Quintus Horatius Flaccus, “Horace” to the English-speaking world, was born in 65 BCE in Venusia, the son of a freed-man. Educated in Rome and at the Athenian Academy, he fought on behalf of Brutus and the Republican cause in the Roman Civil War, retreating with the rest of the army at Philippi. After the war, his early poems endeared him to Maecenas, right-hand man of Octavian (Augustus Caesar). Horace became part of a literary circle that included Virgil and eventually became a Roman knight. World-famous for his grace and urbanity, Horace died in 8 BCE.