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
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.
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,
fathers though
Though guiltless, you must expiate your fathers' sins.
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
absurd birth mountains
Mountains will be in labour, and the birth will be an absurd little mouse.
struggle
I struggle to be brief, and I become obscure.
asking count everyday fortune grants happen refrain
Refrain from asking what is going to happen tomorrow, and everyday that fortune grants you, count as gain.
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.
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.