Horace: A Life

The work of the great Roman poet, Horatius Flaccus (65 BC to 8 BC), spanned all aspects of Roman life—politics, the arts, religion, and the authority of the emperor—while his legendary poems ( Satires, Odes, Epistles ) about friendship, philosophy, love, and sex still have considerable appeal. This biography presents a complete picture of Horace's life and world. It considers the details of Horace's romantic liaisons and why he never married, what the status of his father—a freedman—meant to the poet, and his distinctive brand of philosophy. In this acclaimed biography, Peter Levi, a fellow poet, has produced a thrilling and eminently readable book, the definitive account of Rome's greatest poet and the times during which he lived.