Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintilian 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."...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPoet
greek-poet
I strive to be brief but I become obscure.
greek-poet hour rustic waits
He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
greek-poet
In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.
begun greek-poet half
He who would begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.
greek-poet stake
Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze.
died pride vain
Vain was the chief's, the sage's pride! They had no poet, and they died
wise military venture
Being, be bold and venture to be wise.
running attitude talking
While we're talking, time will have meanly run on... pick today's fruits, not relying on the future in the slightest.
eating flavor pleasure
The pleasure of eating is not in the costly flavor but in yourself.
pleasure profit reader vote won
He has won every vote who mingles profit with pleasure, by delighting and instructing the reader at the same time.
guilty pale secrets turn wall
Be this your wall of brass, to have no guilty secrets, no wrong-doing that makes you turn pale
finally material morally victory
Finally we have a victory, not only morally but also in a material sense,
fools-and-foolishness good mix silly
Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: it's good to be silly at the right moment. (Odes, bk. 4, no. 12, l. 27)
fools-and-foolishness lovely mix moment serious silly
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans; it's lovely to be silly at the right moment