Horace: Poetics and Politics

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Horace stands out as a poet for what he thought, what he wrote, and what he did. In this study from renowned scholar Victor Kiernan, the distinctive personality and poetry of Horace are explored, as are the economic and social conditions of the Italy in which he lived. Kiernan begins with a background survey of Rome and its rise to supremacy in Italy, and shows how Horace ' the son of a former slave' rose from humble beginnings to the position of a valued supporter of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, whose power he had once protested. Kiernan reveals how a time of rapid change and civil war contributed to the work of Horace, and how many of the divisions and contradictions in the social structure of that time are reflected in Horace's own nature and in his poems. Horace's works, including Satires, Epodes, Odes, and Epistles, are discussed at length, as are his poems and the themes found in them, such as the public panoply of government, war, religion, empire, and the private realm of friendship, wine, women, and nature. Kiernan also looks at the similarities between Horace's age and our own, both in conflicts over class and race and in widespread religious doubts and shifts. A rare, thoughtful work from a gifted scholar, Horace should not be missed.