Horace - Poet on a Volcano

A biography of Horace, one of the most popular poets from antiquity, revealing the little-known man behind his famous lines Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BCE) wrote some of ancient Rome-s greatest poetry, melding languages and cultures with youthful ideals and a realist-s recognition of the dictatorial world around him. Horace is famed for his fine phrases, lyric sex, and guidance on how to live, but he was a poet maddened by war, and many of his most self-revealing poems have rarely been read. He could be sublime and obscene, amusing and abusive, a model of moderation and anything but. In this book, the first modern retelling of Horace-s life, Peter Stothard follows the poet from his birth as the son of a formerly enslaved father through his rise to the highest circles of Roman society. He shines a light on how shattering experiences in the war to save Rome-s republic shaped the loyal servant and revolutionary artist he became. With astute scholarship and sympathy, Stothard explores