Talk:Horace

Debt to the Greeks

horace was a great poet and philosepher, how did he help rome in any way?

Hi. I'm still learning here so apologies if I'm not doing things right. The observation that Horace was derivative of the Greeks is true with respect to meter, but that's also true of all Latin poets. The comment could be interpreted as a negative comment on his originality, which I think is transparently unfair and so I deleted it. No Greek poet published an ars poetica like Horace's. With regard to satire, moreover, he took a largely indigenous form created (as best we can tell) by Lucilius, modified it significantly and made it his own. While Horace has many debts to the Greeks, the standard rap on Romans that they stole everything from the Greeks is unfair, and particularly unfair in Horace's case. Thanks for listening! MaggieTMaggieT 14:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Maggie T is absolutely right; I edited some of the language to reflect that. I also deleted some inaccurate characterizations of the Odes and Epodes. Ron Kane 3/10/06.

carpe diem

Isn't carpe diem "pluck the day" or "savor the day"? I thought carpere means "to pluck" or "to savor", as we get the English word carp, to complain. I have a growing suspicion that "seize the day", although popular, is an incorrect translation. Chase 66.141.177.116 22:45, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Transferred, it means "enjoy". Literally carpe does mean "you must pluck", but as a phrase with diem it correctly means "enjoy the day". Amphytrite 18:32, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Actually seize seems exactly right to me, the feeling is 'don't hang about wasting your time, there's not much of it'. Well employed in the film Dead Poets Society. And the Oxford Latin Dictionary, no less, gives "pluck, seize, (things considered as fruits and often transitory in nature)". John Wheater 09:16, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Stuart Lyons book

I removed the reference to Stuart Lyons' book - it's more relevant to the Guido of Arezzo page (where it has also appeared) and, if one wishes to add a bibliography, there are plenty of other books which are of greater significance. Cassian 05:53, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Link to Jon Corelis translation

I am inclined to remove this external link to what seems to me a poor translation. It was added by the mysterious 'Villager' on 20Nov06. I thought of replacing it with a link to Housman's translation of Ode 4.7, Diffugere nives. Does anyone feel the Corelis should be left in? Villager's talk page contains only notifications of auto-removals, so maybe he is inclined to special pleading. John Wheater 09:05, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

I agree with you. There's no reason to link to a non-notable translation of a single Ode. Housman's translation could reasonably be included, though I would rather place all links specific to the Odes at Odes (Horace) than here. EALacey 18:11, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

I've added a link to James Michie's marvellous translation of 1964. Michie recently died, & surely deserves an article: does anyone feel liking starting one? --NigelG (or Ndsg) | Talk 12:16, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

First English Translation

From the wikipedia article on Horace: "Ars Poetica was first translated into English by Queen Elizabeth I."

From the wikipedia article Ars Poetica: "Ars Poetica (also known as "The Art of Poetry", Epistula Ad Pisones, or Letters to Piso) was a treatise on poetics. It was first translated into English by Ben Jonson."

Which one is it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.208.117.40 (talk) 19:48, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Horace's Villa

has anyone considered writing or creating an article about Horace's villa? There have been extensive excavations which can be read about here, and the remains of which can be seen even in Google maps here.

As one can see, they are quite extensive. Surely there is something to be said about them? It isn't often such ruins are properly identified with their owners, especially of such moment as Horace.

Just a thought...

Cjcaesar (talk) 00:20, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

See Horace's Villa. Camenae (talk) 14:29, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Page move and merge proposals

The articles on Horace and his works need quite a lot of attention. As a modest beginning, I have suggested that two names be changed in order to conform with regular English language usage. No one as yet has commented on these proposals, perhaps because few editors watch these articles. I thought I might have better luck here. Horatians: please note the proposals hic and illic. Camenae (talk) 00:41, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

I have moved Epistularum liber primus to Epistles (Horace) and merged Sermonum liber primus and secundus under the new name Satires (Horace). Camenae (talk) 14:29, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Rearrangement

Obviously the article needs works, and what is really missing is any in-depth discussion of Horace's works. For this reason, I propose moving the Works section before the Influence section and greatly expanding. Any objections? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dt barber (talk • contribs) 17:21, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

This page needs rewriting as well as rearranging. Half of the sentences make the ones that immediately follow them gibberish. 134.139.21.196 (talk) 23:19, 3 May 2010 (UTC)