Book 3 of the Odes completes the lyric trilogy which Horace, who rivals Virgil as the greatest of all Latin poets, published in 23 BC. Arguably his most famous book, it opens with the six so-called 'Roman Odes', those defining texts of the Augustan Age, and concludes with the statement of his achievement: he has produced for his Roman readers a body of lyric poetry to rival the great lyric poets of Greece, a monument which will last as long as Rome itself. The present volume aims to place Horace's Odes in their literary and historical context, to explain his Latin, to articulate his thought, and to attempt to elucidate his brilliance. It presents a new text and adopts an approach independent of that of earlier commentators. ‘W. brings the ancient text to new life on every page and provokes insight into (and admiration for) this ‘exceptional and much loved author’ even when the reader may disagree with the commentator. This book proves (if proof were needed) that a lifetime reading Horace is indeed a lifetime very well spent.' John Godwin, Classics for All A very full modern commentary on these poems which explains their language and thought for students, teachers and professional scholars. A.J. Woodman is an Emeritus Professor at both Durham University and the University of Virginia and is currently a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University. He has published almost thirty books on a wide range of texts and topics in Latin literature, including editions of Tacitus within the series Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics and an edited volume, with Denis Feeney, Traditions and Contexts in the Poetry of Horace (2002).