ABSTRACT
The Life of Johnson records that Mr Allan Ramsay had lately returned from Italy, and entertained with his observations upon Horace's villa, which he had examined with great care. Allan Ramsay published much on a wide variety of subjects. His 'Enquiry into the Situation and Circumstances of Horace's Sabine Villa, Written during Travels in Italy in the Years 1775,76 and 77' was, however, not destined to appear in print during the author's lifetime. Allan Ramsay and the Search for Horace's Villa is more than mere exhumation of a long-forgotten manuscript treatise and its now scattered illustrations. Ramsay was convinced of the essentials necessary for any archaeological and historical study of an ancient site in its landscape. For the classicist and literary scholar, Ramsay's 'Enquiry' offers accurate verbal descriptions and visual depictions of a site believed to be that of the Sabine farm, which Horace made a principal theme of many of his most celebrated lyric verses.
