Horace

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. BIRTH.—EDUCATION.—CAMPAIGN WITH BRUTUS AND CASSIUS CHAPTER II. RETURNS TO ROME AFTER BATTLE OF PHILIPPI.—EARLY POEMS CHAPTER III. INTRODUCTION TO MAECENAS.—THE JOURNEY TO BRUNDUSIUM CHAPTER IV. PUBLICATION OF FIRST BOOK OF SATIRES.—HIS FRIENDS.— RECEIVES THE SABINE FARM FROM MAECENAS CHAPTER V. LIFE IN ROME.—HORACE'S BORE.—EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE ROMAN DINNERS CHAPTER VI. HORACE'S LOVE-POETRY CHAPTER VII. HORACE'S POEMS TO HIS FRIENDS.—HIS PRAISES OF CONTENTMENT CHAPTER VIII. PREVAILING BELIEF IN ASTROLOGY.—HORACE'S VIEWS OF A HEREAFTER.—RELATIONS WITH MAECENAS—BELIEF IN THE PERMANENCE OF HIS OWN FAME CHAPTER IX. HORACE'S RELATIONS WITH AUGUSTUS—HIS LOVE OF INDEPENDENCE CHAPTER X. DELICACY OF HORACE'S HEALTH.—HIS CHEERFULNESS—LOVE OF BOOKS.—HIS PHILOSOPHY PRACTICAL.—EPISTLE TO AUGUSTUS. —DEATH

No writer of antiquity has taken a stronger hold upon the modern mind than Horace. The causes of this are manifold, but three may be especially noted: his broad human sympathies, his vigorous common-sense, and his consummate mastery of expression. The mind must be either singularly barren or singularly cold to which Horace does not speak. The scholar, the statesman, the soldier, the man of the world, the town-bred man, the lover of the country, the thoughtful and the careless, he who reads much, and he who reads little, all find in his pages more or less to amuse their fancy, to touch their feelings, to quicken their observation, to nerve their convictions, to put into happy phrase the deductions of their experience. His poetical sentiment is not pitched in too high a key for the unimaginative, but it is always so genuine that the most imaginative feel its charm. His wisdom is deeper than it seems, so simple, practical, and direct as it is in its application; and his moral teaching more spiritual and penetrating than is apparent on a superficial study. He does not fall into the common error of didactic writers, of laying upon life more than it will bear; but he insists that it shall at least bear the fruits of integrity, truth, honour, justice, self-denial, and brotherly charity. Over and above the mere literary charm of his works, too—and herein, perhaps, lies no small part of the secret of his popularity—the warm heart and thoroughly urbane nature of the man are felt instinctively by his readers, and draw them to him as to a friend.