Horace

It's the birthday of Roman poet Horace (books by this author), born in Apulia, Italy (65 B.C.E.). He is most famous for his Odes, which take up a diverse set of topics, including springtime, Virgil, a friend's farm, Cleopatra's defeat, old age, and the Roman Empire.

Various of Horace's Odes have been translated by Ben Jonson, John Milton, Alexander Pope, William Wordsworth, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Robert Lowell, and even John Quincy Adams

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One of the most famous phrases popularized by Horace iscarpe diem, sometimes translated as "seize the day." Carpe diem comes from Horace's Ode I-XI, the 11 ode in his first book.

Heather McHugh translated one ode:
"Get wise. Get wine, and one good filter for it.
Cut that high hope down to size, and pour it
into something fit for men. Think less
of more tomorrows, more of this

one second, endlessly unique: it's
jealous, even as we speak, and it's
about to split again ..."