surnamed Cocles from his losing an eye in combat, was nephew to the consul Horatius Pulvillus, and descended from one of the three brothers who fought against the Curiatii. Porfenna, laying siege to Rome, drove the Romans from Janiculum; and pursued them to the wooden bridge over the Tiber, which joined the city to Janiculum. Largius, Herminius, and Horatius Cocles, sustained the shock of the enemy on the bridge, and prevented their entering the city with the Romans; but Largius and Herminius having passed the bridge, Horatius Cocles was left alone, and repulsed the enemy till the bridge was broken under him: he then threw himself armed into the Tyber, swam across the river, and entered Rome in triumph.

Horatius (Quintus Flaccus), the most excellent of the Latin poets of the lyric and satirical kind, and the most judicious critic in the reign of Augustus, was the grandson of a freedman, and was born at Venusium 64 B.C. He had the best masters in Rome, after which he completed his education at Athens. Having taken up arms, he embraced the party of Brutus and Cassius, but left his shield at the battle of Philippi. Some time after, he gave himself up entirely to the study of polite literature and poetry. His talents soon made him known to Augustus and Mereninas, who had a particular esteem for him, and loaded him with favours. Horace also contracted a strict friendship with Agrippa, Pollio, Virgil, and all the other great men of his time. He lived without ambition, and led a tranquil and agreeable life with his friends; but was subject to a fluxion in his eyes. He died at the age of 57. There are still extant his Odes, Epistles, Satires, and Art of Poetry; of which there have been a great number of editions. The best are those of the Louvre, in 1642, folio; of Paris, 1691, quarto; of Cambridge, 1699; and that with Bentley's emendations, printed at Cambridge in 1711.