Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BCE), known as Horace, was the supreme lyric poet of Rome. His Odes — four books of Latin lyric poetry — synthesised Greek lyric metres and Roman civic themes into a form that was studied and imitated throughout European literature. The son of a freed slave, he fought at Philippi on the Republican side before making his peace with Augustus. His phrase carpe diem ('seize the day') and his concept of the aurea mediocritas ('golden mean') passed into the languages of the Western world.

• Nationality: roman
• Roles: poet, writer