“Initium est dimidium facti”, reminds us of the timeless importance of simply beginning the task at hand. It translates to: “Once you’ve started, you’re halfway there.”
Horace was born on 8 December 65 BC and can be regarded as the world’s first autobiographer. In his writings, he tells far more about himself, his character, his development, and his way of life, than any other great poet of antiquity.
He is commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace, and was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian).
His career coincided with Rome’s momentous change from a republic to an empire. An officer in the republican army defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, he was befriended by Octavian’s right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, and became a spokesman for the new regime. For some commentators, his association with the regime was a delicate balance in which he maintained a strong measure of independence (he was “a master of the graceful sidestep”) but for others he was, in John Dryden’s phrase, “a well-mannered court slave.”