The Complete "Odes" and "Epodes"

by Horace

Horace (65-8 BC) is one of the most important poets of the Augustan Age of Latin literature. Horace's Odes and Epodes constitute a body of Latin poetry equalled only by Virgil's, with leaps of sense and rich modulation, metaphor and subtlety. The epodes include proto-Augustan poems, intent on demonstrating the tolerance, humour and the humanity of the new leaders of Rome, robust love poems, and poems of violent denunciation; the Odes echo Greek lyric poetry, reflecting on war, politics and the gods, and celebrating the pleasures of wine, friendship, love, poetry and music. Steeped in allusion to contemporary affairs, Horace's verse is best read in terms of his changing relationship to the public sphere, and David West's translation is supplemented by an introduction illuminating these complexities, notes, a chronological survey and a glossary of names.