Horace: Poet on a Volcano

Horace: Poet on a Volcano

Yale University Press, 2025

The Ancient Lives series from Yale University Press continues with Horace: Poet on a Volcano by classicist and former Times Literary Supplement editor Peter Stothard. Some of the subjects taken up by the series have been more obscure than others (Demetrius, Phocion, etc.), but Stothard’s subject, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, was for 2000 years the exact opposite: not just known but beloved, not just familiar but family. Even before his death in AD 8, Horace was a godsend to teachers of literature and Latin, a great writer who could be enjoyed by even the stupidest students, a master of the language who was also fun.