Horatio was a fictional character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Within the narrative of the story, Horatio was a friend of Prince Hamlet.
In 2257 in the ready room of the USS Discovery, when discussing how Humans came to be on a far away world in the Beta Quadrant that was called Terralysium, Captain Christopher Pike quoted a line from Shakespeare: "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio." (DIS: "New Eden")
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The line quoted by Pike was delivered by Hamlet.
Horatio was also mentioned multiple times in behind-the-scenes documentation from the making of Star Trek: The Original Series.
Horatio was mentioned once in the final revised draft of the script for "The Conscience of the King" (dated 8 September 1966). The script referred to Horatio as being portrayed by a member of the Karidian Company of Players during a performance of Hamlet aboard the USS Enterprise, in the starship's theater. The actor playing Horatio walked offstage just as Captain James T. Kirk entered the backstage area.
Additionally, a sheet of notes from the development of "The Conscience of the King" (a document dated 15 December 1966) likened Spock to Horatio, observing, "Mister Spock – playing a solemn kind of Horatio – warns against rashness in making any kind of charge unless Kirk is sure," regarding the possibility of Kirk accusing Anton Karidian of actually having been Kodos.
Horatio was also mentioned in the scripts of "The Squire of Gothos" and "Catspaw", both times being mentioned as part of the quote, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Both instances were analyzed by Kellam de Forest (in research notes dated 26 October 1966 and 24 April 1967, respectively). However, the quote wasn't ultimately used in either of those two installments, and it wasn't until Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Cogenitor" that the quote was used on-screen in Star Trek, though that usage of the quote eliminated the reference to Horatio's name. In the Star Trek: Discovery episode "New Eden", Captain Christopher Pike finally quoted the first nine words of the line, including Horatio's name.