Carmen Saeculāre

Carmen Saeculāre, choral hymn in the sapphic metre written by Horace in 17 BC at the command of the emperor Augustus, to be performed at the ludi saeculares (‘secular games’) by a choir of twenty-seven boys and twenty-seven girls. A marble inscription recording the ceremony and the part played by Horace still survives. The ode is in the form of a prayer addressed to Apollo and Diana, and the achievements of Augustus are commemorated.

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