The Student's Companion to Latin AuthorsMiddleton, George
Philosophy
The Student's Companion to Latin Authors
Middleton, George
Authors, Latin; Latin literature -- History and criticism
The _Satires_ are called _Sermones_ in all the MSS., but as Horace
gave this name both to his Satires (_Sat._ i. 4, 42) and to his
Epistles (_Ep._ ii. 1, 4; 250) it is convenient to call them
_Satirae_, the name which Horace also gives them (_Sat._ ii. 1, 1; 6,
17), and which represent their intended scope. Horace's chief model is
Lucilius, whom he wished to adapt to the Augustan age. _Sat._ i. 4, 56,
'his, ego quae nunc,
olim quae scripsit Lucilius.'
So _Sat._ ii. 1, 28 and 74. Lucilius' influence is seen most in _Sat._
i. 2; 5; 7; 8; ii. 2; 3; 4; 8. Horace, after the reception _Sat._ i. 2
met with, did not, like Lucilius, attack individuals; nor did his
position as a dependent (_Sat._ ii. 1, 60-79) allow him to do so. We
find, therefore, no political satire in Horace, who confines himself to
social and literary topics. He does not attack his contemporaries by
name, but (_a_) takes some names from Lucilius, as Albucius (_Sat._ ii.
1, 48), Opimius (_Sat._ ii. 3, 142); (_b_) invents 'tell-tale-names,' as
Pantolabus (_Sat._ i. 8, 11), Novius (_Sat._ i. 3, 21). In _Sat._ i. 4
and ii. 1 he defines the moral and social aim of his satire. In _Sat._
i. 4, 1-13 he criticizes Lucilius' style; this seems to have given
offence, and in _Sat._ i. 10 he gives reasons for his former criticism.
Horace's Epicureanism is more pronounced in Book i. than in Book ii. In
_Sat._ i. 1 and i. 3 (cf. ll. 99-124) the influence of Lucretius is
seen. In i. 3 he takes up an antagonistic position to Stoicism (cf. ll.
124-142). In ii. 3 he shows less hostility to Stoicism though he still
criticizes it.[58] In _Sat._ ii. 7, where the slave Davus enunciates the
Stoic doctrine, ὅτι μόνος ὁ σοφὸς ἐλεύθερος, Davus' arguments from
l. 75 onwards have been taken by Horace from Cic. _Parad._ 5.
Horace does not pretend that his Satires (or Epistles) are poetry, and
makes several statements to that effect. _Sat._ ii. 6, 17,
'Quid prius inlustrem satiris musaque pedestri?'
_Ep._ ii. 1, 250,
'Sermones ... repentes per humum.'
So _Sat._ i. 4, 39-44.
The _Epodes_ are called _Epodi_ in the MSS. Ἐπῳδός was the
name given to a piece composed of couplets, the first line of which is
longer than the second. Horace calls them _iambi_ (_Epod._ 14, 7;
_Od._ i. 16, 3). Their style is an imitation of that of Archilochus of
Paros. _Ep._ i. 19, 23-5,
'Parios ego primus iambos
ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus
Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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