Venusia, the birthplace of Horace, was a Latin colony, founded between the third Samnite war and that of Pyrrhus. This town, which had always been true to the Romans, is mentioned by Appian (whose accounts of this are very trustworthy) among those which revolted in the Social War: it must therefore have lost its Latin character, and, like the other peoples in those parts, have rather become Lucanian and Oscan in feeling. Horace says, that he went to school with the sons of centurions: this is a hint that Venusia must have been a military colony, and in fact one of Sylla’s, which may be accounted for by that rebellion. Moreover, when Horace wrote the second book of his _Sermones_, a new military colony must have been established there; for Ofellus, whom Horace when a boy had still seen well off, had had his allotment of land given away to a soldier. Horace’s father was a _libertinus_; the cognomen of Flaccus, if the father had it as well, would prove that he was not of foreign, but of Italian race: his father may indeed have been taken prisoner in the Social War, and sold for a slave; for otherwise the children of freedmen have different names. The father gave his son a very liberal education: when Brutus came to Greece, Horace, who was twenty-two years old, was staying at Athens whither his father had sent him. He with several other young Romans entered the army, and, what was an immense honour for the son of a freedman, was promoted by Brutus to be a tribune. This raised a good deal of envy; but it shows him to have been a distinguished young man, as there were at that time not more than six tribunes to every legion. After the battle of Philippi, he made his escape like many others, and was perhaps under the protection of Messalla; then he went to Rome, where he was recommended to Mæcenas, who soon became exceedingly fond of him, interesting himself for him even more than he did for Virgil: this kindness of Mæcenas, Horace received with great gratitude. Mæcenas made him a present of a small farm on the Sabine hills, where, as he had indeed but few wants, he lived retired and happy: in his latter years especially, he was almost always there. The life of Horace by Suetonius is very interesting; and from this work, as well as from the poet’s own writings, Wieland in his commentary, particularly on the Epistles, has said many very fine things on his personal character and his position in the world, and has cleared him of many a calumny: he has shown that Horace deserves the reproach of being a flatterer far less in truth than Virgil, as unfortunately we cannot help allowing. His praises are the outpouring of a general feeling, which he very fairly shared with other persons of his day. Wieland moreover points out how he tries to keep himself from being dependent on Mæcenas, and to push the golden chains aside as far as he could do so without seeming ungrateful. Augustus was not at all pleased when Horace did not dedicate to him the first book of