Editing Alcaeus (section)

===Horace===
The Roman poet [[Horace]] modelled his own lyrical compositions on those of Alcaeus, rendering the Lesbian poet's verse-forms, including 'Alcaic' and 'Sapphic' stanzas, into concise Latin – an achievement he celebrates in his third book of odes.<ref>Horace ''Od.'' 3.30</ref> In his second book, in an ode composed in Alcaic stanzas on the subject of an almost fatal accident he had on his farm, he imagines meeting Alcaeus and Sappho in [[Greek underworld|Hades]]:
{{Verse translation|lang=la|
quam paene furvae regna [[Proserpina]]e
et iudicantem vidimus [[Aeacus|Aeacum]]
:sedesque descriptas piorum et
::Aeoliis fidibus querentem

Sappho puellis de popularibus
et te sonantem plenius aureo,
:Alcaee, plectro dura navis,
::dura fugae mala, dura belli! <ref>Horace ''Od.'' 2.13.21–8</ref>
|
How close the realm of dusky Proserpine
Yawned at that instant! I half glimpsed the dire
Judge of the dead, the blest in their divine
Seclusion, Sappho on the Aeolian lyre,

Mourning the cold girls of her native isle,
And you, Alcaeus, more full-throatedly
Singing with your gold quill of ships, exile
And war, hardship on land, hardship at sea.<ref name="classics116"/>}}