Carmen Saeculare 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. The "Carmen Saeculare" is the earliest fully preserved lyric poem for which there is definite information about the circumstances of its public performance. The term "secular hymn" has recently been applied to popular music. Carmen Saeculare The Carmen Saeculare (Latin for "Secular Hymn" or "Song of the Ages") is a hymn in Sapphic meter written by the Roman poet
Alexander Geddes on as far as the Book of Second Chronicles and the Prayer of Manasseh which was published in 2 volumes (1792–1797). A translation of "Psalms" was published in 1807. This was followed by "Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures" (1800), in which he largely anticipated the German school of Higher Criticism. The result of this publication was Geddes's suspension from all ecclesiastical functions. Geddes was also a poet, and wrote "Linton: a Tweedside Pastoral", "Carmen Seculare pro Gallica Gente" (1790), in praise of the French Revolution. He died without recanting, but received absolution at the hands of a French priest,