poet, a prominent figure in the "golden age" of Roman literature - Quintus Horace Eflaccus. He was born in Venusia (southeast Italy) in 65 BC. e., December 8th. His father was a freed slave, and despite the fact that Horace himself, the son, was de jure considered freeborn, the “dubious” origin affected the formation of his personality and left a certain imprint on his work.

The family moved from the provinces to Rome so that their son could receive a decent education, which would be his pass to another life. His father earned money by brokering auctions, providing young Horace with the opportunity to learn. His education was typical of the noble Roman youth of the time. At the age of twenty, Horace leaves for Athens, where he enters Plato's Academy. Successful mastery of the Greek language allowed him to fruitfully engage in the study of Greek philosophy and literature.

In 44 BC. e. Caesar is killed, and about six months after this event, Junius Brutus, who was one of the organizers of the assassination of the dictator, arrives in the Greek capital under the pretext of attending lectures by philosophers. The real purpose was to recruit young people into the republican army, which would fight against Octavian and Antony, Caesar's successors. Horace joins its ranks, at the age of 22 he becomes a military tribune and departs for Asia Minor with Brutus. In November 42 BC. e. the famous battle of Philippi took place, and Horace, who participated in it, deserted from the battlefield. The army of Brutus and Cassius was defeated, and its leaders committed suicide, which forced the future poet to abandon his former beliefs. Later, he spoke of his passion for republican ideas as an illusion that almost cost him his life.

Around 41 BC. e. he returned to his homeland, where he learned about the death of his father and the confiscation of family property (Venusia was donated to Caesar's veterans). In 40 BC. e. Brutal's supporters were granted an amnesty, after which Horace moved to live in the capital, where he got a job as a secretary.

The beginning of his creative activity belongs to the same period of his biography. The first verses were written in Latin in 39-38 BC. e. and subsequently formed the basis of his first book, Satire. They attracted the attention of the public, and in 38 BC. e. Horace was introduced to Maecenas, a well-known patron of artists, an ally and friend of Octavian. This acquaintance played an important role in his poetic career, but Horace, despite the prospects that opened up for him due to his proximity to the court, did not turn into a flatterer, although he was grateful to the emperor for ending the protracted civil war. Information has been preserved that he refused the invitation of Octavian Augustus to become his personal secretary.

The first collection of poems - "Satires", published between 36 and 33 years. BC e., Horace dedicated to the patron and friend Maecenas. The second book "Satire" was published in 30 BC. e., and in the same year his "Epodes" were published, glorifying the victory of Augustus over political opponents. Since that time, the poet began to periodically write lyrics, and poems of this genre were published in collections called "Songs" (23 and 13 BC). In 20 BC. e. the first book of the Epistles was published - a collection of philosophical letters.

In 17 BC. e. Rome celebrated a series of public holidays, designed to symbolize the beginning of the era of its prosperity, and it was Horace who was commissioned by the emperor to create a hymn for them, which meant the status of the first person in literature. Between 19 and 10 years. BC e. the second book of the Epistles was written, the main object of which this time was literature.

An unexpected illness put an end to Horace's biography. November 27, 8 BC e. the great poet died at the age of 57 and was buried near the grave, in which a Maecenas was buried a couple of months ago.

Biography from Wikipedia

Quintus Horace Flaccus(lat. Quintus Horatius Flaccus), very often just Horace(December 8, 65 BC (0-651208), Venusia - November 27, 8 BC, Rome) - ancient Roman poet of the "golden age" of Roman literature. His work falls on the era of civil wars at the end of the republic and the first decades of the new regime of Octavian Augustus.

Quintus Horace Flaccus was born December 8, 65 BC. e. in the family of a freedman, the owner of a modest estate in Venusia - a Roman military colony in southeastern Italy, on the border of Lucania and Apulia. His full name is attested in his writings and in the signature to the "Jubilee Hymn" which he wrote on behalf of Emperor Augustus for the centenary games of 17 BC. e.; "Quintus Horatius Flaccus carmen composuit" ("Quintus Horace Flaccus composed a song").

Horace's father was a freedman. Legally, the children of freedmen were equated with freeborns, but such an origin, nevertheless, was seen as a social inferiority, which was finally smoothed out only in the next generation. This factor had a certain influence on the worldview and work of Horace. The poet does not talk about his mother, although he mentions his nanny Pullia.

When the future poet was a child, his father left the estate, a quiet, economical life in the provinces, and moved to Rome to give his son a proper education in the capital, which could introduce him to higher social circles. In the capital, my father acted as a commission agent at auctions, receiving one percent of the transaction from the buyer and seller. The “poor, honest peasant,” as Horace depicts his father, nevertheless, through such an occupation, managed to cover the costs associated with the education of his son.

Horace went through all the stages of education common to the Roman nobility of his time: from the initial training at the Orbilius school in Rome, where he studied the Latin Odyssey by Livius Andronicus and Homer, to the Platonic Academy in Athens, where he studied Greek literature and philosophy (Academy of that time served as a kind of university or higher school for the young aristocracy of Rome; one of Horace's "classmates" was, for example, the son of Cicero). In Athens, Horace mastered Greek so well that he even wrote poetry in it.

The literary and philosophical studies of Horace in Athens were interrupted by the civil war that followed the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC. e. In the autumn of this year, about six months after the assassination of Caesar, Brutus arrived in Athens. Attending philosophical lectures, he recruited adherents of the republican system to fight Caesar's successors - Antony and Octavian. Like Cicero, Horace became a supporter of the cause of the republic and joined Brutus.

Horace entered the army of Brutus and even received the position of a military tribune (that is, an officer of the legion), which was somewhat unexpected for a freedman's son - the posts of military tribunes were mainly occupied by the children of horsemen and senators, and it was the first step in the career of a military or magistrate. This fact suggests that by this time Horace (most likely, not without his father's money) had an amount of 400,000 sesterces, that is, the qualification necessary for enrollment in the estate of horsemen, which amount later allowed him to buy into the college of scribes.

At the Battle of Philippi in November 42 B.C. e. the army of Brutus and Cassius was scattered and put to flight, after which both Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. After this defeat, Horace revised his position and abandoned any activity in this direction. Subsequently, Horace repeatedly mentioned his early republican "illusions" and an adventure that could have been fatal for him. In one of the Odes, he turned to his friend Pompey, who also took part in the battle of Philippi, where he said that he survived only by “throwing down his shield and fleeing the battlefield” (which, by the way, was considered the first sign of cowardice).

He returned to Italy, probably at the beginning of 41 BC. e. The father was no longer alive; his homeland, Venusia, was among the cities given to Caesar's veterans, and Horace's hereditary property was confiscated. After the amnesty declared in 40 BC. e. supporters of Brutus, he came to Rome and stayed there. Despite his own complaints about poverty, which forces him to take up poetry, Horace had enough funds to buy into the college of quaestor scribes (in the department of public finance). Roman society was prejudiced against paid work, but this attitude did not extend to some skilled professions; the life positions of this college were considered honorary. Horace worked as a secretary ( Scriba quaestorius), which provided him with the opportunity to live in Rome and engage in literature.

Apparently, by 39-38 BC. e. include the first poetic experiments of Horace in Latin: hexametric poems, which later became the first book of the Satire, and iambic, which later became the Epodes. The literary searches of Horace echo the classicist movement, which was led by Publius Virgil Maro and Lucius Varius Rufus. Both senior poets became his friends. In 39-38 BC. e. they introduced Horace Gaius Cylnius Maecenas, a close friend and colleague of Octavian.

The philanthropist, after nine months of deliberation, brought the poet closer to him. Once in the environment of the Maecenas and, accordingly, the princeps, Horace retained his inherent discretion, did not try to stand out, showed balance in everything. Horace treated the program of social and political reforms carried out by Augustus with due attention, without sinking, however, to the level of a "court flatterer". Horace was driven not so much by agreement with the ideology of the principate, but by a sense of gratitude for the long-awaited peace restored by Augustus in Italy, in which civil wars took place for almost a hundred years.

Suetonius testifies that Octavian Augustus offered Horace the position of his personal secretary. This proposal, which in general promised great benefits, could not attract Horace, and was tactfully rejected by him. Horace feared, among other things, that by accepting the offer, he would lose his independence, which he greatly valued.

In 38 BC. e. Horace was supposedly present, along with Maecenas, at the naval defeat of Octavian at Cape Palinur. In the same year, Horace, in the company of Maecenas, lawyer Cocceus Nerva (great-grandfather of Emperor Marcus Cocceus Nerva), Fontaine Capito (authorized and legate of Anthony in Asia), poets Virgil, Varius, publisher of the Aeneid Plotius Tukka traveled to Brundisium; this journey is discussed in the famous Satire (I 5). Between 36 and 33 B.C. e. (most likely in the winter of 36-35) the first collection of poems by Horace, the book "Satire", dedicated to the Maecenas, was published.

In his poetry, Horace always emphasized that his relationship with Maecenas was based on mutual respect and friendship, regardless of social status; he sought to dispel the notion that their relationship was that of a patron-client relationship. Horace never abused the friendship of the Maecenas and did not use his location to the detriment of anyone. Horace was far from demanding more from his patron; he did not even use this friendship to return his father's estate, confiscated by Octavian in favor of veterans after the battle of Philippi. However, such a somewhat dependent state of Horace more than once became a source of delicate situations, from which he always came out with perfect tact and dignity. Far from ambitious aspirations, Horace preferred a quiet and peaceful life in the countryside to the worries and troubles of city life.

Having become close to the Maecenas and his entourage, Horace acquired strong patrons and certainly received significant gifts from the Maecenas. Presumably in 33 BC. e. Horace acquired his illustrious estate in the Sabine Mountains, on the Tibur River, near the present Tivoli). (According to some texts of Horace, it was concluded that the estate was donated to him by the Maecenas (for example, Carmina II 18: 11-14), but neither Horace himself nor Suetonius mention this. It is generally problematic to consider such fragments as direct evidence that Horace's villa was a gift; in addition, there is evidence of Horace's considerable personal wealth by this time.)

September 2, 31 B.C. e. Horace, together with Maecenas, was present at the battle at Cape Promotions. In 30 BC. e. the second book "Satire" and "Epodes" was published, a collection of 17 poems that he wrote simultaneously with satyrs. The name "Epodes" was given to the collection by grammarians and indicates the form of couplets, where a short verse follows a long one. Horace himself called these poems "iambes"; the iambs of the Greek poet of the first half of the 7th century BC served as a model for them. e. Archilochus. It is noteworthy that Horace, from the very beginning of his career, took the ancient Greek classics as a model, and not the poetry of the Alexandrians, in accordance with the trend of his time and environment.

Starting from 30 BC. e. Horace intermittently wrote lyric poems, the first collection of which, books Ι-III, appeared in the second half of 23 BC. e. Lyric poems came out under the title "Songs" ("Carmina"), but even in antiquity they began to be called odes. This name has remained with them until our time. In antiquity, the Greek term "ode" was not associated with solemn pathos proper and was used in the meaning of "song", as an equivalent of the Latin carmen.

Between 23 and 20 BC. e. Horace tried to stay away from Rome, abandoning "pure poetry" and returning to the semi-philosophical "prose Muse" of his Satyrs. This time, not in the polemical form of satire, but with a predominance of "peaceful positive" content; he wrote the 1st book of the Epistles, which included twenty poems. The epistles came out in 20 (or early 19) BC. e. In the interval from the end of 20 to the autumn of 19 BC. e. the Epistle to Julius Florus is published, later the second in the second collection of "Messages".

In 17 BC. e. the Games of the Ages, the festival of the "renewal of the age", which was supposed to mark the end of the period of civil wars and the beginning of a new era of prosperity for Rome, celebrated with unprecedented solemnity. Augustus commissioned Horace to write a hymn for the ceremony of the feasts. For the poet, this was a state recognition of the leading position that he occupied in Roman literature. The solemn "Jubilee Hymn" was performed in the temple of Apollo Palatine by a choir of 27 boys and 27 girls on June 3, 17 BC. e.

We can say that now that Horace has long "cooled off" to the lyrics, he has become a popular, recognized master of it. Augustus turns to Horace with a new assignment to write poems glorifying the military prowess of his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus. According to Suetonius, the emperor “appreciated the writings of Horace to such an extent, and believed that they would remain for centuries, that he not only entrusted the composition of the Anniversary Hymn to him, but also the glorification of the Vindelic victory of Tiberius and Drusus ... forcing the Ode to those three books after a long break, add a fourth." So, in 13 BC. e. the 4th book of odes appeared, which included fifteen poems written in the dithyrambic manner of the ancient Greek poet Pindar. The empire has finally stabilized, and there is no trace of republican ideology left in the odes. In addition to the glorification of the emperor and his stepsons, the foreign and domestic policy of Augustus as the bearer of peace and prosperity, the collection contains variations of former lyrical themes.

The last decade of Horace's life also includes the second book of the Epistles, devoted to questions of literature. The book, consisting of three letters, was written between 19 and 10 BC. e. The first letter addressed to Augustus (who expressed his displeasure at the fact that he had not yet been among the addressees) was supposedly published in 12 BC. e. The second epistle, addressed to Julius Florus, came out earlier, between 20 and 19 BC. e.; the third, addressed to the Pisos, appeared presumably in 10 (and appeared separately, possibly as early as 18) BC. e.

Horace's death came from a sudden illness, shortly before his 57th birthday, on November 27, 8. As Suetonius points out, Horace died “fifty-nine days after the death of Maecenas, in the fifty-seventh year of his life, appointing Augustus as heir, in the presence of witnesses orally, since, tormented by an attack of illness, he was unable to sign the tablets of the will. Buried and buried on the outskirts of Esquiline next to the grave of Maecenas.

Creation

Horace had a lot of chitalin only in antiquity, but also in modern times, so all his works have come down to us: a collection of poems "Yamba", or "Epodes", two books of satires ("Conversations"), four books of lyric poems known as "Odes ”, the anniversary hymn “Song of the Century” and two books of messages.

satires

Saturae, 1577

Having returned to Rome after the amnesty and faced with hardship there, Horace nevertheless chooses satire for the starting collection (despite such a combination of factors as his low origin and "tarnished republican" reputation). However, Horace's concept allows him to take on a genre least suited to a man in his position. In the "Satires" Horace does not attack the flaws of his contemporaries, but only demonstrates and ridicules them; to change the behavior of people or "punish" them Horace does not think. Horace does not “splash with rage”, but speaks of everything with cheerful seriousness, like a benevolent person. He refrains from direct censures, invites to reflection on the nature of people, leaving everyone the right to draw their own conclusions. He does not touch on current politics and is far from personalities; his ridicule and teachings are of a general nature.

Such a concept coincides with Octavian's aspirations to strengthen the moral foundations of the state (hence, his authority and his position in Rome) by returning to the "good morals" of his ancestors. (Propaganda in this direction was actively conducted under the control of Octavian himself throughout the first decade of the empire, when Horace wrote the Satires.) Horace believes that examples of other people's vices keep people from making mistakes. This position corresponds to the program of Octavian, who believes that a strong imperial power is also necessary to control the "perverse representatives" of society.

Together with the modern romantic-minded intelligentsia, Horace comes to the Stoic-Epicurean philosophy, which preaches contempt for wealth and luxury, the desire for "aurea mediocritas" ("golden mean"), moderation in everything, contentment with little in the bosom of nature, enjoyment with a glass of wine. This doctrine served as the prism through which Horace began to consider the phenomena of life. In cases where these phenomena came into conflict with the morality of philosophy, they naturally tuned the poetry of Horace to a satirical mood. Such a philosophy evoked in him (as in many of his contemporaries) a romantic exaltation of the valor and severity of the mores of former times. She also partly determined the form of his non-lyrical works - the form of conversation on the model of the so-called "philosophical diatribe" - a dialogue with an imaginary interlocutor, the objections of which the author refuted.

In Horace, the diatribe is more often modified into the author's conversation with certain persons or, more rarely, into the conversation of different persons. This is the form of his "Satyr" (lat. satura - a mixture, all sorts of things). Horace himself calls them "Sermones", "Conversations". These are conversations written in hexameter on various topics, often in the form of a proper “pure” diatribe. They are satire in our sense of the word: either of a moralistic nature (against luxury, envy, etc.; for example, about the advantages of country life, with a fable about a city and country mouse, later revised by La Fontaine); or invective, non-philosophical; or just descriptions.

Horace's "conversations" are real "causeries" ("conversations"); in the setting of a nascent monarchy, they do not have a sense of political independence, characteristic of the satyrs of Lucilius, whose follower Horace considered himself.

Epodes

The first epods were created at a time when the twenty-three-year-old Horace had just returned to Rome, after the battle of Philippi in 42 BC. e.; they "breathe with the heat of the civil war that has not yet cooled down." Others were created shortly before publication, at the end of the war between Octavian and Antony, on the eve of the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. e. and right after it. The collection also contains "youthfully ardent lines" addressed to the poet's enemies and "old ladies" who seek "young love".

Already in the Epodes one can see the wide metric horizon of Horace; but so far, unlike the lyrical odes, the meters of the epods are not logaedic, and do not go back to the refined Aeolians Sappho and Alcaeus, but to the “straightforward” hot Archilochus. The first ten epodes are written in pure iambic; in the Epods from XI to XVI, different meters are connected - tripartite dactylic (hexameter) and bipartite iambic (iambic meter); Epod XVII consists of pure iambic trimeters.

Among the themes of the early epods, the civil theme seems to be especially interesting and important; it runs like a red thread through all the work of Horace, but with the greatest force and pathos it sounds, perhaps, precisely here, in these early poems (Epod VII, Epode XVI). How the views of Horace developed (how his “anti-republican” transformation ended) can be judged by two “Actian” Epodes (I and IX), written in 31 BC. e., in the year of the Battle of Actium.

Between 33-31 years. Horace acquires his illustrious estate in the Sabine Mountains; the new rustic setting may have inspired Horace to write the acclaimed Epode II.

Epodes XI, XIII, XIV, XV form a special group: there is no politics, no causticity, ridicule, evil sarcasm, characteristic of iambography. They are distinguished by a special mood - Horace is clearly trying his hand at "pure lyrics", and the epodes are no longer written in pure iambic, but in quasi-logaedic verse. In the "love" Epodes XIV and XV, Horace already departs far from the lyrics of Archilochus. In the sense of ardor and passion, Archilochus is closer to the lyrics of Catullus, the range of experiences and doubts of which is more complex and much "tousled" than that of Horace. The lyrics of Horace, on the other hand, reveal a different feeling (one might say, more Roman) - restrained, not superficial, felt equally “by mind and heart” - consistent with the polished, passionless-elegant image of his poetry as a whole.

Closest to their ancient prototypes, the epodes of Archilochus, are epodes IV, V, VI, VIII, X and XII. The caustic satirical tone in them "reaches the level of scourging sarcasm"; at the same time, the "ardor of hatred" in these epods is clearly more technological - for Horace, who is characteristically restrained even at the time of "hot windy youth", such ardor here is more of an artistic device, a tool.

However, usually reserved and gracefully impassive even in his early years, Horace could be both furious and cynical; Frank to the point of obscenity, Epodes VIII and XII pose considerable obstacles to translators. However, Horace himself did not feel any embarrassment in connection with them - such poems were common in the environment for which they were intended. (In general, the surviving fragments of Augustus's correspondence convey to us the spirit of crude cynicism that took place among the princeps' inner circle.)

The short "Epodes", strong and resonant, full of fire and youthful fervor, contain a clear vision of the world, accessible to a real genius. We find here an extraordinary palette of images, thoughts and feelings, cast in a chased form, which, on the whole, was fresh and unusual for Latin poetry. Epodems still lack that crystal clear sound, unique conciseness and thoughtful depth, which will distinguish the best odes of Horace. But already with this small book of poems, Horace presented himself as a "star of the first magnitude" in the literary firmament of Rome.

Odes

From the Archilochian style of the epodes, Horace moves on to the forms of monodic lyrics. Now his models are Anacreon, Pindar, Sappho, primarily Alcaeus, and Horace sees his right to literary immortality in the fact that he was "the first to bring the Aeolian song into the Italian way." The first collection contains poems written in original Greek meters: alcaeus stanza, sapphic, asklepiades and others in various variations. There are thirteen strophic forms in total, and almost all of them are new to Latin poetry (only the sapphic stanza was found earlier by Catullus). In the Latin interpretation of Greek prototypes, which have "non-native" properties for the Latin language, Horace reveals a metrical skill that is not surpassed by any of the subsequent Roman poets.

The odes are distinguished by a high style, which is absent in the epodes and which he refuses in the satires. Reproducing the metrical construction and the general stylistic tone of the Aeolian lyrics, Horace goes his own way in everything else. As in the epods, he uses the artistic experience of different periods and often echoes Hellenistic poetry. The ancient Greek form serves as a vestment for the Hellenistic-Roman content.

A separate place is occupied by the so-called. "Roman Odes" (III, 1-6), in which Horace's attitude to the ideological program of Augustus is most fully expressed. The odes are connected by a common theme and a single poetic size (a favorite stanza of Horace Alkeyeva). The program of the "Roman Odes" is as follows: the sins of the fathers, committed by them during the civil wars and like a curse weighing on the children, will be redeemed only by the return of the Romans to the ancient simplicity of morals and the ancient veneration of the gods. "Roman Odes" reflect the state of Roman society, which entered the decisive stage of Hellenization, which gave the culture of the Empire a clear Greco-Roman character.

It is curious that the jeweled and “saturated with thought”, but restrained and impassive lyrics did not meet with the contemporaries the reception that the author expected. She was found to be too aristocratic and not original enough (it should be concluded that this was the opinion of the general "educated mass").

In general, the odes carry out the same morality of moderation and quietism. In the famous 30 Ode of the third book, Horace promises himself immortality as a poet; The ode has caused numerous imitations, of which the most famous are the imitations of Derzhavin and Pushkin).

Messages

In form, content, artistic devices and variety of topics, the "Messages" are close to the "Satires", with which Horace's poetic career begins. Horace himself points to the connection of the messages with satyrs, calling them, as before "Satires", "conversations" ("sermones"); in them, as before in satires, Horace uses a dactylic hexameter. Commentators of all periods regard the Epistles as a significant step in the art of depicting the inner life of man; Horace himself did not even classify them as poetry proper.

A separate place is occupied by the famous "Epistle to the Pisons" ("Epistola ad Pisones"), later called "Ars poëtica". The epistle belongs to the type of "normative" poetics containing "dogmatic prescriptions" from the standpoint of a certain literary trend. In this message we find the most complete exposition of Horace's theoretical views on literature and the principles that he himself followed in his poetic practice. With this message, Horace is included in the literary controversy between admirers of archaic literature and admirers of modern poetry (the latter opposed the poetry of subjective feelings and the refinement of poetic technique to the epic pomposity and primitive form of the old poets). The message contains a warning to Augustus, who intended to revive the ancient theater as an art of the masses and use it for political propaganda purposes. Horace believes that the princeps should not cater to the coarse tastes and whims of an uneducated public.

According to an ancient commentator, Horace's theoretical source was a treatise by Neoptolemus of Parion, which he follows in the arrangement of material and in basic aesthetic ideas. (Poetry in general, a poetic work, a poet - this course of presentation of Neoptolemus is preserved by Horace.) But Horace does not aim to create any complete treatise. The free form of the "message" allows him to dwell only on some issues that are more or less relevant from the point of view of literary trends in Rome. The "Science of Poetry" is a kind of "theoretical manifesto" of Roman classicism in the time of Augustus.

Jubilee Anthem

In 17 BC. e. the Games of the Ages, the festival of the "renewal of the age", which was supposed to mark the end of the period of civil wars and the beginning of a new era of prosperity for Rome, celebrated with unprecedented solemnity. It was supposed to be a complex, elaborate ceremony, which, according to the official announcement, "no one has yet seen and will never see again" and in which the noblest people of Rome were to take part. It ended with a hymn summing up the whole festival. The anthem was entrusted to Horace. For the poet, this was a state recognition of the leading position that he occupied in Roman literature. Horace accepted the commission and resolved this issue by turning the formulas of cult poetry into the glory of wildlife and the manifesto of Roman patriotism. The solemn "Jubilee Hymn" was performed in the temple of Apollo Palatine by a choir of 27 boys and 27 girls on June 3, 17 BC. e.

Influence

The poet himself measured in the "Monument" his literary immortality by the eternity of the Roman state, but the greatest flowering of his glory was yet to come. Since Carolingian times, interest in Horace has increased; evidence of this interest are 250 medieval manuscripts of his works that have come down to us. In the period of the early Middle Ages, the moral and philosophical works of Horace, satires, and especially messages, attracted more attention than lyrics; Horace was revered as a moralist and was known mainly as an author of satires and epistles. He, the "satirist Horace", Dante (Ad IV) assigns a place in Hades after Virgil and Homer.

The Renaissance brought with it a new assessment, when the emerging "bourgeois personality" opposed itself to "church contemplation". (It is known that in 1347 the manuscript with the works of Horace was acquired by Petrarch; in some of his poems, a clear influence of Horace is detected.) As a lyrical spokesman for this new worldview, Horace became the favorite poet of the Renaissance (along with Virgil, and often surpassing him). Humanists considered Horace "their" entirely; but the Jesuits also highly appreciated him - the emasculated or Christianized Horace had a positive moral impact on the students. Pictures of a simple village (“Horatian”) life appealed to people of a similar fate, similar tastes (such as, for example, Petrarch, Ronsard, Montaigne, Robert Herrick, Ben Jonson, Milton).

The lyrical meters of Horace were used in New Latin versification, which, it is believed, was especially successful with the German humanist Conrad Celtis, who also established the custom of singing Horace's odes at school (which became a widespread practice in the 16th century). Subsequently, Horace began to be translated into new languages ​​(the most successful, as it is considered, into German).

In Russia, Horace was imitated by Cantemir; Pushkin, Delvig, Maikov and others were fond of them.

The "Art of Poetry" had a tremendous impact on literary criticism; Classical principles were borrowed from it, and efforts to curb the excesses of the Baroque were justified by references to it. From "Ars poëtica" for his "Poetics" Boileau borrows a lot; Byron admires him, Lessing and others study him. However, Sturm und Drang, other romantic movements were not on the way with the “singer of prudence, poise and moderation”, and since then Horace’s popularity has not risen to its former height.

After the invention of printing, no ancient author was published as many times as Horace. His legacy caused a huge number of both New Latin and national imitations and played a large role in the formation of New European lyrics.

A crater on Mercury is named after Horace.

Sayings

Carpe diem - "seize the day" (Carmina I 11, 8). In full: "carpe diem quam minimum credula postero", "take advantage of (every) day, relying as little as possible on the next"

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - "It is beautiful and sweet to die for the fatherland" (Carmina III 2, 13). A frequently used slogan in World War I newspapers; also the title of English poet Wilfred Owen's bitterly ironic poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" about this war.

Sapere aude - "decide to be wise" (Epistulae I 2, 40). The saying was accepted by Immanuel Kant and became a kind of slogan of the Age of Enlightenment. This saying is the motto of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (option "dare to know").

Artworks

In chronological order:

• Sermonum liber primus, Satires I (35 BC)
• Epodes, Epodes (30 BC)
• Sermonum liber secundus, Satires II (30 BC)
• Carminum liber primus, Odes I (23 BC)
• Carminum liber secundus, Odes II (23 BC)
• Carminum liber tertius, Odes III (23 BC)
• Epistularum liber primus, Epistles I (20 BC)
• Ars Poetica, Epistle to the Pisos (24/10 BC)
• Carmen Saeculare, Hymn of the Ages (17 BC)
• Epistularum liber secundus, Epistles II (14 BC)
• Carminum liber quartus, Odes IV (13 BC)

Translations

• In the Loeb classical library series, the works were published in 2 volumes (No. 33, 194).
• In the "Collection Budé" series, the works are published in 3 volumes.

Translations into Russian

Among those who translated works into Russian:

• Artyushkov, Alexey Vladimirovich
• Barkov, Ivan Semyonovich
• Vodovozov, Vasily Ivanovich
• Davydov, Denis Vasilievich
• Delvig, Anton Antonovich
• Derzhavin, Gabriel Romanovich
• Dmitriev, Mikhail Alexandrovich
• Zagorsky, Mikhail Pavlovich
• Kazansky, Boris Vasilievich
• Krasinski, Adam Stanislav
• Krestovsky, Vsevolod Vladimirovich
• Kreshev, Ivan Petrovich
• Lermontov, Mikhail Yurievich
• Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilievich
• Maikov, Apollon Nikolaevich
• Merzlyakov, Alexey Fyodorovich
• Modestov, Vasily Ivanovich
• Norov, Abraham Sergeevich
• Osherov, Sergei Alexandrovich
• Poznyakov, Nikolai Sergeevich
• Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich
• Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich
• Sreznevsky, Ivan Evseevich
• Tyutchev, Fedor Ivanovich
• Fet, Afanasy Afanasevich
• Filimonov, Vladimir Sergeevich
• Shakhovskoy, Alexander Alexandrovich
• Shebor, Osip Antonovich

Repeatedly published "school editions" of selected poems by Horace.

Main Russian translations:

• Quinta Horace Flaccus Ten letters of the first book. / Per. Khariton Mackentin. 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg, 1744. - 81, 24 pages.
• Letter from Horace Flaccus about poetry to the Pisos. / Per. N. Popovsky. - St. Petersburg, 1753. - 40 pages.
• Quinta Horace Flaccus Satires, or Conversations with Notes. / Per. I. S. Barkova. - St. Petersburg, 1763. - 184 pages.
• The Science of Poetry, or the Epistle to the Pisos sq. Horace Flacca. / Per. and approx. M. Dmitrieva. - M., 1853. - 90 pages.
• Odes Quinta Horace Flaccus. / Per. A. Feta. - St. Petersburg, 1856. - 130 pages.
• satires Quinta Horace Flaccus. / Per. M. Dmitrieva. - M., 1858. - 191 pages.
• C. Horace Flaccus. / In lane. A. Feta. - M., 1883. - 485 pages ( almost complete translation (with minor prop.))
• Selected poems. / Translation and comments by O. A. Shebor. - St. Petersburg, 1894. - Issue. 1-2. First edition. (Total 16 editions.)
• . Full composition of writings. / Per. ed. F. A. Petrovsky, entry. Art. V. Ya. Kaplinsky. - M.-L.: Academia. 1936. - 447 pages - 5300 copies.
  • reissue under the name "Collected Works". Intro. article by V. S. Durov. - St. Petersburg: Biographic Studio, 1993. - 446 pages.
• Horace. Odes. Epodes. Satires. Messages. / Entry. Art. M. Gasparova. - M., artist. lit. 1970. - 479 pages - 40,000 copies. (in particular, the edition includes a new translation by Gasparov of "The Science of Poetry")
• . The Science of Poetry. / Per. M. M. Pozdneva. // Writer's book. - St. Petersburg: Amphora. - 2008. S. 113-142.
• sq. Horace Flaccus: The Book of the Epods. Foreword, trans. and approx. G. M. Severa. (Series "New Translations of the Classics".) Toronto: Aeterna, 2015.

patrician family, which is already proved by the name ( cm. Curiatii, Curiatii), of Latin origin. Of this genus, first of all are called:

1. 3 Horatii who engaged the Curiaci. Liv. 1, 26. The surviving P. Horace in anger killed his sister, who mourned the death of her fiancé, one of the murdered Curiatii; he was released from punishment at the request of the people. cic. Mil. 3, 7. Val. Max. 6, 3, 6. Liv. 1, 26. Monuments, tombs and the field of G. in Rome also pointed to this event in later times. Publius (or Mark after cic. Mil. 3, 7.) subsequently destroyed Alba. Dion. Hall. 3, 28 ff.;

2. M. Horatius Pulvillus, a descendant of the previous ones, first Roman consul, in 509 BC. ( Liv. 2, 18. Plut. Publ. 12), took part in the exile of the last king. His brother 3) P. Horatius Cocles (one-eyed, plin. 11, 37), according to legend, saved Rome during the war with Porsena; he defended with two others a wooden bridge from the Etruscans until the bridge was broken behind him; then he rushed into the Tiber and swam to the opposite bank. Liv. 2, 10. Plut. Publ. 16. cic. legg. 2. 4, 10, cic. off. 1, 18, 61. For this heroic feat, grateful citizens erected a statue to him and rewarded him with rich gifts;

4. C. Horatius Pulvillus (son of the one mentioned under the number 2), consul in 477, victoriously fought the Volscians and Etruscans ( Liv. 2, 51) and in 457 he was consul for the second time. He died in 456. Liv. 3, 32;

5. M. Horatius Barbatus, opponent of the decemvirs in 449 BC; after their fall, he again reconciled the patricians with the people, who for the second time retired from Rome. Liv. 3, 53. As consul in 449 ( Liv. 3, 55), he published with his comrade Valerius Publicola the famous leges Horatiae Valeriae, on the binding decisions of the tribes for the whole people, on the inviolability of the people's tribunes and some other officials; he went on a campaign against the Sabines and happily fought with them. Liv. 3, 56 ff. By decree of the so-called comitia tributa, he celebrated a triumph, which he was denied by the senate. Liv. 3, 63;

6. Q. Horatius Flaccus, born in 689 from the foundation of the city, that is, in 65 BC December 8 in Venusia on the border of Lucania and Apulia in a romantically severe country, in which the raging Aufid flowed and towered covered with forests Voltour. As the son of a freedman, probably from the tribus of Horatia, he was entitled to the position of freeborn (ingenuus). His father sold the acquired piece of land in order to move to Rome and give his son a better upbringing. The touching picture that the poet paints for us of the father's wise and loving course of action (sat. 1.6) does honor to both father and son. To complete his education, he went, probably after receiving the toga virilis, to Athens and devoted himself there to the study of philosophy, listening to the Academician Theomnest, the Peripatetic Cratippus and the Epicurean Philodemus, but at the same time maintaining complete freedom of thought. As in Rome, so even more so in Athens, he entered into close relations with a select society of gifted young Romans from the noblest families. At this time, news came to Athens of the assassination of Caesar, committed on March 15, 44 BC; when, at the end of summer, Brutus came to raise a fleet and an army for the protection of the Republic, he met here with warm sympathy from the ardent youth. Horace, elected by Brutus to the military tribunes, immediately stopped his studies and became under the banner of Brutus; moreover, he probably had the opportunity to study the coasts of Asia Minor and the islands of the Archipelago, depicted by him in several well-aimed lines. About the fatal battle of Philippi we have his own interesting message (Od. 2, 7), doubly important, because from it we can determine the position of the poet in relation to the Republic and in relation to the ensuing autocracy of Augustus. He is conservative by conviction, a supporter of the old form and the old system of social life; with the ideal striving of his youthful feeling, it escaped him that the old spirit had long ceased to exist in the Republic, and that without it the Republic itself, which had become an empty form, could not exist. The outcome of the battle of Philippi, in which he recognizes the heroism of the vanquished as much as the happiness of the victors, served him as proof that the old form was irretrievably lost, since even the two main defenders of this form abandoned it in despair. He does not reproach himself for cowardice, but only attributes his salvation to God, thanks to which he, relicta non bene parmula, safely arrived in his homeland. At this time, he became convinced that only that aspiration and that force bring happiness, which are able to calm the excitement of social life. Therefore, Octavian was recognized by him as Pacificator orbis terrarum, who finally restored the long-desired peace. In the midst of these events, his father probably died, and the part of the inheritance that followed him was taken away by the winners; then poverty, which promotes enterprise, made him, with the first attempts of his poetic talent, win the favor of powerful patrons (ep. 2, 2, 49 et seq.). The poets Virgil and L. Varius introduced him to the Maecenas, who invited him to his place, but called him again only 9 months later and accepted him among his amici or literary interlocutors, probably in 39 BC (sat. 1, 6 , 54 ff.). Through Maecenas, he also became acquainted with Octavian, when the latter returned to Rome in the summer of 29 from the Parthian and Pannonian wars. It may very well be that only thanks to his acquaintance with the Maecenas he received the position of scriba quaestorius, and since this required a pledge, instead of which for the most part we represented a plot of land (hence the praedium), it seems (according to the very probable guess of Zumit) , Patron gave him Sabinum for this ( cm. Sabina) or gave money to buy this estate. From that time on, Rome became his usual seat; but sometimes we see him in Tibur and in Sabinum itself; this last estate was not attractive in itself, but the poet was very fond of it. Horace was unmarried. Gradually, he became such an indispensable member in the close friendly circle of the Maecenas that the longing for him reached the high patron to painful sadness. The poet, according to the prediction he gave to Maecenas, died shortly after the death of the latter, when he was almost 57 years old, on November 27 in 8 BC. His ashes were buried next to those of Maecenas on the Esquiline. The merit of Horace as a poet lies in the fact that he transplanted lyric poetry into the soil of Latium and Italy in its best and most refined forms, which until that time had distinguished only Greek poetry. Hence, from this side he is, of course, more poeta than vates. But on the other hand, he had no shortage of poetic creativity. His poetic direction and mood are not made, not created artificially, but are the product of his life experience. Due to the fact that the ideals of his youth were broken, he had to enter into a struggle with reality; he found comfort and truth in a distant ideal world. In the real world, he was unpleasantly struck by various small features, products of the anxious life of the capital, in no way corresponding to the spirit of his valiant ancestors. From here, a satirical direction developed in him, which at first appeared in full force, then gradually became softer, more serious, sincere, but even in his last poetic works it did not completely disappear. In the middle of his career, this direction is expressed in serious and deeply moral and religious thoughts, in which he, although in vain, sought to restore the long-vanished spirit of the noblest and purest time of the Republic. This explains the whole course of his poetic development, as it appears to us in his surviving works. At the same time, this circumstance gives us the right scale for a fair assessment of his poetic talent; not in flight or in the depths of thoughts, not in their novelty, not in an abundance of spectacular turns, not in the brilliance of style (he clearly used words and turns for his purposes, sometimes considering only metric form), not in metaphors, little characteristic of the Latin language , not in all this lies the special charm and dignity of Horatius poetry, but in the truthfulness of feelings, the nobility of ideas, the naturalness of thoughts and, most importantly, in a simple form that is quite appropriate to the content. It was for this that he became the favorite of all time, as a bold presentiment foretold him. It is difficult to determine the time of appearance of individual works written by him. But as far as is known, he first wrote both books of satires, then a book of epodes, then four books of odes, or poems, together with carmen saeculare, finally, two books of epistles with the inclusion of the so-called ars poetica. The great English critic Bentley gives the following long accepted chronology of Horace's works: Book I Sat. written between the 26th and 28th year of the poet's life, II book of Sat. between 31 and 33 years, II book Carmina between 40 and 41 years, III book. Carmina between A.D. 42 and 43, Book I of Epist. between 46 and 47 years, the IV book of Carmina between 49 and 51 years, and the rest of the works appeared at a later time, which does not allow for a more precise definition. It is only in recent times that Kirchner has proven unfounded the assumptions underlying most of these chronological data, especially the assumption that the poet at a certain time constantly devoted himself to only one kind of literary activity and that all the poems, for example, one book, Carmina, were already ready before the works of another book appeared, while, in all probability, the first three Carmina books were published together. Further, both books of satyrs date back to 41-36 years, Epodes to 41-30 years, the first three books of Carmina to 39-18, the first book of messages to 27-15, the fourth book of Carmina to 18-10 years ., the second book of epistles to 11-8 years. BC. Recently, however, these assumptions have been repeatedly modified in particular by several German scientists, namely Grotefend, Franke and Teiffel. But from each of these definitions of the time of the appearance of individual works of Horace, it follows that the difference in the nature of satires and epistles, in which some wanted to see a complete similarity, stems already from the very time of their appearance. From time immemorial Horace interpreted grammar in schools; the scholia of Porphyrion and another collection bearing the unjust name of Akron have been preserved. Editions of Pauly (1858ff.), Hauthal (1859), Meyer (scholia of Porphyrion, 1874). The number of manuscripts is very large, but only a few of them belong to the Middle Ages. Some interpolations must have been made already at an early time and are recognized even by early critics. Hofmann-Peerlkamp (1834-1862), in his edition of the ode, applied to their criticism a scale of complete perfection, that is, his own scale, and therefore declared a significant number of poems and stanzas to be false. Since that time, many have gone in this direction; not all with such learning and circumspection as, for example, Martin, Linker, Haupt, Scheibe, Meineke, Heynemann (1871), Lehrs (1869) and especially Gruppe (Minos, 1859, Aeacus, 1872) acted very arbitrarily, not to mention the many youthful attempts. Complete editions: Lambin (1561 et al.), Cruquius (1579 et al.), Bentley (1711, last in 1869), Fea (1811), D?ring (1803 et al.), Orelli (3rd ed. , 1850 et seq.; small 5th ed., 1869), D?ntzer (1849; explanatory school ed. 1868 et seq.), Dillenburger (6th ed., 1875), Pauly (1855), Ritter (1856ff.), Keller and Holder (1864ff.), Lehrs (1869). Editions of the text: Jahn (6th ed. Schmid, 1855), Meineke (2nd ed., 1854), Stallbaum (1854), Haupt (3rd ed., 1871), Linker (1856), Luc. M?ller (1869 and 1879) and others. Editions of satires: Heindorf (3rd ed., 1859), Kirchner (finished by Deuffel'em, 1854 et seq.), Hofmann-Peerlkamp (1863), Kr?ger (with epistles, 9th ed., 1879), Fritzsche (1875ff.); editions of the odes (and epodes) Jani (2nd ed., 1809), Mitscherlich (1800), Hofmann-Peerlkamp (2nd ed., 1862), Obbarius (1848; school ed. 1856), Nauck (10th ed., 1880), Herbst (1866), Sch?tz (1880) and others; editions of the epistles: Schmid (1828ff.), Obbarius (1837ff., first book only), Ribbeck (1869).

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

"Epodes" ("Choruses") - a collection of poems written in iambic meter. In these works of his, Horace focuses on the ancient Greek lyricist Archilochus. There are 17 episodes in the collection. The themes of contemporary Roman reality sound in them. Most of the epods have the character of personal invective, but with a focus on exposing individual moments of social reality.

In epode IV, Horace attacks some upstart freedman (name not mentioned), who, thanks to his wealth, "sits like a prominent horseman in the forefront" (verse 35); with anger, the poet falls upon the witchcraft common at that time, branding the old women engaged in this craft (the common name of the sorceress Canidia) - epodes III, V, XII. In Epode V, a boy is killed by sorceresses in order to prepare a “love potion” from his insides. Horace addresses them with threats:

“All of you, vile old women, with stones
Beat the crowd on the street
And the corpses of wolves will be torn to pieces by predatory
And the Esquiline birds"
(Epod V, verses 97 - 100; translated by F. A. Petrovsky).

The motif of condemnation of civil wars, shaking Rome and undermining its former power (epodes VII and XVI), sounded with great force. Epode VII, addressed to the Roman people, begins with the words:

"Where, where are you going, criminals,
Drawing swords in madness?!
Are there really few fields and waves of the sea
Drenched in Roman blood?
(Epod VII, verses 1–4; translated by A. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky).

In epode XVI, written in 40 BC. e. - ten years before the release of the entire collection, Horace speaks of the detrimental consequences of civil wars, that Rome dooms itself to a suicidal death:

“For two generations already languishing in a civil war,
And Rome is destroyed by its own power ... "
(Epod XVI, verses 1–2; translated by A. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky)

The poet does not see a way out of this situation, he enthusiastically sings of the wonderful life on the "blissful islands", urging his compatriots to flee to these islands, which have not yet been affected by the general collapse. But there is no answer to the question posed by the poet himself about the location of the fabulous happy islands in this (XVI) epod. Thus, the “blissful islands” are just a pipe dream. And then battles of Aktion in Epode IX, addressed to patron, Horace, having ridiculed Antony for his submission to Cleopatra, glorifies the princeps for the first time. This is the only epod where the poet expresses his positive point of view and expresses a positive attitude towards a political figure. As for the first epod (according to its location in the collection), it should be singled out especially for the programmatic motives expressed by Horace regarding his position in life, and his attitude towards Octavian Augustus and Maecenas. The poem is the last of the epods by the time of creation. The addressee of this work is the patron of the poet Maecenas, whose devotion Horace declares:

“And in this, and in every one, I am ready for a campaign,
hoping for your love
And not at all in the hope that I will succeed
Harness more oxen to plows ... "
(Epod I, verses 23–26, translated by N. Gintsburg).

Close to Archilochus in the nature of the attacks of epode X, addressed to the literary enemy of Horace - the poet Mevius. The nature of the epod is parodic, built in the spirit of parting words common in Hellenistic literature with the wish of a good journey. However, not good luck, but all sorts of troubles, Horace wishes Mevia on the way, while the addressee is endowed with all sorts of offensive names:

"Then the lecherous goat along with the sheep
Let him be a victim of the storms!
(Epod X, verses 23–24; translated by N. Gunzburg).

The collection contains epodes with lyrical themes - these are epodes XI, XIII-XV. There are ironic and parodic moments in them, but there are no sharp attacks and denunciations. In Epode XI, a sentimental love elegy is parodied. In epode XIII, addressing his friends, the poet urges, despite difficult circumstances, “to snatch an hour that was sent by chance”, because wine and songs save from severe grief. In epode XIV, justifying himself to the Maecenas in his “sluggish inaction”, Horace confirms that he “had promised to finish the song clean for a long time”, but refers to the passion for the “slave Phryne” and speaks ironically about the power of love interests. In epode XV, addressed to a woman named Neera, he reproaches her for treason and says that there will be retribution - Flakk will find himself another, more worthy one, and then: "it will be my turn to laugh."

Horace - "Satires"

Another important part of Horace's works - "Satires" - is represented by two collections: the first contains 10 satires, the second - 8. In satires, the poet turns to moral and philosophical topics. Criticizing certain human vices and shortcomings, Horace expresses his life principles. The main principle of "contentment with little", based on the philosophy of Epicurus, translates into a preaching of rural life in the bosom of nature, away from the unrest of the bustle of the city. The problem of personal happiness is connected with the philosophy of moderation, an example of which Horace considers his own life; he is content with a quiet life on the estate given to him by the Maecenas, where only a few slaves serve him, and the fruits of the land of his estate.

Horace reads his satires to Maecenas. Painting by F. Bronnikov, 1863

This "philosophy of moderation" was a peculiar form of acceptance of the Augustan regime by wide circles of the nobility and the poet himself, allowing them to maintain the illusion of independence and freedom. At the same time, in satires, Horace does not create a positive ideal, although he quite clearly shows how not to live. Blaming the vices and shortcomings of individuals, Horace avoids too harsh criticism in his works. His satire has the character of preaching virtue and wisdom, it is devoid of sharpness and accusatory power. In a number of satires (book I, satires 4, 10; book II, satires 1, 3) questions of literary theory are raised. The polemical part of these works is more connected with the name of Horace's predecessor in this genre, the poet Lucilius:

“Yes, of course, I said that Lucilius’s verses are rude,
That they run without order. Who, senseless, will
Is it to protect him? However, on the same page
I also praised him: for the caustic salt of his jokes.
This merit belongs to him, but I cannot recognize others.
(Book I, satire 1, verse 10; translated by M. Dmitriev).

Indeed, in the satires of Horace there is no “caustic salt” of Lucilius, who dared to make sharp political denunciations. Horace accuses Lucilius of the fact that his satires flow in a "muddy stream", referring to the haste in poetic work, which led to insufficient finishing of the verse. Horace himself strives for consistency in the presentation of thoughts and elegance in the decoration of his works. But Horace recognizes the merits of Lucilius and calls him the "inventor" of the genre of satire.

Horace - "Odes"

The greatest fame brought Horace his "Odes" ("Songs") - a collection of lyrical poems, consisting of four books. In these works, Horace focuses on the famous Greek poets: Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon. Perceiving their best traditions, adapting their poetic sizes, using the achievements of previous Roman poetry, Horace reaches the pinnacle of perfection of Roman lyrics.

The subject matter of Horace's odes is diverse: these are friendly messages, and philosophical reflections, and hymns to the gods, love and civil lyrics. The first book opens with a poem, where Horace speaks of his poetic vocation, which received the support of the powerful patron Maecenas. The first lines of the ode are addressed to him:

“Glorious grandson, Maecenas, royal forefathers,
O my joy, honor and refuge!”
(Book I, ode 1, verses 1–2; translated by A. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky).

Horace lists the hobbies of people whom they prefer in their lives: sports, the political arena, agriculture, trade, leisure, war, hunting. For each, his occupation is "the highest happiness." And then in two stanzas (the poem was written in the first Asclepiades stanza), in an exquisite poetic form, he also speaks of his vocation: “a cool grove draws me to the highest, where nymphs lead a round dance with satyrs.” Horace expresses his hope for the mercy of the Maecenas:

“If you count me among the peaceful singers
I will raise my proud head to the stars
(book I, ode I, verses 35–36; translated by A. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky).

The second ode of the first book is addressed to Augustus, whom Horace portrays as the god Mercury, "the winged son of the blessed Maya", who received the name of Caesar on earth. So, already the initial works of the collection give an idea of ​​the ideological orientation of Horace's lyrics. And in the future, delving into the reading of Horace's works, the reader can see that the political motives that permeate the collection turn out to be associated with the glorification of Augustus and his politics.

Emperor Octavian August ("August from Prima Porta"). 1st century statue according to R.H.

In the spirit of the official ideology, Horace sings of ancient Roman valor in the so-called cycle of Roman odes (Book III, odes 1–6), which constitute a certain thematic unity and are written in the same poetic size - an alcaean stanza. These odes are united by a common theme - they reflect the positive ideal put forward by the program of Augustus; the poet focuses on the state and its interests, the poet speaks of the detrimental effect of luxury and wealth, paints a picture of the degradation of Roman society, destroyed by venality: “a fighter whose liberty is bought with gold, will he become bolder?” (Book III, ode 5, verses 25–26). Horace sees a way out of this disastrous situation in the restoration of the old order, in a return to the beliefs of the gods, in the restoration of destroyed temples:

"The guilt of the fathers of the innocent defendant
You will, Rome, until restored
Fallen dwellings of the gods,
Their statues in black smoke"
(Book III, ode 6, verses 1–4; translated by N. Shaternikova).

In his works, Horace turns his gaze to the patriarchal gods, which corresponded to the official policy of Augustus, calls for the ancient Roman good morals, for the simplicity of life and for the former valor (Book III, ode 2). He sees the embodiment of valor in Augustus, who rises above all people. In ode 3 of book III, Horace prepares the apotheosis of Augustus: “I will allow him (meaning Augustus) to join the hosts of the blessed gods from now on” (verses 35–36). The reign of Augustus on earth is compared with the reign of Jupiter in heaven (book III, ode 5). In the "Roman odes" the principle of unity of composition, adopted from Hellenistic poetry, is maintained: the first and last poems of the cycle (odes 1 and 6) contain the same number of verses (48 each), both are addressed to the people, however, with a slight difference: ode 1 is addressed to youth, to a new generation; in ode 6 there is no age limit.

Philosophical motifs of "Horatian wisdom", passing through the entire collection of lyrical poems, are associated with the praise of enjoying the joys of life: love, feasts, the blessings and beauties of nature. In the spirit of a superficially perceived Epicurean philosophy, the poet put forward the principles of “seize the day” (book I, ode 11) and “use the present without thinking about the future” (book I, ode 25), that is, enjoy the joys of today. This call is combined in the works of Horace with the preaching of “contentment with little” and the life principle of keeping to the “golden mean”, which was framed in an ode to Licinius (Book II, ode 10):

“Choosing the golden mean measure.
The wise will avoid a dilapidated roof,
Avoid the palaces that are born in people
Black envy.

The wind oppresses the age-old pines more strongly,
It is harder to fall than the tallest towers.
Lightning strikes more often
Mountain heights»
(Book II, ode 10, verses 5–12; transl. 3. Morozkina).

Even in such a traditional theme for the ancient poetic tradition as feasts and wine, Horace maintains his point of view regarding moderation. In the feast verses that are often found in his lyrics, he does not give free rein to the Bacchic expanse and does not lose power over his own actions:

“But for everyone there is a measure in drinking: Liber observes the limit.
The battle of the centaurs arose after wine with the Lapith family - here
Drunk is the best lesson "
(Book I, ode 18, verses 7–9; translated by N. Ginzburg).

In ode 3 of book II, Horace, in accordance with the philosophical views of the moderate Stoics, writes:

"Try to keep the spirit calm
In the days of adversity; on happy days
Don't get drunk with glee
Subject to death, like all of us, Dellius"
(Book II, ode 3, verses 1–4; translated by A. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky).

A significant place is occupied by odes dedicated to friends. Of particular interest is the poem "To Pompey Varus" (book II, ode 7), translated by A. S. Pushkin, in which Horace recalls his flight from the battlefield when he "abandoned his shield under Philippi." This was in 42 BC. e. after the defeat of the Republicans, led by Brutus, under whose command the poet served. The theme of "loss of the shield" was found in the verses of the Greek poets Archilochus, Alcaeus, Anacreon. In the works of Horace, this topic is presented in its own way - the author uses literary reminiscences from Greek lyrics.

There is no passion in Horace's love odes. Horace is never in the grip of love. He observes other people's passions (book I, ode 5) or calls to the joys of love (book II, ode 12). The heroines of his lyrical works are numerous: Chloe, Pyrrha, Lalaga, Neobula, etc. Among all the poems on this topic, only one ode (book III, ode 9), addressed to Lydia, stands out for its lyrical tone. This poem is a dialogue between Horace and Lydia, where in an elegant form and playful tone the poet talks about past mutual love, about the happiness of a new love when the objects of passion change, about the possibility of resuming relations with each other. The poem ends with the words: "I want to live with you and die, loving." But in this poem on a love theme, as in others, Horace does not create the image of his beloved. The heroines of the poet are not very specific, each time they are endowed with some quality peculiar only to her: Chloe is shy and impregnable (Book I, ode 23), Pyrrha is golden-haired (Book I, ode 5), Glikera “shines brighter than marble Paros "(book I, ode 19), Mirtal "the sea was more turbulent" (book I, ode 33). Horace is alien to suffering from the betrayal of his beloved: if one rejects, then you can find solace with the other. Therefore, he himself, with a playful reproach, turns to Barina, who “drives the youths of the crowd crazy”:

"You know how to lie, remembering in oaths
And father's ashes, and the night sky,
And the silence of the stars, and the gods who did not know
Death cold.

But these oaths are only funny to Venus,
And the nymphs laugh, and the cruel one himself
Cupid sharpening on a bloody bar
Burning Arrows»
(book II, ode 8, verses 9–16; translated by F. A. Petrovsky).

Horace's love works, to a greater extent than others, were influenced by Hellenistic, Alexandrian poetry. Most characteristic in this respect is the ode 30 addressed to Venus in book 1.

Horace dedicates the final verses of books II and III to his poetic vocation and the theme of the poet's immortality in his works. He begins Ode 20 of Book II with the words: “I will ascend on powerful, unprecedented wings, a two-faced singer, in ethereal heights” (verses 1–2).

Ode 30 of book III, called "Monument", has gained the highest fame and enjoys worldwide fame. Here are the final lines of this piece:

“... With the glory of the well-deserved,
Melpomene, be proud, and, benevolent,
Now Delph crown my head with laurels.
(book III, ode 30, verses 14–16; translated by S. V. Shervinsky).

Thus ends the third book of lyrical poems by Horace.

According to the original plan of the poet, the collection was to consist of three books, and the "Monument" was conceived as an ode to complete this work. But at the insistence of Octavian Augustus, 10 years after the publication of a collection of three books, a fourth book was written, containing 15 poems. The poet continues to glorify Augustus and his political activities, and also sings of the stepsons of the princeps - Tiberius and Druza; pays much attention to the theme of the immortality of the poet.

Horace also owns the jubilee hymn (“Song of the Ages”), written for the national celebration, which was supposed to mark the onset of the “golden age” provided by Augustus. The hymn was written for choral performance. His words are addressed to the gods Apollo and Diana with a plea to promote the prosperity of Rome and the divine Augustus.

Horace - "Messages"

Horace's last works are the Epistles. These are letters in poetic form that have specific addressees. They are written in hexameter. The subjects of the messages are diverse due to the involvement of extensive illustrative material from life and literature. As for the main semantic orientation, in the first collection of "Messages" Horace seeks to reveal the "art of living" that he has already achieved (to keep to the "golden mean", not to be surprised at anything, to be able to be content with the available joys of life), and the second collection (of the three "Messages ”) is devoted to questions of literary theory. Of particular note is the last "Epistle" - "Epistle to the Pisos" ("The Science of Poetry"). This message was already singled out by the ancients as a separate work, considering it as a presentation of the theory of poetic art. Horace formulates the most important aesthetic principles of classicism about the unity, simplicity and integrity of the work. He talks about the content of art, about the means of influencing the audience, about the social significance of poetry and about the role of the poet. Much attention is paid to the artistic form and composition of the work, the criteria for assessing poetic skill. The poet himself speaks of the tasks that he sets himself in this, in his opinion, theoretical guide:

“Not creating myself, I will show what is the gift, what is the duty of the poet,
What gives him means, forms him and nourishes him,
What is good, what is not, where is the right path, where is the wrong one.
(Messages, book II, epistle 3, verses 306–308; translated by N. Ginzburg).

The "Science of Poetry" by Horace is a monument of ancient classical aesthetics. This work served as the basis for N. Boileau's Poetic Art.