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What are the secrets to a contented life? One of Rome鈥檚 greatest and most influential poets, Horace (65鈥�8 BCE) has been cherished by readers for more than two thousand years not only for his wit, style, and reflections on Roman society, but also for his wisdom about how to live a good life鈥攁bove all else, a life of contentment in a world of materialistic excess and personal pressures. In How to Be Content, Stephen Harrison, a leading authority on the poet, provides fresh, contemporary translations of poems from across Horace鈥檚 works that continue to offer important lessons about the good life, friendship, love, and death.

Living during the reign of Rome鈥檚 first emperor, Horace drew on Greek and Roman philosophy, especially Stoicism and Epicureanism, to write poems that reflect on how to live a thoughtful and moderate life amid mindless overconsumption, how to achieve and maintain true love and friendship, and how to face disaster and death with patience and courage. From memorable counsel on the pointlessness of worrying about the future to valuable advice about living in the moment, these poems, by the man who famously advised us to carpe diem, or 鈥渉arvest the day,鈥� continue to provide brilliant meditations on perennial human problems.

Featuring translations of, and commentary on, complete poems from Horace鈥檚 Odes, Satires, Epistles, and Epodes, accompanied by the original Latin, How to Be Content is both an ideal introduction to Horace and a compelling book of timeless wisdom.

Ideas Podcast: What do the ancients have to teach us?

How to be content: The contemporary lessons of an ancient poet