The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace

Horace was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. While writing his odes, he used an elevated style full of charm and elegance. He was versatile in his figures and agreeably daring in his choice of words. At a time of tremendous political uproar, Horace wrote poetry. His Odes brought Rome the meters and subjects of the Greek lyric poets who had flourished some six centuries earlier. His accomplishment ensured that the Odes stayed unique in Latin literature, and they have continued to be read and treasured for two thousand years. The titular work, 'The Carmen Saeculare,' is a mythological and religious song. It is written the form of a prayer to Apollo and Diana. This work contains an English translation of many such odes by Horace. They are written in graceful verse, always careful of the poems' form, rhetoric, sound, and syntax. Horace's metrical variety is elemental to his work, so these translations have recreated the original thirteen meters in English.