Odes and Epodes

The poetry of Horace (born 65 BCE) is richly varied, its focus moving between public & private concerns, urban & rural settings, Stoic & Epicurean thought. Horace took pride in being the first Roman to write a body of lyric poetry. For models he turned to Greek lyric, especially to the poetry of Alcaeus, Sappho & Pindar; but his poems are set in a Roman context. His four books of odes cover a wide range of moods & topics. Some are public poems, upholding the traditional values of courage, loyalty & piety; & there are hymns to the gods. But most of the odes are on private themes: chiding or advising friends; speaking about love & amorous situations, often amusingly. Horace's 17 epodes, which he called iambi, were also an innovation for Roman literature. Like the odes they were inspired by a Greek model: the 7th-century iambic poetry of Archilochus. Love & political concerns are frequent themes; here the tone is generally that of satirical lampoons. "In his language he's triumphantly adventurous," Quintilian said of Horace.