The Complete Odes and Satires of Horace

by Horatius, Sidney Alexander (Translator)

Horace has long been revered as the supreme lyric poet of the Augustan Age. In his perceptive introduction to this translation of Horace's Odes and Satires, Sidney Alexander engagingly spells out how the poet expresses values and traditions that remain unchanged in the deepest strata of Italian character two thousand years later. Horace shares with Italians of today a distinctive delight in the senses, a fundamental irony, a passion for seizing the moment, and a view of religion as aesthetic experience rather than mystical exaltation--in many ways, as Alexander puts it, Horace is the quintessential Italian. The voice we hear in this graceful and carefully annotated translation is thus one that emerges with clarity and dignity from the heart of an unchanging Latin culture.


Alexander is an accomplished poet, novelist, biographer, and translator who has lived in Italy for more than thirty years. Translating a poet of such variety and vitality as Horace calls on all his literary abilities. Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 bce), was born the son of a freed slave in southern rural Italy and rose to become one of the most celebrated poets in Rome and a confidante of the most powerful figures of the age, including Augustus Caesar. His poetry ranges over politics, the arts, religion, nature, philosophy, and love, reflecting both his intimacy with the high affairs of the Roman Empire and his love of a simple life in the Italian countryside. Alexander translates the diverse poems of the youthful Satires and the more mature Odes with freshness, accuracy, and charm, avoiding affectations of archaism or modernism. He responds to the challenge of rendering the complexities of Latin verse in English with literary sensitivity and a fine ear for the subtleties of poetic rhythm in both languages. This is a major translation of one of the greatest of classical poets by an acknowledged master of his craft.

Genres: Poetry

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 12

About the author

Odes and Satires Roman lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus exerted a major influence on English poetry.

(December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC)

Horace, the son of a freed slave, who owned a small farm, later moved to Rome to work as a coactor, a middleman between buyers and sellers at auctions, receiving 1% of the purchase price for his services. The father ably spent considerable money on education of his son, accompanied him first to Rome for his primary education, and then sent him to Athens to study Greek and philosophy.

After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Horace joined the army, serving under the generalship of Brutus. He fought as a staff officer (tribunus militum) in the battle of Philippi. Alluding to famous literary models, he later claimed to throw away his shield and to flee for his salvation. When people declared an amnesty for those who fought against the victorious Octavian Augustus, Horace returned to Italy, only to find his estate confiscated and his father likely then dead. Horace claims that circumstances reduced him to poverty.

Nevertheless, he meaningfully gained a profitable lifetime appointment as a scriba quaestorius, an official of the Treasury; this appointment allowed him to practice his poetic art.

Horace was a member of a literary circle that included Virgil and Lucius Varius Rufus, who introduced him to Maecenas, friend and confidant of Augustus. Maecenas became his patron and close friend and presented Horace with an estate near Tibur in the Sabine Hills (contemporary Tivoli). A few months after the death of Maecenas, Horace died in Rome. Upon his death bed, Horace with no heirs relinquished his farm to Augustus, his friend and the emperor, for imperial needs, and it stands today as a spot of pilgrimage for his admirers.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember as a student translating the satires of both Horace and Persius, as well as the Odes of Horace. Translating biting humor is difficult, in that it requires supreme understanding of language and the frequent double use of meaning to achieve comedic effect. That said, such classic language will be translated for ages.

Sidney Alexander’s translation of the Odes is strong and I prefer it to Ferry’s. In these, you have some of the most classic of Latin phrases. “Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. (Seize the day, entrusting as little as possible to tomorrow.)” (Ode 11) This may be the Latin phrase most Latin speakers no more than others. I’m also partial to “Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt. (They change their sky, not their soul, who rush across the sea.)” Ode VII -
“O my brave men! Stout hearts of mine!
who often have suffered worse calamities with me,
Let us now drown your cares in wine.
Tomorrow we venture once again upon the boundless sea.”

Ode X -
“Hopeful in adversity, fearful
In prosperity, the well-armed soul
Confronts its fate.”

These are all amazing.

Horace, the oldest satirist in the Latin language for which we still have writings, is the formulator of what is called satirical style. Improving upon such writers as Lucilius, he strove to provide a middle path between humor and criticism, and strove for a simplicity in language and style. I will say that I prefer Rudd’s translation of the Satires to this volume, and I’ll include Rudd’s translation in the quotes. Horace summarizes his classical theory of satire in Satire 10:
“So it’s not enough to make your listener bare his teeth
in a grin—though I grant there’s some virtue even in that.
You need terseness, to let the thought run freely on
without becoming entangled in a mass of words that will hang
heavy on the ear. You need a style which is sometimes severe, sometimes gay, now suiting the role of an orator or poet
now that of a clever talker who keeps his strength in reserve
and carefully rations it out. Humour is often stronger
and more effective than sharpness in cutting knotty issues.”

Indeed this is true. Most readers will alternate between shock and mild boredom while reading Horace. The shock is how direct and bawdy some of the satires are. Horace directly refers to people and their sins, criticizing them bluntly and without political correctness in a way that is public and shocking for us in the post-Victorian era. However, once past this, the satires themselves, as well as the Epistles, don’t relate too much to the present day very well, with a few exceptions. Notably, I’m a fan of two statements of Horace in particular. I very much appreciate his appreciation of merit over birthright in Satire 6:
“Yet Glory drags in chains behind her dazzling car
the obscure no less than the noble.”
In spite of distinguished ancestry, some are less than successful. Horace is satirizing those people whose snobbery prevents them from recognizing the success of those of humble birth.
I also appreciate his outlook on life, and how to navigate through triumphs and travails: “For my part, whether sailing in cruiser or dinghy, I shall remain myself. My sails are not puffed out with the north wind in my favour, nor am I beating into the southern gales of affliction.”

See my other reviews here!

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was only able to make it through the Odes, but maybe one day I'll go back and visit the Satires.

There were some great poems in this book (and one in particular I'm considering memorizing), however, I found most of them to be mediocre and uninteresting. I can appreciate the cultural and historical significance of this collection, though, and I don't regret reading it.