3 2 the end of the year 43 B. c. It is probable that he went over into Asia at the beginning of the year 42, and was with Brutus and Cassius at their meeting in Sardis; and at that time visited Clazomenae' and Lebedus, and perhaps other places, with which, in some of his poems, he seems to exhibit a personal acquaintance. But he was certainly present at Philippi, in the summer of 42, and took part in that decisive battle, which sealed the fate of the republic. He has recorded, in one of his Odes, his military experience at Philippi, confessing the abandonment of his shield and his hasty flight, and attributing his rescue to Mercury, the god of poets. This playful passage has been the subject of far too grave discussion by learned writers, who have labored in turn to accuse and to acquit Horace of rank cowardice; but the truth seems to be, that along with the frank admission from the poet that he was not born to be a soldier, "the abandoned buckler," "the hasty flight," and the rescue by Mercury, "When Valor's self exhausted sank, And forced was e'en the boldest rank point to a defeat which he shared with all his comrades, to the abandonment of a desperate cause, and to the flight from a field on which the republic itself had fallen for ever. With the battle of Philippi, Horace renounced war and politics, and, availing himself of the indulgence of the conqueror, made his way back to Rome; by what route it is quite uncertain, unless we accept the view suggested by a line in one of his Odes," that he sailed for the western coast of Italy, and, on the voyage, escaped the peril of shipwreck off Cape Palinurus, to which he there alludes. On his return to Rome, the prospects of Horace were by -inopemque paterni Et Laris et fundi, Epist. 2, 2, 50. no means encouraging. His father had died during his absence; the little Venusian estate yielded him no longer its humble revenues, whether it had been sold, and the proceeds were now exhausted, or had been lately confiscated along with other Venusian lands, and assigned to some veteran of the triumviral army; the son of a freedman, he had no rich family connections; and, an ex-tribune in the republican army, he could hope for no favor from Octavianus and his associates. Casting about him for some way of support, he seems to have found sufficient means, from the remnant of his patrimony, or from some other source, to purchase the place of a quaestor's clerk,' the small emoluments of which supplied his immediate wants. But the condition of Horace at this time was far from hopeless, and many a son of genius has risen to eminence from circumstances much less propitious. He had ample means of help near at hand, and within himself, and these were to be fully developed by the pressure of necessity. Nature had been kind to him at his birth; and, besides endowing him with rare intellectual gifts, had blessed him with a parent, who had furnished him with all the means of education, both at home and abroad, which the times afforded. His studies at Athens had widened and enriched his earlier literary culture; and even his brief and hapless military experience, while it damped his youthful ardor, and taught him some salutary lessons of life, added directly to his poetic resources, by storing his mind with lively images caught from the camp and the field. The exigencies of his situation now forced him to enter his proper career of literature; "bold poverty," to use his own emphatic words, "impelled him to write verses."2 These words have given rise to much speculation touching the immediate motives and expectations of Horace; but it seems obvious from the words themselves and from the scope of the This is a point involved in obscurity. Suetonius (Vita Hor.) says: scriptum quæstorium comparavit. The only direct allusion which Horace makes to his holding such an office, is in Sat. 2, 6, 36 & 37. -paupertas impulit audax, Ut versus facerem; Epist. 2, 2, 51. B whole passage, that he turned to poetry, at the impulse of "bold poverty," that he might thereby in some way or other better his condition, and rise to fame and fortune. Though some of the Epodes as well as of the Odes were probably composed at the very beginning of his career, yet he chiefly gave himself at first to the composition of satire; to which kind of poetry he was naturally drawn by the manners of the times, so fruitful in satiric themes, as well as by his own natural turn for the observation of character, and perhaps, too, by a sense of dissatisfaction with his present fortunes. His poetical talents soon attracted the attention of Virgil and Varius, who had already acquired some celebrity, and were high in favor with the great men of the day. These two poets, discovering in the young Horace a congenial spirit, cultivated his acquaintance; and, generously aiming at his advancement in the world, procured him an introduction to Maecenas, who was no less distinguished for his patronage of men of letters, than for the active part he bore in public affairs. Of this interview Horace has given an interesting account in a Satire, written not long after it occurred. The poet approached the courtly statesman with some embarrassment, but told him with a manly frankness the story of his humble origin and fortunes; Maecenas received him with his usual reserve, and dismissed him with few words, and no proposals; and, after the cautious interval of nine months, summoned him again to his presence, and admitted him to the brilliant society of his house, and to a personal acquaintance with himself, which rapidly matured to an intimate and abiding friendship. With the commencement of this near relation to Maecenas which belongs to the year 38 B. C., we have reached the decisive epoch of the poet's life; it was the auspicious event, The words sed, quod non desit, etc., are plainly opposed to what has gone before, and the manifest meaning is, that, as he is now in comfortable circumstances, he is not, as he was then, compelled to write. Sat. 1, 6, 56-62. a Sat. 1, 6, 55. which turned the tide of his fortunes, and shaped with a kindly influence the whole course of his subsequent personal and literary career. In the following year, along with his brother poets Virgil and Varius, he accompanied Maecenas on a journey to Brundusium, an incident which he has celebrated by one of his Satires; and the First Book of Satires, published two years later, every where abounds in familiar allusions to his patron and friend, besides containing two pieces directly addressed to him. During the interval of the publication of the First and the Second Book of Satires, he received a welcome and substantial proof of the friendship of Maecenas in the gift of a small estate in the romantic country of the Sabines, about thirty miles from Rome. This was the Sabine farm,— intimately associated with the life and poetry of Horace, the very name of which has a charm for every reader of his works. Its situation, extent, and scenery, and the capacities and uses of its lands, are all described in the poet's verses.1 It was situated about fifteen miles north-east from Tibur, (the modern Tivoli,) in a secluded valley, which was watered by "the cool Digentia," and sheltered by the high Sabine hills alike from "the rainy winds and the fiery heat of summer;" in near view were "the sloping Ustica," and the lofty Lucretilis;" and close by the farm-house were "the garden, the spring of never-failing water, and the little piece of wood-land," to fulfill the long-cherished wishes of the poet. The place yielded corn, wine, and olives; and was large enough to support in other times the families of five Sabine farmers, and under its present and probably less thrifty proprietor to need the oversight of a steward, 10 and the labor of eight slaves.11 2 9 The occupation of his Sabine farm was an important and memorable event in the history of Horace; it gave him a ib. 1, 14; ib. 1, 18, 104 & 105; compare 0.1, 17; Epist. 1. 10. 6–23. 1 Epist. 1, 16, 1-16: ib. 22, 9; ib. 2, 18, 14; 8 Epist. 1, 16, 1-3; ib. 1, 14, 23; ib. 1, 8, 4 & 5; comp. O. 1, 20, 1; ib. 3, 16, 29-31. 9 Epist. 1, 14, 1-3. 10 Epist. 1, 14. 11 Sat. 2, 7, 118. 6 3 home of his own, with means of support and enjoyment, that satisfied his moderate wants, and met the cherished longings of his heart; a delightful rural retreat,2 remote from the smoke and noise and crowds of the city, and congenial to study, and the exercise of his art. In its possession, he expresses his sense of full content; he would not exchange his Sabine vale for troublesome riches, assured that he is far happier than the lords of vast estates. Here he loved to repose in the deep shades of the valley," or invigorate his body and spirit by the pure air and romantic beauty of the adjoining hills; here by his own hearth he gathered about him his country neighbors for cheerful and instructive discourse, or entertained his friends from the city with a plain but cordial hospitality; and here, from such scenes as these, whether amid the solitude of nature, or the glad festivities of the social hour, he caught the inspiring influence of many of his finest poems. 8 From this time the life of Horace went on in even prosperity; passed chiefly in the retirement of the country, or in the stately mansion1 of Maecenas at Rome, and devoted in turn to his poetic studies, and to the claims of friendship and society. The Epodes and Odes, his next works in the order of publication, if not of composition, bear witness to the intelligent and patriotic interest with which he watched the progress of public affairs, to his lingering apprehensions of renewed civil strife, and his joy at the brightening prospect of settled peace and order. 12 His constant intercourse with Maecenas brought him into friendly connections with the eminent men of the time,13 and at length drew upon him the favorable regards of Augustus. 15. The relations of Horace with Augustus have been the sub Hoc erat in votis: Sat. 2, 2, 61. 2 Hae latebrae dulces, Epist. 1, 16, unicis Sabinis. Sat. 2, 6, 28. 5 O. 3, 1, 47 & 48. Sat. 2, 6, 70-117. 10 Molem propinquam nubibus arduis, O. 3, 29, 10. "Epod. 7: Epod. 16. 12 O. 4, 15. 13 Sat. 1, 5, 31-33; |