It is of some importance to the argument in favour of Horace's sincerity and independence, that he had no selfish end to serve by standing well with Augustus. We have seen that he was more than content with the moderate fortune secured to him by Maecenas. Wealth had no charms for him. His ambition was to make his mark as a poet. His happiness lay in being his own master. There is no trace of his having at any period been swayed by other views. What then had he to gain by courting the favour of the head of the state? But the argument goes further. When Augustus found the pressure of his private correspondence too great, as his public duties increased, and his health, never robust, began to fail, he offered Horace the post of his private secretary. The poet declined on the ground of health. He contrived to do so in such a way as to give no umbrage by the refusal; nay, the letters which are quoted in the life of Horace ascribed to Suetonius show that Augustus begged the poet to treat him on the same footing as if he had accepted the office, and actually become a member of his household. "Our friend Septimius," he says in another letter, "will tell you how much you are in my thoughts; for something led to my speaking of you before him. Neither, if you were too proud to accept my friendship, do I mean to deal with you in the same spirit." There could have been little of the courtier in the man who was thus addressed. Horace apparently felt that Augustus and himself were likely to be better friends at a distance. He had seen enough of court life to know how perilous it is to that independence which was his dearest possession. "_Dulcis inexpertis cultura potentis amici,-Expertus metuit_," is his ultimate conviction on this head (Epistles, I. 18)-- "Till time has made us wise, 'tis sweet to wait Upon the smiles and favour of the great; But he that once has ventured that career Shrinks from its perils with instinctive fear." In another place (Epistles, I. 10) he says, "_Fuge magna; licet sub paupere tecto Reges et regum vita praecurrere amicos_"-- "_Keep clear of courts; a homely life transcends The vaunted bliss of monarchs and their friends._" (C.)