Journalist and creator of the Slow Lane column Harry Eyres takes a witty and wise look at the poet who taught us how to carpe diem. Eyres turns to Horace for the answers to questions such as: what is the value of the durable when the new is paramount? how do we fill the void created by the excesses of a superficial society? and what resources can we muster when confronted by the inevitability of death? Horace was discredited as a ‘smug representative of imperialism’ at the start of the 20th century but Eyres uncovers a relevant poet whose Rome at the start of empire was much more similar to our society that we might think. Horace, he says, is someone we can turn to in times of trouble and doubt in our lives.

Eyres has worked as a wine writer, theatre critic and poetry editor. His Slow Lane column in the Financial Times encourages enjoyment of the profound and free pleasures and values that make life worth living.