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Quintus Horatius Flaccus (December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace ( or ), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintillian regarded his ''Odes'' as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."〔Quintilian 10.1.96. The only other lyrical poet Quintillian thought comparable with Horace was the now obscure poet/metrical theorist, Caesius Bassus (R. Tarrant, ''Ancient receptions of Horace'', 280)〕 Horace also crafted elegant hexameter verses (''Sermones'' and ''Epistles'') and caustic iambic poetry (''Epodes''). The hexameters are amusing yet serious works, friendly in tone, leading the ancient satirist Persius to comment: "as his friend laughs, Horace slyly puts his finger on his every fault; once let in, he plays about the heartstrings".〔Translated from Persius' own 'Satires' 1.116–17: "omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico / tangit et admissus circum praecordia ludit."〕 His career coincided with Rome's momentous change from Republic to Empire. An officer in the republican army defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, he was befriended by Octavian's right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, and became a spokesman for the new regime. For some commentators, his association with the regime was a delicate balance in which he maintained a strong measure of independence (he was "a master of the graceful sidestep")〔J. Michie, ''The Odes of Horace'', 14〕 but for others he was, in John Dryden's phrase, "a well-mannered court slave".〔N. Rudd, ''The Satires of Horace and Persius'', 10〕〔Quoted by N. Rudd from John Dryden's ''Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire'', excerpted from W.P.Ker's edition of Dryden's essays, Oxford 1926, vol. 2, pp. 86–7〕 ==Life== 〔R. Barrow R., ''The Romans'' Pelican Books, 119〕 - In his writings, he "tells us far more about himself, his character, his development, and his way of life than any other great poet in antiquity. Some of the biographical writings contained in his writings can be supplemented from the short but valuable "Life of Horace" by Suetonius (in his ''Lives of the Poets'').〔Fraenkel, Eduard. ''Horace.'' Oxford: 1957, p. 1. For the Life of Horace by Suetonius, see: ((''Vita Horati'' ))〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Horace」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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