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!