Carmen Saeculare

Making references to Aeneas and Romulus, he celebrates the reign of Augustus, which brought in a new era and ensured the future of Rome.

[3] We know about the games of 17 BC from descriptions by Phlegon and Zosimus, the latter passing on the sibylline oracle which supposedly instituted the ritual.

[6] Originally, the celebrations, dedicated to Dis Pater and Proserpine, were held over three nights; in Augustus' time, the quindecemviri added daytime ceremonies.

Finally, on the third night, a sow is sacrificed to Mother Earth; during the day, offerings are made to Apollo and Diana on the Palatine.

[9] While Augustus commissioned the poem and influenced its subject matter, Horace maintained a degree of artistic independence.

According to Alessandro Barchiesi, it is "the only surviving poem in Latin of which we know time and place of a choral performance, and independent evidence confirms that this definitely happened".

[X]XVII quibus denuntiatum erat patrimi et matrimi et puellae totidem carmen cecinerunt; eo[de]m modo in Capitolio.

Carmen composuit Q. Hor[at]ius Flaccus[12] With the sacrifice completed, 27 boys and the same number of girls known to have their mothers and fathers sung a song, and again on the Capitoline.

The suggested allotments vary, but one proposed by Peter L. Schmidt is the following:[14] The poem was performed at the Temple of Apollo Palatinus.

This meter is the simplest used by Horace in his lyric poems, making it easier for the chorus and audience to understand and remember.

[20] Finally, Michael Putnam describes the first and ninth stanzas as "fram[ing] the ode's initial half", with their mentions of Apollo and Diana beginning and ending it.

The genre reached its highest level with poets such as Pindar in the 5th century B.C., whose sixth Paean has much in common with the Carmen saeculare.

Horace, after the mixed success encountered by the first three books of his Odes, published in 23 B.C., decided not to write lyric poetry again.