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In Our Time: Horace

15/11/2018

Horace

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Horace

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman poet Horace, who flourished under Augustus.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Horace, one of the greatest poets of his age, the origin of phrases such as carpe diem, nil desperandum and dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Horace (65-8BC), who flourished under the Emperor Augustus. He was one of the greatest poets of his age and is one of the most quoted of any age. Carpe diem, nil desperandum, nunc est bibendum – that’s Horace. He was the son of a freedman from southern Italy and, thanks to his talent, achieved high status in Rome despite fighting on the losing side in the civil wars. His Odes are widely thought his most enduring works, yet he also wrote his scurrilous Epodes, some philosophical Epistles and broad Satires. He’s influenced poets ever since, including those such as Wilfred Owen who rejected his line: ‘dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’.

With 

Emily Gowers
Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John’s College

William Fitzgerald
Professor of Latin Language and Literature at King’s College London

and 

Ellen O’Gorman
Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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