The Odes

"I have a passion for Horace. A dear friend of my youth, who is not with us anymore, gave me as a gift, long ago, a small book with a choice of Horace’s Odes [note: Rovelli is referring to In questo breve cerchio , which contains Italian translations by Giulio Galetto]. I have been carrying this with me since ever, and re-reading it often. Horace is probably the greatest poet in Latin, and has many sides. There is an aulic, or courtly, aspect of his poetry, which I dislike, and is related to his official role of poet of the empire. But then there is an intimate and lyrical side of him which is marvellous, because it merges the clarity and concreteness of his visual, colourful, classical style, with a subtle modulation of universal sentiments which are deeply human — above all the soft melancholy of the running away of time. Horace is the great cantor of time, of the effect of the flight of time upon our deepest emotions. There is nothing screaming in him, no romantic exaggeration, and yet there is an intensity of emotion that reaches deep inside us and seems to capture the essence of what is to be human, and mortal. Consider this: Perhaps God has many more seasons in store for us or perhaps the last is to be this winter that guides back the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea to break against the rough pumice cliffs. You must be wise. Pour the wine and enclose in this brief circle your long-cherished hope."