Odes by Horace

Odes

Horace

Written 23 - 13 BC

The Well-Educated Mind Poetry

(Selections: book I: 1-9, 17, 30: book II: 19-20; book III: 1-6, 13; book IV: 1-7)

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I suppose Susan Wise Bauer expected readers to read all of the works by Horace in his collection of Odes, which are lyrical poems about a particular topic or theme; but I only read Bauer's suggested selection because I had already read some of Horace's poetry in the previous book, and I am not a good student of the Ancients. No matter how much I have been exposed to Ancient/Classical works, I fail to finish them. So I kept it brief.

Horace's personal life was interesting to me. He lived during the time of Augustus Caesar, and somehow became an integral part of the regime. He may have even been friends with Virgil. He certainly wrote about him in Ode III: To the Ship, In Which Virgil Was About to Sail to Athens. 

But about the Odes, many are centered around themes on human nature, like love, virtue, youth, friendship, and death. The selections I read were extremely short. They offered advice on living rightly or doing what is good and true. Horace even offered warnings. He was a lot like a philosopher-poet.

I did enjoy reading a few Odes, including: 

Ode IV: To Sextius, 

Ode I: On Contentment, 

Ode II: Against the Degeneracy of the Roman Youth, and 

Ode VI: To the Romans

And I found one quote that stood out: 

Seldom hath punishment, though lame, of foot, failed to overtake the wicked.

But that's all I've got. Now I'm moving on to Beowulf, translated by John McNamara.