Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)

Horace was the poet laureate of the Augustan age, but his influence extends to modern times. His works inform writing instruction, poetry education, and pedagogy related to moral and “gentlemanly” values to this day, and tags from his poetry – “carpe diem” and “the golden mean” (aurea mediocritas), for example – have stayed in popular vocabulary. Horace’s suitability for the educational canon is not without controversy: scholars have questioned his relationship with women, the slave society in which he lived, and his relationship to power. His interpretation and contributions to education change with each era’s discovery and rediscovery of his words.