A History of Roman Literature

by Harold North Fowler

CHAPTER IX

HORACE

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 B. C.—Virgil and Horaces—Life of Horace—The first book of Satires—The Epodes—The second book of Satires—The first three books of Odes—The first book of Epistles—The literary Epistles—The Carmen Sæculare—The fourth book of Odes—Conclusion.

Throughout the Middle Ages Virgil was regarded as incomparably the greatest of Roman poets. In modern times his greatness has been called in question, and some scholars have even gone so far as to deny that he was a great poet at all. Virgil and Horace. The difference is due, in great measure, to the fact that in the Middle Ages the poems of Homer, Theocritus, and the other Greek poets whom Virgil imitated, were unknown, and Virgil was regarded as the great epic and pastoral poet of antiquity. That Virgil imitated the Greek poets is evident, but in the last chapter enough has been said to show that his poetry contains qualities not to be found in the works of the Greeks, and that although his poems are in many respects not equal to those of Homer, he must still be regarded as one of the greatest poets of the world. The increase of knowledge which has led to the undue depreciation of Virgil tended to make the second great poet of the Augustan period more highly appreciated. The odes of Horace, which are the best known and the most popular of his poems, are imitations of the poetry of the Greek lyrists, Alcæus, Sappho, Anacreon, and their followers, but the Greek originals are for the most part lost, so that Horace can not suffer by comparison with them. Moreover, modern taste is less pleased with epic than with lyric verse, and the delicate, highly finished, and charming odes of Horace appeal strongly to the cultivated modern reader. In his satires and epistles, too, Horace, whatever his indebtedness to Lucilius and others, displays undoubted originality. It is, therefore, natural that he is sometimes called the greatest of Roman poets. But Virgil wrote of greater themes; he was the great national poet, who sang in grand, prophetic tones of the greatness of Rome and her destinies, while Horace appealed to a narrower circle of cultured readers. Yet Horace is, in his own field, unsurpassed, and deserves all the admiration that has been accorded him.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus was born at Venusia, in Apulia, near the border of Lucania, December 8, 65 B. C. His father was a freedman, the owner of a small farm, but he determined to give his son the best education possible. The school at Venusia was unsatisfactory, and Horace’s father moved with his family to Rome, where he gained his livelihood as a coactor or collector of the money offered by bidders at auctions. Life of Horace. This was a business of some importance at Rome, and must have been lucrative, for Horace attended the best schools, where he came in contact with the sons of wealthy and noble parents. His father exercised personal supervision over the boy’s education, accompanying him to the school, and calling his attention to what went on about him, pointing out the evil effects of bad conduct, and giving him practical advice. In school, under a strict master, Orbilius, who did not spare the rod, Horace read the translation of the Odyssey by Livius Andronicus, and also the Iliad, the latter, perhaps, in the original Greek. From Rome, he went to Athens to study philosophy, and was there when Brutus arrived in 44 B. C., after the death of Cæsar. Like many another patriotic young Roman, he joined the army of Brutus, in which he was given the rank of tribunus militum. He took part in the battle of Philippi and the flight that followed it. In the distribution of lands among the soldiers of the victorious armies, Horace’s farm was confiscated, and the young man, whose father had died during his absence, returned to Rome, where he obtained, perhaps with the last remnants of his father’s savings, a small position as a clerk of the quæstors.

This position gave him a livelihood and some leisure for poetry. Poverty, he says,[65] drove him to write verses, and certainly his poems brought him prosperity, for they led Virgil and Varius to introduce him to Mæcenas in the spring of 38 B. C., and in the following winter Mæcenas admitted him to the circle of his familiar friends. Horace, with his short, rotund figure, his witty, genial conversation, and his poetic genius, became socially very intimate with Mæcenas, without, however, being his confidant in political matters. When Mæcenas went to Brundusium to negotiate an agreement between Augustus and Antony, Horace, with Virgil, Varius, Plotius, and the Greek rhetorician Heliodorus, was in his train.[66] In 34 or 33 B. C. Mæcenas gave him a country seat in the Sabine hills not far from Tibur (Tivoli), so large that it contained five farmhouses. Here the poet spent a great part of his remaining years. Mæcenas also introduced him to Augustus, who wished to make him his private secretary, but Horace refused the honor, probably because he preferred to retain his freedom. The emperor was not offended by the refusal, but continued to regard him as a friend. Honored by Augustus and his circle, Horace lived in comfort and peace. He died November 27, 8 B. C., and was buried near the tomb of Mæcenas, on the Esquiline. He made Augustus his heir.

Upon his return to Rome after the battle of Philippi, Horace employed his leisure in writing verse. To this period belong the Epodes and the first book of the Satires. These poems were originally not intended for publication, but were read to the author’s friends. About 35 B. C. ten Satires were collected and published. Horace himself calls these poems not Satires, but Sermones or “Talks.” He even disclaims the title of poet, though his “Talks” are in hexameters. The first book of Satires. The first Satire is addressed to Mæcenas, and serves to dedicate the entire collection to the poet’s chief patron, though its subject is the general discontent of every man with his own lot and the foolishness of heaping up wealth. In general, the Satires are not, as were those of Lucilius, attacks upon individuals, but rather criticisms of the follies and foibles of the times. In the second Satire the dangers to which adulterers expose themselves are set forth; in the third, those who carp at and criticize their neighbors are held up to ridicule; the fourth praises the wit, but criticizes sharply the style of Lucilius, the defects of which are attributed to the rapidity with which Lucilius wrote great quantities of verse. In the same Satire Horace defends himself against the charge of malice, maintaining that his verse is far less malicious than private gossip, and describes the way his father took to train him in his youth:

But if I still seem personal and bold,

Perhaps you’ll pardon when my story’s told.

When my good father taught me to be good,

Scarecrows he took of living flesh and blood.

Thus, if he warned me not to spend, but spare

The moderate means I owe to his wise care,

’Twas, “See the life that son of Albius leads!

Observe that Barrus, vilest of ill weeds!

Plain beacons these for heedless youth, whose taste

Might lead them else a fair estate to waste”:

If lawless love were what he bade me shun,

“Avoid Scatanius’ slough,” his words would run:

“Wise men,” he’d add, “the reason will explain

Why you should follow this, from that refrain:

For me, if I can train you in the ways

Trod by the worthy folks of earlier days,

And, while you need direction, keep your name

And life unspotted, I’ve attained my aim:

When riper years have seasoned brain and limb,

You’ll drop your corks, and like a Triton swim.”[67]

The fifth Satire is an account of the journey to Brundusium in the train of Mæcenas with Virgil, Varius, and others; the sixth, again addressed to Mæcenas, tells us how the poet became acquainted with the great man, reverts to his father’s attentive care, and declares that Horace has no reason to be ashamed of his origin or discontented with his lot. The seventh tells of a joke in a lawsuit between Publius Rupilius Rex and a banker, Persius; the eighth, of some interrupted magic rites before a statue of the god Priapus; and the ninth, of the poet’s ineffectual efforts to get rid of a bore, who stuck to him until he was dragged off to the court by a plaintiff. In the tenth Satire, which serves as an epilogue to the collection, Horace returns to his criticism of Lucilius, maintaining that what he had said in the fourth Satire was really not too severe, and at the same time he expresses his opinion of some of the other Roman poets and of his own ability:

No hand can match Fundanus at a piece

Where slave and mistress clip an old man’s fleece;

Pollio in buskins chants the deeds of kings;

Varius outsoars us all on Homer’s wings;

The Muse that loves the woodland and the farm

To Virgil lends her gayest, tenderest charm.

For me, this walk of satire, vainly tried

By Atacinus and some few beside,

Best suits my gait; yet readily I yield

To him who first set footstep on that field,

Nor meanly seek to rob him of the bay

That shows so comely on his locks of gray.[68]

The Epodes were written in the same period as the first book of Satires, and, like them, are on various subjects. The Epodes. About 31 B. C. Horace yielded to the persuasions of Mæcenas and published a collection of seventeen pieces which he had written at various times since 40 B. C. The first ten are in the epodic metre, that is, an iambic trimeter followed by an iambic dimeter, as in the lines:

Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis

Ut prisca gens mortalium,

Paterna rura bobus exercet suis,

Solutus omni fenore,[69]

the following translation of which shows approximately the rhythm of the original:

Oh blest is he, who far from troubles, fears and cares,

As did the early mortal race,

With oxen of his own through fields ancestral fares,

And knows not usury’s disgrace.

The shorter line is called an epode, or appendix, to the longer, and it is from this that the collection of poems gets its name. The last seven poems of the collection are in various metres, though most of these are in alternating long and short lines. Horace himself calls these poems Iambics simply. In them he imitates the Greek poet Archilochus, but though several of the poems are somewhat aggressive, they all lack the intense and violent tone of invective attributed by the ancients to Archilochus, of which, however, the extant fragments of

Archilochus show few traces. In one of his Epistles[70] Horace claims to be the first who introduced the iambics of Archilochus into Latin literature, but this is not strictly true, for Catullus and his contemporaries had written invectives in iambics. Horace did, however, introduce the epodic metre, and he is also the first to employ his iambics to castigate the follies of his time rather than individuals. In subject the Epodes range from the praise of rural life (ii) and encouragement to live a life of ease and pleasure (xiii) to invectives against a rich upstart (iv) or a woman who deals in poisons (v, xvii), and a rebuke of the Romans who are eager to stir up a civil war (xvi). The last Epode (xvii) has the form of a dialogue between the poet and the poisoner Canidia, but the others are the simple expressions of the poet’s sentiments, often in the form of a letter or address to a friend. In this they differ from the Satires, which have something of the dialogue form, either between two persons mentioned by name or between the poet and some indefinite person, perhaps the reader.

The second book of Satires, finished about 30 B. C., contains eight pieces, most of which are in the form of a dialogue between the poet and one other person. The second book of Satires. The most amusing is the fifth, a dialogue between Ulysses and Tiresias, in which Tiresias tells Ulysses how he can repair his fortunes by paying court to rich men and getting them to mention him in their wills. This Satire is directed against a class of men only too numerous in Rome. Others treat of various subjects, such as the serious study bestowed upon dinners (viii, iv), certain Stoic doctrines (iii, vii), the criticisms of the earlier Satires (i), or the joys of the farmer’s simple life (ii). In almost every case, the thoughts and theories expressed are put into the mouth of some one other than the poet, whereas in the first book of Satires the poet expressed the opinions himself. Horace’s Satires differ from those of Lucilius in being less bitter and less political, more carefully composed and written, and far more genial. The kindly, gentlemanly spirit of the man is everywhere visible. His “talks” are the witty, amusing conversation of a man of the world, often dealing with serious subjects, but always in a light and easy way. They are full of sententious remarks, which have been frequently quoted from Horace’s time to our own.

Catullus and his contemporaries had imitated almost exclusively the poems of the Alexandrians, of the Greek poets, that is to say, who flourished after Greece had lost her independence. The Odes. Horace in his Epodes went farther back and imitated Archilochus, and in his Odes, without altogether neglecting the Alexandrians, he follows for the most part in the footsteps of Alcæus, Sappho, and Anacreon. Among his odes are several which are in part translations of extant fragments of these poets, and it is certain that if the poems of the early Greek lyrists were not almost entirely lost, we could recognize many of them in Latin version in the Odes of Horace. The Odes contain also lines that remind one of similar passages in the poems of Euripides, Bacchylides, and other Greek poets, but in form as well as in contents they are for the most part imitations of the three great early lyrists. Most of the Odes are divided into stanzas of four lines each, and in all such a division is possible, with perhaps one exception. The first three books of the Odes were published in 23 B. C., but their composition belongs in part as early as 30 B. C. The first book contains thirty-eight poems, the second twenty, the third thirty. The first ode of Book I serves as a dedication to Mæcenas, and in the odes immediately following nearly all the metres employed in the three books are used one after the other. Throughout the three books variety of metre governs the arrangement. The second book opens with an ode addressed to Pollio, and at the beginning of the third book are six odes celebrating in various tones the Roman glory. The last ode of Book III, beginning

Exegi monumentum ære perennius,

I’ve reared a monument than bronze more lasting,

serves as an epilogue to the finished collection.

The subjects of the odes are so various as to touch upon almost every circumstance of human life and every mood of human feeling. Friendship, love, the gods, patriotism, conviviality, the pleasures of country life, events of the day, and philosophical thoughts, all find their place. In tone the odes are grave and gay, lively and serene, sometimes fantastic, more often thoughtful or at least reasonable. More than once the thought that life is short and we should pluck its blossoms ere they fade occurs in one form or another. The workmanship of the odes is wonderful in its perfection. Horace is not one of those who believe that perfect poetry comes purely by inspiration, without labor. He writes no word without being sure that it is the best word in its place. His metres are adapted to the thought he wishes to express, and the perfection of the metre makes even simple or common thoughts beautiful. The odes are not the ardent outpourings of a passionate spirit, as are some of the poems of Catullus, but they are the carefully elaborated expressions of the thoughts and sentiments of a gentle, kindly, thoughtful, but gay and humorous man of the world. They do not stir our blood, but they arouse our admiration, satisfy our taste, and please us by their tone of cultured and refined sentiment. The variety of their contents can not be presented in selections, nor can all the qualities of any ode be adequately rendered in a translation. One of the shortest but not the least attractive odes is the following, addressed to his cup-bearer:

Persia’s pomp, my boy, I hate;

No coronals of flowerets rare

For me on bare of linden plait,

Nor seek thou to discover where

The lush rose lingers late.

With unpretending myrtle twine,

Naught else! It fits your brows

Attending me; it graces mine

As I in happy ease carouse

Beneath the thick-leaved vine.[71]

The following ode offers more variety, and is perhaps more representative:

One dazzling mass of solid snow,

Soracte stands; the bent woods fret

Beneath their load, and, sharpest set

With frost, the streams have ceased to flow.

Pile on great fagots and break up

The ice; let influence more benign

Enter with four-years-treasured wine,

Fetched in the ponderous Sabine cup;

Leave to the gods all else. When they

Have once bid rest the winds that war

Over the passionate seas, no more

Gray ash and cypress rock and sway.

Ask not what future suns shall bring;

Count to-day gain, whatever it chance

To be; nor, young man, scorn the dance,

Nor deem sweet Love an idle thing,

Ere Time thy April youth have changed

To sourness. Park and public walk

Attract thee now, and whispered talk

At twilight meetings prearranged.

Hear now the pretty laugh that tells

In what dim corner lurks thy love,

And snatch a bracelet or a glove

From wrist or hand that scarce rebels.[72]

The first book of Epistles. After the three books of Odes were published in 23 B. C., Horace returned to his previous manner of composition in hexameters, but gave to the collection of twenty poems which he published in 20 B. C., the form of letters or Epistles. These are sometimes real letters to his friends, sometimes satires or “talks” in the form of letters. The subjects of these poems are as various as those of the Satires, but it is evident that the poet is turning more toward philosophy. He advises his friends to take things as they find them, without allowing themselves to be troubled or excited (vi), he teaches the Stoic doctrine that virtue suffices to make men happy (xvi), he advocates calmness and the avoidance of care, and urges Tibullus (iv, 13) to live as if each day were to be his last. But he also sings the praise of wine (v, 16 ff.) and of the quiet life in the country (x, xiv). In two epistles he gives practical advice concerning intercourse with persons of high station, and various practical suggestions are found scattered through the other poems. In a letter to Mæcenas (xix) he ridicules his imitators and mocks at his critics. The twentieth poem is an address to his book as he sends it into the world. In it he foretells the various fortunes of the book, and at the end he gives his age, saying that he has seen four times eleven Decembers in the year of the consulship of Lepidus and Lollius. In these letters Horace reveals his character more fully and with a more delicate touch than in any of his other works. The Odes are the works by which he will always be best known, and to which he owes his great fame as a poet, but nowhere so fully as in the Epistles does he disclose his kindly and genial, yet serious views of life as they ripened with his advancing years.

In the seventh Epistle of the first book Horace refuses, at least for the present, an invitation of Mæcenas, on the ground that his health is poor and that he needs the repose of the country and the seashore. At the same time he explains the manner in which he wishes his relation to his patron to be understood. He is not a parasite, and openly says that he must retain his freedom, and can not be at the beck and call even of Mæcenas. In the first Epistle (lines 4 and 10) he refuses to write more odes, because he is no longer young and is turning toward philosophy. The second book of Epistles. The same attitude is disclosed in the second Epistle of the second book (lines 25 and 141 ff.). The poet wished to retire and pursue the study of philosophy; but he had gained much experience in literary matters, and in three letters, written probably between 19 and 14 B. C., he records the results of this experience. The first letter is addressed to Augustus, the second to Julius Florus. These two form the second book of the Epistles. The Ars Poetica. The third letter, addressed to the Pisos, father and two sons, was originally published with the others, but was soon separated from them, and is known as the Ars Poetica. This is not a systematic treatise on poetry, but Horace’s views, derived in part from his own experience, in part from his reading, are set forth in the easy style of a letter or talk. He insists that each poem must have a consistent fundamental idea or plot, that the characters of a drama must speak as befits their age and station, and must be drawn from life, he advises care in the choice of a subject, points out that nobody cares for mediocre poets, and that what is once published can not be recalled. Throughout the letter or treatise he constantly impresses upon his readers his conviction that good poetry is the result of hard work. Many critical and historical remarks are scattered through the Ars Poetica as well as through the two other letters.

In spite of his desire to give up the writing of poetry and to devote himself to philosophy, Horace did not finish his career as a lyric poet with the completion of three books of odes. In 17 B. C. it was decided that the Sibylline books required the celebration of the ludi sæculares, which were supposed to recur at the end of every sæculum, or period of one hundred and ten years. An important part of the celebration was the singing of a hymn in honor of Apollo and Diana. This was to be sung by a chorus of boys and girls of pure Roman birth, both of whose parents were living, and whose mothers had married only once. Horace was asked by Augustus to compose this hymn, and could not refuse the honor, which distinguished him as the official poet laureate of the Roman Empire. The Carmen Sæculare. The hymn, called the Carmen Sæculare, is a somewhat formal poem, as is fitting for the solemn occasion at which it was first sung, but it shows real religious feeling, mingled with pride and confidence in the Roman greatness. It is the work of a masterly artist and an inspired poet.

In addition to appointing him to write the Carmen Sæculare, Augustus demanded of Horace a song, or songs, in honor of his stepsons, Tiberius and Drusus. The fourth book of Odes. Horace could not refuse, and composed odes in honor of the victories of Drusus (IV, iv) and Tiberius (IV, xiv), to which he added thirteen other poems, making a fourth book of fifteen odes, written apparently in the years 17-13 B. C. The fourth book of Odes is in no way inferior to its predecessors in variety of form or perfection of workmanship, and it contains a larger proportion of exalted, patriotic poems. The sixth ode, addressed to Apollo, seems to be a proœmium to the Carmen Sæculare, or at any rate to have some connection with the ludi sæculares. The fifth ode, to Augustus, urging his return to Rome, and the fifteenth, also to Augustus, on the restoration of peace, celebrate the greatness of Rome as well as its ruler. Horace, as well as Virgil, though in a different way, was a poet of the Roman Empire.

As we look back upon the literary activity of Horace, we find that he turned at first to satires in hexameters and epodes in the simple epodic metre. The literary activity of Horace. Then he enriched Roman literature by odes in imitation of the early Greek lyrists, to return afterward to his original style in the more refined form of epistles. It was only at the command of Augustus that he once more composed elaborate lyrics. His lyric poems are not natural outpourings of sentiment, but deliberate attempts to add to the beauty of Roman literature and thereby to the glory of the Roman Empire. And it is chiefly to these poems that he owes his fame. They are not equal in merit, but they are the most perfect productions of Roman lyric poetry. As such they were recognized in Horace’s own lifetime, and as such they have been admired and loved through the succeeding ages, never more than in recent times. Countless scholars, poets, and men of letters have read them with delight, and many have been the attempts to render their inimitable charm in translations. But their subtle beauty defies the translator’s art. None but Horace himself has been able to express his delicate feeling and poetic fancy in such perfect form. The Satires and the Epistles are full of brilliant and witty sayings, of critical and historical remarks; they throw much light upon the social and literary life of the period, and make us acquainted with the character of the poet; but the Odes are “a monument more enduring than bronze,” testifying to the genius, the industry, the good taste, and, in some cases, to the patriotic spirit of the most perfect of Roman lyric poets.

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