Here's the Spectator's classicist Peter Jones on Wilfred Owen, Horace, and the ancient view of war and death. Well worth a look. Here's a teaser:
"Owen’s quote comes from Horace’s Odes (III.2), but Horace is not preaching the virtue of dying. He goes on to say ‘death also chases down the man who runs away and does not spare the back or hamstrings of young cowards’. His point is that, if you must die in battle, better to die gloriously: even a coward can make the best of the situation and lessen death’s bitterness."
