The
Carmen Saeculare (
Latin for "Secular Hymn" or "Song of the Ages") is a
hymn in
Sapphic meter written by the Roman poet
Horace. It was commissioned by the Roman emperor
Augustus in 17 BC. The hymn was sung by a chorus of twenty-seven maidens and the same number of youths on the occasion of the
Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games), which celebrated the end of one
saeculum (typically 110 years in length) and the beginning of another. The
mythological and
religious song is in the form of a prayer addressed to Phoebus (Apollo) and Diana; it especially brings to prominence Apollo, functioning as a surrogate for and patron of the princeps (
Augustus), for whom a new temple on the
Palatine had recently been consecrated. A marble inscription recording the ceremony and the part played by Horace still survives.