Love On The Brain: Horace, Epodes 14

Name:  Horace Date:  65 – 8 BCE Region: Venosa / Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Epodes 14

Horace, "burning" for his mistress, equates his love to the same-sex desire that Anacreon had for Bathyllos. 

Delightful Maecenas, you’re killing me

By pestering me, asking me why

Burnout has spread

Such an unproductive mood deep into my consciousness,

As if I my parched throat had consumed

Two hundred glasses of Lethean* sleep.

It’s a god—yup, a god keeps me

From finishing the poem I’d started

And promised to give you.

It’s just like they say Anacreon

Had the hots for Bathyllus—

Again and again, he mourned his love

On his lyre, with a simple meter.

You’re also burning in misery—

Even though the flame [of your love]

Isn’t as pretty as the one that burned down Troy;

You should still be happy for your fate—

For the freedwoman Phryne is killing me,

She’s not content with one man.

* According to Greco-Roman mythology, the Lethe was a river that flowed in the Underworld; souls of the dead would drink from it to forget their past lives

 Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus; 65 – 8 BCE, modern Italy] is known for his famous line, “Carpe Diem.” He was an Italian-born poet who lived during the rise and reign of Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. Although his life began with civil unrest and uncertainty (his father was enslaved and later freed during the civil wars of the 1st century BCE), Horace became friends with the influential entrepreneur Maecenas and earned the position in Augustus’ literary circle.  His poetry provides valuable insight into social changes that occurred during the transition from republic to empire.