Left to right, Virgil, Horace and Varius at the House of Maecenas, (seated far right). Publius Vergilius Maro, 70 BC - 19 BC, aka Virgil or Vergil. Ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65 BC - 8 BC, aka Horace. Roman lyric poet. Lucius Varius Rufus, c. 74 - 14 BC. Roman poet. Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, 68 BC - 8 BC. Ally, friend and political advisor to Octavian and important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets. From Hutchinson's History of the Nations, published 1915.