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. [Sidenote: The first book of Satires.] 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 _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: