Editing Horace (section)

===Childhood===
He was born on 8 December 65 BC<ref group="nb">The year is given in ''Odes'' 3.21.1 ([[Lucius Manlius Torquatus|"Consule Manlio"]]), the month in ''Epistles'' 1.20.27, the day in Suetonius' biography ''Vita'' (R. Nisbet, ''Horace: life and chronology'', 7)</ref> in [[Apulia]], in southern [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Italy]].<ref>''Brill's Companion to Horace'', edited by Hans-Christian Günther, Brill, 2012, p. 7, [https://books.google.com/books?id=N2b0YUwXfM8C&pg=PA7 Google Books]</ref> His home town, [[Venosa|Venusia]], lay on a trade route in the  region of [[Apulia]] at the border with [[Lucania]] ([[Basilicata]]). Various Italic dialects were spoken in the area and this perhaps enriched his feeling for language. He could have been familiar with Greek words even as a young boy and later he poked fun at the jargon of mixed Greek and Oscan spoken in neighbouring [[Canusium]].<ref>''Satires'' 1.10.30</ref> One of the works he probably studied in school was the ''Odyssia'' of [[Livius Andronicus]], taught by teachers like the '[[Orbilius]]' mentioned in one of his poems.<ref>''Epistles'' 2.1.69 ff.</ref> Army veterans could have been settled there at the expense of local families uprooted by Rome as punishment for their part in the [[Social War (91–88 BC)]].<ref>E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', 2–3</ref> Such state-sponsored migration must have added still more linguistic variety to the area. According to a local tradition reported by Horace,<ref>''Satires'' 2.1.34</ref> a colony of Romans or Latins had been installed in Venusia after the [[Samnites]] had been driven out early in the third century. In that case, young Horace could have felt himself to be a Roman<ref>T. Frank, ''Catullus and Horace'', 133–34</ref><ref>A. Campbell, ''Horace: A New Interpretation'', 84</ref> though there are also indications that he regarded himself as a Samnite or [[Sabellus]] by birth.<ref>''Epistles'' 1.16.49</ref><ref>R. Nisbet, ''Horace: life and chronology'', 7</ref> Italians in modern and ancient times have always been devoted to their home towns, even after success in the wider world, and Horace was no different. Images of his childhood setting and references to it are found throughout his poems.<ref>E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', 3–4</ref>

Horace's father was probably a Venutian taken captive by Romans in the Social War, or possibly he was descended from a [[Sabine]] captured in the [[Samnite Wars]]. Either way, he was a slave for at least part of his life. He was evidently a man of strong abilities however and managed to gain his freedom and improve his social position. Thus Horace claimed to be the free-born son of a prosperous 'coactor'.<ref name="Kiernan">V. Kiernan, ''Horace: Poetics and Politics'', 24</ref> The term 'coactor' could denote various roles, such as tax collector, but its use by Horace<ref>''Satires'' 1.6.86</ref> was explained by [[scholia]] as a reference to 'coactor argentarius' i.e. an auctioneer with some of the functions of a banker, paying the seller out of his own funds and later recovering the sum with interest from the buyer.<ref>E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', 4–5</ref>

The father spent a small fortune on his son's education, eventually accompanying him to [[Rome]] to oversee his schooling and moral development. The poet later paid tribute to him in a poem<ref name="Satires 1.6">''Satires'' 1.6</ref> that one modern scholar considers the best memorial by any son to his father.<ref group="nb">"No son ever set a finer monument to his father than Horace did in the sixth satire of Book I...Horace's description of his father is warm-hearted but free from sentimentality or exaggeration. We see before us one of the common people, a hard-working, open-minded, and thoroughly honest man of simple habits and strict convictions, representing some of the best qualities that at the end of the Republic could still be found in the unsophisticated society of the Italian ''municipia''"&nbsp;{{emdash}}&nbsp;E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', 5–6</ref> The poem includes this passage:

<blockquote>
If my character is flawed by a few minor faults, but is otherwise decent and moral, if you can point out only a few scattered blemishes on an otherwise immaculate surface, if no one can accuse me of greed, or of prurience, or of profligacy, if I live a virtuous life, free of defilement (pardon, for a moment, my self-praise), and if I am to my friends a good friend, my father deserves all the credit... As it is now, he deserves from me unstinting gratitude and praise. I could never be ashamed of such a father, nor do I feel any need, as many people do, to apologize for being a freedman's son. ''Satires 1.6.65–92''
</blockquote>

He never mentioned his mother in his verses and he might not have known much about her. Perhaps she also had been a slave.<ref name="Kiernan"/>