Here is his life his deeds, practically everything there is to say about him.
Horace, Quintus Horatius Flaccus in Latin Latin poet was a master of elegance and style with unusual irony was able to deal with the vicissitudes of political and civil its time to calm epicurean lover of the pleasures of life, said what many are even the canons of 'ars vivendi .
The poet, then, was of humble origins, but of good economic condition. Horace, therefore, followed a regular course of study in Rome under the teaching of the grammarian Orbilio and then to Athens where he studied philosophy and greek Here he came into contact with the lesson and Epicurean, though he felt particularly drawn, however, decided not to participate in school. The poet expressed his gratitude to his father in a tribute in Satires (I, 6).
Maecenas gave him a small estate in Sabina's very pleasing to the poet who, in perfect observance of the modus vivendi preached by Epicurus, did not like city life. With his poetry often did measures of propaganda for the emperor Augustus, though, to be honest, at this time Octavian left a greater compositional freedom to its poets (a tendency which was, however, reversed after the death of Maecenas: witness the biography of Ovid). He died in November of
'8 BC and was buried on the hill Esqulino, next to his friend Maecenas, who died just two months earlier.
Since the first century BC the Romans began to lose faith in the religious system of paganism, no longer suited to provide adequate answers to the great existential questions of the Roman world. Paganism is reduced more and more to a set of rituals and liturgies practiced not as harbingers of a deeper esoteric meaning, spiritual and religious traditions, but as related to the mos maiorum cultural identity and, above all, civil right of every Roman. Behind a facade of pagan religion, there are no certainties, but the void left by the lack of response to the great existential questions in an imperial society increasingly cosmopolitan. The man in Rome, or at least all those who enjoyed a certain culture, they feel this emptiness, this fear, this insecurity and look elsewhere in the Hellenistic philosophy of the certainties they feel deprived, because of the disappearance of a set of values \u200b\u200bwell defined as it was in the Republican era. This feeling of spiritual insecurity, transmitted by most of the literary class of the century by Lucretius to Catullus to Horace before arriving at Seneca is common. Therefore, the crisis of any proportion of paganism the reason the wide dissemination in the first century BC Dell 'epicuresimo intellectual circles in Rome. In this period arise in the main Epicurean circles Roman cities, like Naples, where he probably knew Virgil and Horace Vario subsequently introduced him to Maecenas Epicureanism wanted to dispel any doubt and existential anguish about the death, seeing it as the ultimate cancellation of the sensory perception, the end, sure, the suffering and anguish land. Death is thus seen as a serene, but not happy, free from life as it happens in the death of both body and soul (both being material substances). If Epicurus there is a reaction of joy in the face of these claims, this sentiment is hardly found in other Roman intellectuals who adhered to the philosophy before the eternal nothingness of death, with a feeling of horror at the same vacuous also Lucretius, who, while sometimes almost mythical painting with Epicurus, rerum inventor, however, fails to fully embrace the liberating message of this philosophy. The Epicurean then fail to remedy the evil du siecle living Romania, will not be able to fill the void left by the crisis of the system not only religious but also from that of republican institutions, a crisis that has destroyed the certainties and the cultural background and social man in Rome.
Orazio partially adheres to Epicureanism, who was also looking for answers on major issues existential answers that actually will never find: the poet seems to have never escaped the anguish of death, increasingly perceived as imminent. It is interesting to analyze the view that the Latin poet had the afterlife, as it is undoubtedly very sincere, and, though veiled by a degree of certainty, that Horace wanted to convey to the reader, to be a living example of Golden mediocritas he is so excited on many occasions a vein of melancholy, accompanied by notes of dark lyricism and elegance, betrays his true inner state. Horace appears in flashes, like maybe he really was: a man who has found refuge in life from death, but in truth has never been able to take care of all the fear of death, preferring to flee rather than fight stoically. His personality may thus be, at first sight, ambiguous, this ambiguity arises from the discrepancy that sometimes it creates between the image that Horace wanted to give of himself, and the true personality of the poet that inevitably passes through the lines: non- If, as claimed Paoli Ugo Errico "nothing [...] seems as difficult as to penetrate the soul of Horace." Horace the representation of the mold is still a strong epicurean, and is sealed in the best way to claim, not without a melancholy note, as expressed in his ode 7 of Book IV:
| | " Pulvis et umbra Sumus " |
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In this statement Horatio is able to express not only his views on death, but also the anxiety that invests in life, just depending on others and some cancellation of the earthly experience. From the verses of Horace, when the poet speaks of death, it is really difficult to see a note of serenity, joy, the feeling prevails that instead and that is identified in the psychological reaction of the poet in the face of death is a sad acceptance of what is a natural fact. In particular, this sentiment is expressed in his ode 14 of Book II, in which he says (vv. 8 -12):
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These verses express what we perceive Orazio grim death and a source of great anxiety: it is represented here as a swamp ( unda, a word which already anticipates the sound the concept that is being expressed, and reinforces the symbolism of which is the subject: death = swamp), which combines the adjective "Triste" (sad ), which brings with it a deep sense of inevitability. The marsh alluded to the poet Horace is the Styx show is here, as in many other occasions, their knowledge and pagan mythology, in which however does not believe at all. In this case, the mythological reference has symbolic value, and is useful not only to express the concept of death, but also to make more vivid and expressive poetry. Instead Scilicet (as is natural) states a fact: the inevitability of death, to which there is no way to escape. This concept is actually being repeated here, but had already been given at the beginning of the ode:
| | " ... nec pietas Moramo |
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religion is vain and useless, unable to put a remedy ( Moramo ) all'incalzante old age and death: this is the point of view of the poet about religion, and reflected a common sentiment and extended throughout the Roman world of the century. Religion is now unable to give sufficient explanation for life after death, religious fervor ( pietas ) can not save man from his natural condition of death.
It's really a great difference which exists between the attack and criticism that Lucretius had made against the religious , accused of tarnishing the reason and to create unnecessary hardships and anxieties, and this, which sounds more like a sad finding of inability to be calmed by a religion in which we no longer believe. Central in verses 8-12 is the gerund enaviganda , which fully expresses the inevitability and certainty of death, not without a hint of dark and melancholy, as already anticipated by sad unda . It is already clear from these few verses had the perception that Horatio's death, the perception that explains the reasons for his choice of life: a life characterized by enjoying the present and the few joys that life offers us (identified mainly in friendship, in banquet, in inner peace) and that allow us to live with serenity and stability. Horace is sometimes very pessimistic: death is always lurking and life could end at any time and is better, therefore, do not place their hopes in the future. This idea of \u200b\u200bthe brevity of life (which is also found in Catullus: brevis lux ) Is a further invitation to enjoy life as much as possible, a concept that we find in many ways, as 11 of Book I of ode:
| | " Dum ... loquimur fugerit envy |
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Time is in perpetual flight, which leaves no hopes for the future: we must make the most of the time it is granted, and consider each day that we are given as a gift, as well as nine states ode of Book I (vv.14-15: "... Quem Fors DIERUM cumque dabit, profit / Adpone ...") . It is clear from these verses of Horace as existentialism is transversal to all its poetry and vision of death as the conditions so that the net experience of the poet's life, there is vividly described by his poetry
Horace is considered by one of the most important classical Latin poets. Many of his phrases have become idioms still in use: examples are gold and carpe diem mediocritas well as profane vulgus Odi et Arceo
I hope that this detailed study was clear and precise.
At the next review or investigation as appropriate.
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