December 8: Horace

Horace reading his poetry to Maecenas, painting by Fyodor Bronnikov, 1863 Odesa Fine Arts Museum

Yesterday, we described briefly how Cicero’s philosophy, rhetoric, and insight into human nature influenced Martianus Capella, Augustine, and Petrarch. Today, we look at another Roman author, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, born December 8, 65 B. C, the Latin lyric poet who was Cicero’s and Vergil’s contemporary during the upheaval that ended the Roman Republic and began… Continue reading December 8: Horace

December 7: Cicero

Bust of Cicero from the Palazzo Nuovo, Capitoline Museum, Rome

On December 7, 43 B. C., Marcus Tullius Ciero died at Formia, Italy. He lived in the chaotic period that included the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire, and it is impossible to assess how thoroughly the observations and descriptions in his speeches, dialogues, treatises, and letters shaped western… Continue reading December 7: Cicero

November 30: Gregory of Tours

Gregory of Tours, Statue at the Louvre, Paris

I like Gregory of Tours. His feast is November 17, but I opted to talk about Möbius that day, so we’ll consider Gregory today, on the anniversary of his birth, A.D. November 30, 539. Students at Scholars Online have the rare opportunity to read Gregory, in English in Western Literature to Dante, or in Latin… Continue reading November 30: Gregory of Tours