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
heaven path virtue
Virtue, opening heaven to those who do not deserve to die, makes her course by paths untried. [Lat., Virtus, recludens immeritis mori Coelum, negata tentat iter via.]
knowing shining doe
Virtue knowing no base repulse, shines with untarnished honour; nor does she assume or resign her emblems of honour by the will of some popular breeze. [Lat., Virtus repulse nescia sordidae, Intaminatis fulget honoribus; Nec sumit aut ponit secures Arbitrio popularis aurae.]
lying two vices
Most virtue lies between two vices.
men vices born
No one is born without vices, and he is the best man who is encumbered with the least.
truth care inquiry
My cares and my inquiries are for decency and truth, and in this I am wholly occupied.
serious trifles mischief
These trifles will lead to serious mischief. [Lat., Hae nugae seria ducent In mala.]
time
On day is pressed on by another.
cute shining may
You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared for hide, . . . a hog from Epicurus' herd. [Lat., Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises, . . . Epicuri de grege porcum.]
strength judgment policy
Strength, wanting judgment and policy to rule, overturneth itself.
stars moon light
And yet more bright Shines out the Julian star, As moon outglows each lesser light. [Lat., Micat inter omnes Iulium sidus, velut inter ignes Luna minores.]
sports broken shame
The shame is not in having sported, but in not having broken off the sport. [Lat., Nec luisse pudet, sed non incidere ludum.]
speech obscure concise
In laboring to be concise, I become obscure. [Lat., Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.]
sleep long bonus
I, too, am indignant when the worthy Homer nods; yet in a long work it is allowable for sleep to creep over the writer. [Lat., Et idem Indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus; Verum opere longo fas est obrepere somnum.]
silence faithful rewards
There is likewise a reward for faithful silence. [Lat., Est et fideli tuta silentio merces.]