Horatius is asteroid #4294 and also known as 4016 P-L. Horatius was (as the designation already reveals) discovered by the Palomar-Leiden Survey (of Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, and Tom Gehrels) at the Palomar Observatory. Horatius’ orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.80 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.02, a period of revolution of 1 713 days, and an inclination of 4.9 degrees.

Horatius is named after the Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, who lived from 65 B.C. until 8 B.C. and was a huge influence on literature already during his lifetime and again during the eighteenth christian century. Horatius’ biography is comparably well-known because he reasons his poetry as well as his philosophy with personal experiences. (Much like I do, when I’m writing articles here.) Quintus Horatius Flaccus was a libertinus, which means not only a freed slave, but also the offspring of a freed slave and the latter meaning is likely because his family was quite wealthy and owned a kind of farm or manor and did also send him to the most renowned teachers of his time. Thus he soon learned to loath the Roman educational system and also the city of Rome. He preferred a self-sufficient life in the countryside. Quintus Horatius Flaccus joined the army of Marcus Iunius Brutus in 44 B.C. in order to defend the Roman Republic versus Octavian’s army of the Caesarean Party. Quintus Horatius Flaccus got soon promoted in his military career. But the Roman Republican Party lost already in 42 B.C. Horatius’ manor was then confiscated. He got threatened by poverty this way, but this is also believed to be an exaggeration. Horatius’ could rely on the support of rich friends and then got rehabilitated and into a very well-paid position. This allowed him to travel around and to spend his time mainly with writing poetry.

A person with name Horatio appears in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He is the best friend and unofficial counselor of Hamlet. I presumed that Horatius could be named after this Horatio because the asteroid Ophelia is named after a figure from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and I wanted to supplement the theme, which was begun with writing about Ophelia. Shakespeare preferred names from antiquity for his figures. So his Horatio could be named after Quintus Horatius Flaccus too. Then the asteroid #4294 still is named after the historical Quintus Horatius Flaccus because this still is a different person. The only trait, which the historical Horatius seems to have in common with Horatio from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is the ability to give good advice. Horatius should represent the ability to counsel well after having studied history and philosophy and maybe also a good advice itself. Horatius also hints to the historical Horatius’ style in writing and in reasoning.