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This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. A UTHOR TITLE: HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER PLACE: DA TE : 1877 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 87HJ IH2 Restrictions on Use: Horatius Flaccus, Quintus. Horatius Flaccus, Quintus. (Satirae.Eng. Hovenden) Horace's life and character; an epitome of his satires and epistles, by R» M. Hovenden ••• London, Macndllan, 1877* viii, 180 p. 18 cm. TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: //X FILM SlZE:_3Sl^_y)<^ IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA (Jj) IB IIB DATE FILMED:_3-_2S_-_5_:^ INITIALS.^^^ HLMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. CT c Association for information and image IManagement 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring. Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 12 3 4 iiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiilii mw Inches 1 5 llllllll 7 8 iiiliiiiliiiiliii ITT UIM I I I I I 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm uiuuiiuuuuiuului^^ ^ TTT m 1.0 Ik 13. 163 ■^ 114.0 til. ^ 1.4 ■ 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 I.I 1.25 M MflNUFRCTURED TO flllM STfiNOPIROS BY PPPLIED IMAGE, INC. 1 WM IH^" in tite Citrj 0f Utw ^orli gilxraicij 5i> 5; ^ , ^ Hi !l ^ it HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. AN EPITOME OF HIS SATIRES AND EPISTLES. C' R. M. HOVENDEN, B^. AUTHOR OF A METRICAL PARAPHRASE OF THE ODES OF HORACE. Hontron : MACMILLAN AND CO. 1877 [All Rights reserved.l Csmlrflrge : PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. Vi' I, in the fashion of Lucilius, Our better, love to write in measured verse. Whether affairs went well or ill with him, He to his books, safe friends, entrusted all His secrets, thus the old man's life is shown As in a votive tablet to the world. Horace's Satires^ Book ii. Sat. i. 11. 28 — 33. -7 iij. I; CD 1^:- CD 00 3 ^ """^K. 78 /I Oi CONTENTS. FIRST BOOK OF SATIRES. PAGE I. Tantalus 3 III. Uncharitable Judgments -.,... 8 IV. A Plea for Satire ........ 13 V. A Journey from Rome to Brundisium .... 19 VI. The Freedman's Son 24 IX. A KIND of Burr 31 SECOND BOOK OF SATIRES. I. A Consultation 38 II. Homespun Philosophy .44 III. Damasjppus the Stoic 51 VI. Town and Country 58 VII. Playing with Edge-tools 65 Vlll CONTENTS, it [I 'f FIRST BOOK OF EPISTLES. PAGE I. To MAECENAS 73 II. To LoLLius 79 III. To Julius Florus 83 IV. To Albius Tibullus 86 V. To Manlius Torquatus 88 VII. To MAECENAS 9' VIII. To Celsus Albinovanus 97 IX. To Claudius Nero 99 X. To Fuscus Aristius 100 XL To BuLLATius 103 XIIL To ViNius AsELLA 105 XIV. To HIS Farm-bailiff 107 XVI. To QuiNCTius ^10 XVIL To Sc^vA i»5 XIX. To M^CENAS . . . "9 XX. To HIS Book »«2 HORACE'S SATIRES. BOOK L SECOND BOOK OF EPISTLES. I. To Augustus IL To Juuus Florus 117 141 EPISTLE TO THE PISOS, On the Art of Poetry 157 H. u I. Il I TANTALUS. Why do we always grumble at the life Shaped out for us by choice or circumstance, And envy the pursuits of other men ? Fortunate merchants! cries the veteran, Maim'd and disabled by the toils of war. Again, the merchant, storm-tost in his ship : Warfare is better! Lo! within the hour Comes sudden death or joyful victory. The lawyer fain would be a country-squire When at cock-crow a client knocks him up: 10 Epp. II. 1. 1. 103. 10 I- -2 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. 5 !l ii I I f I ':! The squire, sub-poena'd to appear in court, Vows there is nothing like a city-life. With instances enough to weary out The tongue of Fabius : not to weary you, Hear my conclusion. If some God should say : Behold, I grant your prayers : Soldier, be thou Merchant -, thou, lawyer, agriculturist ; Act your new parts on this side and on that; Away ! — They will not, when they may, be blest. Were it not just and right if angry Jove Vow'd he would play no more the easy god Thereafter, giving ear to their desires? Now, lest the whole thing seem an empty jest- Though jest may often wisely blend with truth, As kindly teachers tempt an idle child With sugar-plums to learn his accidence — Joking apart, see how the matter stands : The man, whose coulter turns the heavy soil, The soldier, and the storm-tost mariner. The crafty huckster, all alike pretend They toil to make provision for old age, 15 20 25 30 When they will take their ease, like as the ant, Pattern of industry, with claw and mouth Draws grain by grain and adds it to her heap. Far seeing, careful for the time to come. Yet when Aquarius makes the new year sad, She creeps not forth, but wisely uses food Amass'd before : whilst you nor summer-heat, Nor winter, sword, fire, storm, deter from gain; No rest, while any can your riches match. What profits all your gold and silver store For safer keeping buried under ground? — Once drawn upon it dwindles to an as, — If so, what beauty can your treasure boast? Though you thresh out a hundred thousand sheaves, You eat no more than I. Among the slaves. He, on whose shoulders weighs the bag of bread, Takes equal share with him whose back is free. What cares a man of judgment if his teams A hundred or a thousand acres plough? — There's something pleasant in an ample heap. — But if our little yields as good a meal. Why are your barns extoll'd above our bins? 35 40 45 50 I HORACE'S LIFE Wanting a cup or pitcherful, you say: . I'ci rather draw it from the river's bank Than from this little spring.— Fierce Aufidus, To punish your inordinate desire, Whirls bank and you together down the stream But he who only seeks to quench his thirst Neither drinks turbid water nor is drown'd. 55 60 Yet many a man, the slave of greed, replies : * Hoard, hoard ! The more you have the more you're worth.' How deal with such ?— Just bid them starve their lives Ev'n as they will They tell of one at Athens, Sordid and rich, who to the popular voice 65 Made answer thus : You hiss me, I applaud Myself, when gazing on my wealth at home.— Tantalus athirst gasps for the running stream That mocks his lip : why laugh ? I fable you, Under another name, who gape and sleep 70 On money-bags enshrined from eyes profane, And hold each coin a master-piece of art. Know you not money's worth? What use it serves? Bread it can buy and herbs, a flask of wine. AND CHARACTER, And much that human nature lacking craves. A life of ceaseless watching, day and night, In dread of thieves, incendiaries, slaves Who pilfer and abscond, is this delight? Far better to be poorest of the poor. 75 8 HORACE'S LIFE III. UNCHARITABLE JUDGMENTS. All singers have this vice, when ask'd to sing Among their friends, they're never in the vein, Unask'd they never cease. Tigellius Was always so. Caesar, who might command, Pleading his father's friendship and his own, Pleaded in vain. But, when the fit was on, From tgg to fruit he troll'd his supper-songs. Now high now low, through all the gamut's range. Eccentric always : swiftly now he ran As for his life, now paced like Juno's priest In solemn state. One day he had ten slaves. The next two hundred ; grandly now he talk'd Of Kings and Tetrarchs, then of simple fare, A shell of salt, a cloak however coarse That might suffice to fend him from the cold. Yet if you gave a million to this man ID 15 AND CHARACTER. Of simple wants and habits, in five days His chest were empty. He outwatch'd the stars At night and snored all day: never was man So inconsistent. Here one says: 'And you, Have you no faults?' 'Yes, not so glaring though.'- When Muenius at absent Novius carp'd, 'Go to,' men said, 'we know thee, know thyself.' 'But I absolve myself,' said Msenius. Mere self-love this and worthy of all blame. Why, if so purblind to your own defects. Flash like an eagle on your neighbour's faults Or Epidaurian serpent? Fear you not Lest he may call you to account in turn? One may be testy, sensitive to sneers From men o' the world ; perhaps ridiculous For hair ill-cut, cloak trailing on the ground. And slip-shod feet; yet surely a good man. None better; yet your friend; a genius 32 Epp. I. I. 1. 95. 20 25 30 aHmmi^iMmmm lO HORACE'S LIFE fti Rough in externals. Lastly, sift yourself, And see if Nature and an evil life Have left you free from vice, for weed and fern, Doom'd to the fire, grow in neglected fields. Those who would punish every fault alike Fail in their proofs : good sense and morals side With fair expedience bom of equity. ♦ The living things that first crawl'd forth on land. Dumb, brutish, fought for acorns and for dens With nails and fists, then clubs, and so advanced To weapons by suggestive practice forged; Until they found a tongue to symbolize Names, feelings ; then the age of war declined, Waird towns were built, and stringent laws ordained Against all robbers and adulterers. For Helen was not first of woman-kind To gender war, and many died unknown Whom, snatching beast-like at a passing lust, The stronger slew, as doth the bull of the herd. That laws were made in fear of wrong-doers, 35 ICO 105 no AND CHARACTER, All times, all annals of the world avouch. Just and unjust we cannot separate Like good and pleasant from their opposites. Nor logic prove that he who steals by night A neighbour's cabbage-sprouts sins equally With one who robs a shrine: we need a rule To harmonize offence and penalty, Lest cruel scourges take the place of whips. No fear have I that you will use a switch When heavier stripes are due, since you declare That petty theft and burglary are one, And vow to lop great crimes and small alike. When men make you their ruler. If the Sage Alone is rich, fair, shoemaker and king. Why long for what you have? You know not what Chrysippus says : the Sage who neither makes Slippers nor shoes is a shoemaker still.— How so? — Just as Hermogenes, though mute. Is singer, lyrist; as Alfinius, When he renounced his art and shut up shop. II 115 120 125 130 12 it-'l il HORACE'S LIFE Still shoemaker, in every trade the Sage Is master and so King. Rude boys will pluck Your beard, unless your staff can govern them. Beset by croivds I see you, burst with rage, Yelling with pain, O greatest of great Kings. To cut a long tale short : While you, the King, Go to your farthing bath, no body-guard About you, save Crispinus the inept, I ask the kind indulgence of my friends, And willingly in turn condone their faults, Happier in private life than you as Kmg. 135 140 AND CHARACTER, IV. A PLEA FOR SATIRE. Cratinus, Eupolis, Aristophanes, And others of the early Comic school, When they would brand a man as vagabond, Adulterer, bravo, rogue, or otherwise Notorious, spoke their minds without restraint. This was Lucilius' vein, who follow'd them. With feet and numbers changed: a witty man. Acute, but, as a versifier, harsh. Faulty in this, that often in an hour, Standing at ease, he spoke two hundred lines; The muddy stream brought waifs you cared to save. Wordy, too idle to improve his verse In quality, for quantity I care not. 13 10 Crispinus challenged me at heavy odds: 14 Epp. I. 19. 1. 43. 14 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. 15 * Take we our tablets, name the time and place, And umpires ; see which of us writes the more.' — I praise the gods who made me slow of speech And unprolific: you may imitate, If such your will, the goatskin-bellows' blast That works and puffs until the fire subdues The iron/ Blest is Fannius with his bust And testimonials, while no one reads The works I fear in public to recite, For many like them not, being themselves Open to censure. Sift the social throng, All are the slaves of pride or avarice. One covets plate, as Albius dotes on bronze, Another hankers for his neighbour's wife, A third goes trafficking from east to west Borne like a dust-wreath on the eddying wind, Through dangers oft and hardships of the sea, Fearing to lose a chance of greater gains. All these dread banter, hate the satirist. *His horns are tipp'd,* they say, *keep clear of him i 11 Epp. II. 1. 1. 267. 15 20 25 30 To raise a laugh he will not spare a friend, And boasts that every one, beldam or boy. Returning from the bakehouse or the tank, Has learnt his doggerel' Why should you dread me? My books on stall or pillar are not thumb'd By Hermogen Tigellius and the like. I read them but to friends and that perforce, Not everywhere to crowds. — The most recite Their verses in mid-forum, at the bath, Shut places aid the voice. — The more fools they, Devoid of common sense, who cannot choose Fit time and place. — You revel in abuse. And cavil of set purpose. — Whence this stone You cast at me ? Of those with whom I live. Who says so? He, who can backbite a friend. 35 70 75 80 I 11 i6 HORACE'S LIFE Or slink from him when blamed; who loves to catch A foolish laugh and be esteem'd a wit; Who keeps no secret; works in calumny; That man is base, Roman, beware of him. Ofl on three couches sup a dozen guests, Of whom one loves to mortify the rest, Except the host,-him, too, when many cups Have made his tongue the index of his mind. You, who denounce all malice, call this man Courteous, urbane and frank ; let me nickname Rufilius, civet-cat, Gorgonius, goat, I'm sharp and bitter. If, when you are by, Petillius Capitolinus' thefts Are mentioned, you defend him on this wise :— ' IVe known Capitolinus from a boy, Ask»d and received much favour at his hands, Am glad he lives unscathed among us still ; Yet his acquittal did astonish me :'-~ Mere rust and cuttle-fish excretion this. If one may dare to answer for himself, I promise that my writings and my mind «5 90 95 100 AND CHARACTER. Shall not admit such baseness. I may speak Frankly, jocosely, so much liberty You surely grant. My best of fathers taught me To brand and to avoid the baser sort. When he exhorted me to be content, Frugal and simple as became our means, * Take warning by the son of Albius,' He said, *or ruin'd Barms, not to waste Your patrimony:' he denounced the love Of harlots thus : * Be not Scetanus-like.* Or lest I coveted a neighbour's wife: 'Think into what a snare Trebonius fell. Let sophists, if it please them, lecture you On rules of right and wrong, enough for me, The natural guardian of your life and fame. To keep you moral as our fathers were. When time has strengthen'd you in mind and limb Swim without corks.' He train'd my boyhood thus; And whether he advised me to do well : — *You have authority for this,' he said, 17 P5 \ no "5 120 107 Sat. I. 6. 1. 82 seqq. M. ■ Ijlini 'i Ml iHI i8 HORACE'S LIFE if '''I Of the selected judges citing one : Or wam'd me from wrong-doing : ' Can you doubt If this will injure you, when such and such Are put to shame?' — The sick and gluttonous Turn to repentance when a neighbour dies, So, scandalous examples turn the mind From vice, in youth. By this means was I saved From deadly sins, though faults of lighter dye, Which may be pardon'd, held me ; even these Time, faithful friends, reflection may correct For always on my bed or in the porch I question with myself: Were this not well? Will this course mend my life, or please my friends ? Such a one acted meanly, and shall I Go, and do likewise? These things I debate, Alone, with lips compressed : when leisure serves, Jot down my thoughts :— one of the venial faults I ownM but now, which you must overlook Lest all the band of poets join with me, For we are numberless, and, like the Jews, Compel you to come over to our side. 125 130 135 140 I AND CHARACTER. 19 V, A JOURNEY FROM ROME TO BRUNDISIUM. Aricia was my first stage out of Rome : Inn, moderate : with me Heliodorus came, The rhetorician, leamedest of Greeks. Thence to Forum- Appi, haunt of pot-house rogues And bargemen ; lazily we took two days, 5 Where brisk folk one: — the Appian way is rough. The water being most vile, I fasted here, Impatient, waiting while the others supp'd. Already night above the shadowy earth Was lighting up the skies, when bargemen hurl'd 10 Abuse on slaves not backward in retort. * Bring up, here! What, three-hundred? Hold, enough!' In taking fares and putting-to the mule An hour was lost. Musquitoes and marsh-frogs Kept us .awake. The drunken steersman sang 15 His absent mistress, one i' the bows replied. 2 — 2 20 HORACE'S LIFE At length, the second falh'ng off to sleep, Our lazy bargeman turn'd the mule to graze, Made fast the tow-rope to a stone, and snored At day-break, seeing that our boat lay still, Out lept a choleric man, with willow staff Belabouring the bargeman and the mule : Not till the fourth hour were we put ashore. We wash'd our hands and faces in thy fount, Feronia, then we lunch'd and crawl'd tliree miles To Anxur, crowning the far-gleaming cliffs. Here my Maecenas and Cocceius Were due: ambassadors on great affairs, Anxious to bring together friends estranged. W^hile I with ointment salved my watery eyes. Arrived Maecenas and Cocceius, And with them Capito Fonteius, A polished man, Antonius' dearest friend. We pass'd through Fondi, laughing at the Scribe, Luscus, with all his airs of prator-ship. His purple-border'd robe and incense-pan. Weary we came at last to Formic, 20 25 30 \ IS AND CHARACTER, 21 Lodged at Muraena's, supp'd with Capito. Next day, at Sinuessa, joyful day! Plotius and Varius with Virgilius came ; Three souls, the brightest ever born on earth, Three souls, for ever dearest to my own. Oh! what embraces, what delights were ours! No joy exceeds the meeting of such friends. A hostel, close to the Campanian bridge Housed us, purveyors bringing wood and salt. The mules were loosed betimes at Capua, Maecenas went to ball-play, straight to bed Virgil and I, dyspeptic, blear-eyed pair. Cocceius* handsome house next harbour'd us, ' Above the Caudian inn. Now briefly sing, O Muse, how strove Sannentus the buffoon With Messius Cicirrhus, and the race Of either party. Messius of Oscan blood, Sarmentus, slave-bom. First, Sarmentus cries : *Whoa! Unicorn!' We laugh. Then, Messius snorts: 'Come on!' and shakes his mane. * Oh ! if your front Retained its horn what marvels might you do. 40 45 50 55 22 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER, 23 So fierce, though mutilated !' A vile scar Furrow'd his shaggy brow. Sarmentus, then, With jokes on his Campanian disease And ugly face, said : ' Dance the Cyclops' dance : You need no mask nor high-heel'd tragic boot.'- Cicirrhus next: 'Where is the chain you vow'd, An offering to the Lares? Though a scribe You be, your mistress has not lost her rights. Runagate slave ! Surely a pound of flour Sufficed for one so slender and so small.'- In short, our supper pass'd agreeably. Next day to Beneventum, where the host. Frying lean thrushes, overset the pan, And almost bum'd the house down : 'lambent flames Burst from the chimney upwards to the roof. You should have seen how guests with servants vied To save their supper and put out the fire. And now Apulia show'd her well-known hills, Scorch'd by sirocco; these we clomb with pain,' Until Trivicum lodged us for the night, 60 65 70 75 Where faggots green and wet provoked our tears. Hence, by fast coach, for four and twenty miles, To that small town whose name no metre fits. Known by these signs : ditch-water brings a price : The bread so fine that practised travellers Carry provision of it in their bags, For bread, like water, at Canusium fails : A town built long ago by Diomede. Here mournful Varius left his weeping friends. We joumey'd wearily to Rubi next. The road was heavy with incessant rain. Now, though the weather clear'd, the road got worse. As far as Barium, redolent of fish. Gnatia, the nymph-deserted, woke our mirth, Telling how incense on her altar melts Spontaneously. A Jew may credit this, Not I, who am instructed that the gods Lead careless lives j if Nature ever works By miracle she gets no aid from them. Brundisium ends my paper and my route. 80 Sat. II. 6. 1. 42. 80 85 90 95 24 III III *iil! ^ HORACE'S LIFE VI. THE FREED-MAN'S SON. Not though of all the Lydians who possessed Etruria none are nobler-bom than you, Maecenas, nor because your grandfathers. Maternal and paternal, held command Of many legions, do you look askance, As others might, on me the freed-man's son. You care not to enquire the parentage Of any one, bom free, and rightly hold That many self-made men of humble birth, Before th' ignoble reign of Tullius, Both lived with credit and in honour died. Whereas Laevinus, of Valerius' blood I 0. 1. 1. 1. I. 6 Epp. I. 20. I. -20. 10 A reign in itself very noble but itmoKT^ « i i IT- 1 ^ ""uie, out Ignoble as rerards the orimn r^r ♦»,« K.ng,whowasthesonofTarc,ui„i„sPriscus.Lucumo.byasLveS Cruquius. 10 AND CHARACTER, By whom proud Tarquin was expell'd from Rome, Was never priced above a single as, The people bidding, and you know them well, Prone to bestow their votes unworthily, Dazzled by busts and titles. How should we. So far removed above the vulgar, act? If to the new man Decius they prefer Laevinus, or if Censor Appius Quash my election for defect of birth. They but rebuke an ass in lion's skin. Returning to myself the freed-man's son, Whom they miscal the freed-man's upstart son, Now, as your guest, Maecenas; long ago, As tribune of a Roman legion named. The two things differ : they may rightly grudge My post of honour, but not so my friend, Cautious to sift from vulgar flatterers 25 15 20 45 50 45 Epp. I. 20. I. 20, 48 Horace, at a very early age, held the legionary rank of Tribune in Brutus's army. ipppi 26 til liljjl, It III HORACE'S LIFE * A worthy man. I cannot say that luck Assisted me in winning such a prize : It was no chance at all : Virgilius first, And, later, Varius spoke of my deserts. I came into your presence, told in brief— For modesty forbade my speaking much- Without the airs of a patrician youth Who rides afield on a Calabrian nag, Just what I was, and briefly you replied. As is your wont; and so I took my leave. But, nine months after, graciously recalFd, I found myself enroll'd among your friends. I cling to your esteem, who value men Not for great names but for pure heart and life. And if my nature, blameless on the whole Is fleck'd with some not flagrant blemishes, Regard them but as moles on a fair skin. If none can lay with justice to my charge Greed, meanness, evil haunts, if dear and true (Bear with self-praise) I live among my friends, I owe it to a sire of slender means, Who put me not to school with Flavius, 55 60 65 70 AND CHARACTER, 27 Where lubber-sons of great centurions. With bag and tablet dangling from their arms. Paid duly at the Ides their monthly fees; But carried me to Rome, that I might learn Those arts which every knight and senator Deems fitting for his sons. If any mark'd My dress and retinue among the crowd They would have thought me born to good estate ; He was himself my watchful pedagogue At every class. Enough : — he kept me chaste, Prime flower of virtue, not in act alone. But free from taint or breath of evil speech ; Nor fear'd lest men should blame him afterwards, If as a clerk or auctioneer I plied A petty trade ; nor had my will rebelled ; Yet all the more I owe him gratitude. I were a fool indeed could I lament My parentage, urging, as many do, That I was not consulted in the choice 75 Epp. I. 1. 1. 56. 82 Sat. I. 4. 1. 106, seqq. 75 80 85 90 _ ..l H il j. ,.T- 28 m if HORACE'S LIFE 100 Of such a father; heart and tongue revolt From such a plea : if it were possible For men to live their early years again And choose their parents for ambition's sake, Each at his will, yet I, content with mine. Would shrink from chairs of state and fasces; mad In the vulgar judgment, sane perhaps in yours, That I reject a charge which fits me not Expense would eat me out of house and home ; Mobb'd by acquaintance here, by clients there, Until I could not stir abroad alone. A string of slaves and horses must be fed, Carriages hired. Now go I, as I list, Even to Tarentum on a well-clipp'd mule. My saddle-bags behind, myself in front ; None jeer at me, O Tullius, as at you ; Your praetor-ship's equipment for the road or chppd. This process of shearing is found to keep the beast cooler and freer from cutaneous disorders. Their clipping recalls the 'mulus curtus' on which Horace could amble even to Tarentum. ., Ford's Gatherings from Spain, Ch. vii He travelled, too, with alforjas behind him. 95 105 AND CHARACTER, 29 no ^^5 120 Five slaves, chaise-percee, and a skin of wine. In this, in all, illustrious Senator, My life eclipses yours. I stroll about, Here, there, enquire the price of flour and herbs ; Sometimes at night-fall, to the Forum go Or Circus, haunts of fortune-telling cheats. Then saunter home to sup on leeks, pulse, cakes. Served by three slaves; a marble slab sustains My ewer with three cups; a salt-cellar. Cruet and saucer of Campanian ware. I go to bed, not haunted by the thought That I must stand, at dawn, by Marsyas Who glares down on the younger Novius. I lie till four; then walk, or write and read As fancy prompts ; anoint myself with oil, Not such as Natta filches from the lamps; And when the hot sun drives me to the bath I quit my ball-play at the triangle; ' 121 The statue of Marsyas, flay'd alive by Apollo, stood in front of the Rostra, and near it lawyers and commercial men met to transact business. Horace says, jocularly, that Marsyas camiot bear the sight of the younger Novius, who was an usurious skin-flint. The place took its name from the statue. Cruquius' Old Commentator, 125 30 41 HORACE'S LIFE Then, having eaten just enough to stay My stomach's craving, take my ease at home. Thus live I, from ambition's bondage free, Happier than if a Qu^storship were made Hereditary in my father's house. 130 AND CHARACTER. 31 IX. A KIND OF BURR*. Sauntering as usual in the Sacred Way, Absorbed I know not in what trifling thoughts, One whom I scarcely knew by name ran up, Seizing my hand : * How are you, my dear friend ?'- *Well as times go, and hoping all you wish.' — Then to be rid of him : *Your servant. Sir.' — * You know me, sure ! A man of letters, I.' — •The more your merit.'— Longing to escape, I moved on, came to a halt, whisper'd my slave, In perspiration bathed from head to foot. * 0, for Bolanus' ready wit !' I sigh'd.— 10 • Measure for Measure^ A. iv. Sc 3. 32 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. 33 % While he went babbling on of this and that, Praising the streets, the city, I was mute. * Ha ! you would shake me off, but I hold on : Go where you will, I follow.'— *Not at all, Out of your way entirely : I am bound To visit a sick friend, who knows you not, Across the Tiber, close to Caesar's grounds.'— 'AH right; IVe legs and leisure, come along.'— I let my ears droop, like a stubborn ass Grievously burthen'd. He resumes : * If well I know myself, Viscus nor Varius Is worthier of your friendship : none can write More verses or more quickly : I dance well : And when I sing Tigellius envies me.*— I put a question here : *Have you no mother. Kinsfolk, well-wishers?'— •None, all buried, all !'— 1 8 Epp. II. a. 1. 10. 15 20 25 Thrice happy they, my turn is next, despatch. The hour is come by Sabine witch foretold, Turning her magic urn, to me a child : Thee neither drug shall kill, nor hostile sword, Nor pleurisy, nor cough, nor limping gout. Loose talk shall be thy bane, of chatterers Beware, if wise, when grown to man's estate. The fourth part of the day was pass'd : we came To Vesta's ; he, bound over to appear In court hard by, or pay the penalty, Cried : * If you love me, come in here awhile.'— *I have no skill in law, I cannot stay; Bound you know whither.'— < I must either lose My cause or you.' — * Me, pray !*— ' I will not do it* And on he stalk'd, I following, as a slave Attends his master. Presently, he ask'd: * How fare you with Maecenas, a shrewd man, II* 30 35 40 nr 111 .» I iipni fl 34 HORACE'S LIFE ■He .if II » r I (I \ Exclusive top, he push'd his fortunes well; If you would introduce me, I could play Into your hands and help you to supplant All rivals.' — 'There, we live not as you think; No house so pure, so free from jealousies. What matters it to me if one is rich. Another learned, each one finds his place.*— 'Strange, hardly credible.'— ' Yet so it is.'— 'Your words inflame my purpose to get at him.'— * Be firm of will, a man of your deserts Must conquer : force the outworks ; if you can, The citadel must fall.'— 'I'll spare no pains; Corrupt his servants ; if denied to-day Try him again to-morrow; bide my time; Waylay him in the streets; conduct him home; Make life one struggle.'— While he talk'd and plann'd. My friend Aristius, who knew the fellow, Met us ; we stood together : Whence come you, 45 50 55 60 AND CHARACTER, 35 65 70 He asks, and whither going? We respond.— I grasp'd his passive arm, I nodded, wink'd. Made signals of distress ; the wicked wag Stared at me blankly, and my bile was stirr'd. * Surely you spoke of something you would say To me, in private?' — 'Yes, but not to-day; The thirtieth Sabbath : would you scandalize The curtail'd Jews?'— 'I have no scruples, I.' — * But I am less strong-minded, of the many ; Excuse me, we will talk another time.' — False friend ; Wo worth the day ! He left me there, Under the harrow. As good luck would have it, The plaintiff comes : 'Vile wretch, you scape me not! Sir, you bear witness?' — Quick I lend my ear; 76 When a dispute could not be settled amicably, the plaintiff summoned his adversary to go with him before the Pnetor, by saying: I appeal to the court: let us go into court : come with me to the tribunal ; or the like. If he 3—2 75 3<5 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. He hales him into court, wild shouts ensue And tumult. Thus Apollo set me free. refused, the prosecutor took some one present to witness, saying: May I lake you to witness? If the person consented, he offered the tip of his ear, which the prosecutor touched. Then the plaintiff might drag the defendant into court by force. But worthless persons, as thieves, robbers, &c., might be dragged before a judge without this formality. Thus in Plaut. Pers. iv. 9. v. 10: S. Come, Pander, walk into court. D. What do you accuse me of ? S. I'Utell that to the Praetor: come on. D, What witness have you? S. Do you think, O flesh-monger, that I would touch any mortal citizen's ear on your account. Adams' Roman Antiquities^ p. 207. HORACE'S SATIRES. BOOK 11. \ - * \ I 38 HORACE'S LIFE A CONSULTATION. ! My satire seems unjust and harsh to some, To others weak and pointless. These aver That verses such as mine might run to waste A thousand in the day. *Trebatius, Advise me what to do.'— *Do nothing.' — *What; Throw down my pen?' — *Just that.'— *Upon my life, Twere better so, if I could sleep at night.*— 'That you may soundly sleep, anoint yourself, AND CHARACTER. 39 Swim Tiber thrice, and take a draught of wine. But if this itch of writing plagues you, sing Of Csesar's great achievements : such a theme Ensures success.' — *I would, but lack the power: Not every one can paint war s bristling ranks, The Gaul with broken spear-head in his breast, The wounded Parthian reeling from his horse.'— * And yet you might describe him, just and brave. As did Lucilius Scipio.' — *ril not fail, In fitting season ; but no verse of mine Shall buzz importunate in Caesar's ear. Who, startled rudely, kicks out right and left.'— *Yet, why lampoon Pantolabus the fool. Or spendthrift Nomentanus : every one Dislikes and dreads you, though ungall'd as yet.'— *What can I do? Milonius longs to dance When double candles daze his wine-struck eyes ; 10 Epp. II. 1. 1. 250 seqq. 18 Epp. I. 13. 1. 3; II' !• 1* 221. 33 Sat. II. 3. 1. 224. 10 15 20 25 f i I ! If I ' 40 HORACE'S LIFE Castor loves horses, Pollux boxing-gloves, Twins they: how many heads so many tastes. I, in the fashion of Lucilius, Our better, love to write in measured verse. Whether affairs went well or ill with him, He to his books, safe friends, entrusted all His secrets, thus the old man's life is shown As in a votive tablet to the world. I, Puglian or Lucanian, learn of him :— (Venusian settlers either frontier hold, Sent thither when the Samnites were expell'd, Lest through the gap Rome's enemies might pass, Both districts making common cause with them.) But never shall this pen without a cause Wound any man, guarding me like a sword Kept in its sheath, which I would only draw On thieves and rogues. O king and father, Jove, Would that my blade were eaten up with rust, And I at peace with all men. Touch me not, I warn you, all detractors, or your names Shall be the laughing-stock of half the town. Cervius enraged invokes the law and urn; 30 35 40 45 AND CHARACTER. 41 50 55 Canidia threatens poison; Thurius A crushing judgment, if he tries your cause. That each wiU use the weapons nature gives, As nature prompts, we surely must agree, The wolf his teeth, the angry bull his horns. Instinctively. To spendthrift Scaeva trust His mother's life, he does no violence. The wolf gores not, the bull bites not, O strange! Yet sweeten'd hemlock makes an end of her. Whether, in short, old age may bring me peace, Or death's black wings fold round me in my prime ; Rich, poor ; in Rome, in exile if so be ; Whatever my condition, I shall* write.' — . * Rash youth ! you tempt your fate, some great man's friend Will strike you dead.' — «What! when Lucilius Wrote in this fashion and took off the mask Which many, foul within, wore outwardly, Was Laelius, or he whose name derived From vanquish'd Carthage, at his wit incensed, 63 Epp. I. 16. 1. 44» 60 65 i 42 HORACE'S LIFE Or cared they if Metellus was hard hit, Or Lupus verse-bespattefd ? He arraigned The people and their leaders, tribe by tribe; Siding with virtue and with virtue's friends. But when brave Scipio and wise L«lius Withdrew themselves at home from vulgar tyt% With loosen'd zones they joked and pla/d with him TUl supper came. And I, inferior In rank and talent to Lucilius, Envy must own, have lived among the great; And if my fancied weakness tempts her tooth She'll find me tough. What says Trebatius, Learned in law?' — *Your case is plausible; Yet bear in mind how slight neglect of forms May get you into trouble : he who writes 70 75 80 AND CHARACTER, 43 Bad verses against any one incurs A heavy doom.' — « Bad— yes : but if they're good ; Approved by Caesar. If himself unsoil'd He barks at one who merits all reproof?' — *The court breaks up with laughter; you go free.' 85 83 The libel-law was very severe in Rome: awarding even the sentence of death in flagrant cases. 83 A. P. 1. 284; Epp. 11. 1. 1. i5«- I ~ i 73 Scipio Africanus and Laelius are said to have lived on such terms of fnendship and familiarity with Lucilius. that on one occasion, whilst they were waitmg till supper was ready, Laelius is represented as dodging round the couches of the triclinium with Lucilius in pui^uit. tiying to lash him with a twisted napkin. Cruquius' Old Commentator. 74 Epp. I. 20. 1. 23. I \\ 44 HORACE'S LIFE II. HOME-SPUN PHILOSOPHY. How great the virtue of frugality, (A favourite thesis by Ofella held Wise without method, self-taught, rustical) Learn, not at tables heap'd with bumish'd plate, When eye and brain are dazzled, and the mind, Caught by vain show, refuses better things, But fasting here discuss : I'll tell you why. A judge subom'd plays fast and loose with truth When you have hunted, or rough-rid a horse Unbroke \ nay, if such Roman sports suit not Your Grecian taste, when you have play'd at ball, Or put the stone that cleaves the yielding air, Foi^etting in your game the force you spend, Till thirst and hunger cure your daintiness. Scorn common food; without Hymettian honey 10 15 AND CHARACTER. 45 Touch not Falemian wine : your steward 's out, Rough seas protect the fishes : bread and salt Will tame the wolf. Whence comes this miracle, And how ? The charm lies not in costly meats, But in yourself. No whet to appetite Like out-door work. Scar, oyster, lagois, Fail to delight men bloated with excess. Can I persuade you when a peacock's served Not to prefer it to the guinea-fowl? No : for the rare bird bears a higher price, And show^ a gaudy tail. What use in that ? You cannot eat the feathers you admire, And all his splendours vanish when he 's cook'd ; Yet this flesh to the other you prefer, And let your fancy fool your palate thus. What faculty enables you to tell A jack-pike taken at the Tiber's mouth From one between the bridges caught? You praise A three-pound mullet served on many plates ; All vanity: or why abuse the pike Grown to full size? Simply that Nature made The one fish long, the other light of weight \ 20 25 30 35 4<5 • HORACE'S L/F£ AND CHARACTER. 47 ■\ A fasting man can relish common food *Give me a mullet that will fill a dish/ Cries some Harpeian feeder. Hot south-winds I Their viands taint ! Yet why invoke your aid ? Fresh turbot and boards head excite disgust In maws intemperate that ever crave New stimulants. Not yet all poor-men's food Is banished from rich tables; eggs remain, And olives find their place. Not long ago The board of rich Gallonius was disgraced By sturgeon. What, was turbot then so scarce ? They were as safe as storks within their nest, Till praetor Rufus brought these into vogue. If he should say that spitted gulls are sweety Some Roman youths would serve them as a roast. Simple, not sordid, should your table be, Ofella says, or you avoid one fault To stumble on another. Avidienus, To whom his name, the dog, so aptly sticks. Munches dry cornels, olives five years old, Washing them down with wine to verjuice tum'd; 40 45 50 55 And though with toga scour'd he celebrate A marriage-feast, a birth-day or the like, 60 Drops with his own hand on his cabbages. Out of the kitchen horn, to your disgust. Foul smelling oil, nor spares his vinegar. Which style of living will the wise man choose, Will he be wolf or dog? as people say. 65 He must be careful not to give offence By sordid habits; rule his household well, Without rough usage, like Albutius The savage; nor, like easy Nsevius, Let them hand greasy water to his guests. 70 Think now, how great and manifold the gain Of moderate living. First, your health is good : Remember how the single dish of old Left your digestion easy and complete. Now roast and stew, shell-fish and thrush combined, 75 Discord and tumult in your stomach raise, And vex your mucous membrane. See, how pale 68 The Scholiasts say, this savage old man used to flog his slaves before they did wrong, ♦ because/ said he, ' when you do wrong, I may not be at leisure to flog you. ' — Macleane's Horace, Tr . HORACE'S LIFE Men rise from heavy suppers : last night's vice Weighs down the body and through it the soul, Embruting the diviner part of man. Another, supping lightly, sleeps at once, And wakes refreshed to his appointed work. Yet will he sometimes give himself a treat. When the New- Year brings round a festive day, Or his spare body craves a little change, Or when years and infirmity excuse Soft treatment: what can men fall back upon. In youth and health carousing to excess, When sickness overtakes them or old age? Care you for good report, more sweet than song To human ears? Great fishes, pots and pans, Bring shame and loss. An angry uncle scolds. Your neighbours tattle, and you long to die, Hating yourself, yet lack the wherewithal To buy a halter.— -* Lecture Trausius, Not me,' he says, *with ample revenues 80 85 95 ICO AND CHARACTER, And treasure to endow a leash of kings.' — If so, you might to more advantage put Your surplus. Why does any good man want ? Why fall our ancient temples to decay? Why does your country share not in your wealth? For you alone all things of course go well, laughing-stock to be ! But which of these. When Fortune changes, best can trust himself: The man with mind and body steep'd in vice, Or he who lives content, yet looks ahead And wisely arms for war in time of peace ? For instance, this Ofella, as a boy 1 knew him, spent as owner of his land No more than now as tenant: at the farm, With sons and herds around him, hear the carie. Boasting: I take no food on common days But vegetables with a knuckle of ham. If, on a rainy day when work is slack. Some pleasant neighbour or old friend drops in, I feed him not on fishes brought from Rome But kid and pullet: for dessert we have 49 105 no 115 120 H. 50 HORACES LIFE AND CHARACTER. 51 Split figs, brown filberts, and the hanging grape. And after this goes round the loving-cup; Offerings we pour to Ceres for her gifts, - 125 And smoothe the wrinkle from our brows with wine. Let fickle Fortune rage and do her worst, What can she miiy^h hence? Am I, are you, My children, starved since the new landlord came? Nature grants land in perpetuity 130 Neither to me, nor him, nor any one. He ousted us, but fraud or subtle law, Or his next heir will cast him out in turn. Umbrenus holds what once Ofella held. No man's for ever: given in usufruct, 135 Now here, now there. Wherefore be stout of heart, • And show a bold front to adversity. 134 Soldiers, when their term of service expired, were usually rewarded by treasury pensions or by grants of land. The ager Venusinus appears to have been distributed among his soldiers by Augustus, after the battle of Philippi. The name of Umbrenus would then supersede Ofella's in the land-register. III. DAMASIPPUS THE STOIC. One Damasippus, having squander'd his fortune in art-collections and other costly follies, was about to drown himself in the Tiber, when he was turned from his purpose by Stertinius the Stoic, who showed him that all the world was as mad as he. He embraced the Stoic philosophy and set himself up as censor of the follies and vices of men. He is introduced reproving the idleness of Horace, who draws him out to discourse at large on madness, general and particular, winding up with the following denunciation of extravagance, profligacy and superstition. Take Nomentanus now, the Sybarite, For wise men class the spendthrift with the mad. He, to a thousand talents falling heir, Bade fishermen, bird-fanciers, fruiterers. Perfumers, and the Tuscan-quarter scum. 225 224 Sat. II. 1. 1. 22. 4—2 52 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER, SI Poulterers, and Velabran parasites, Come to him earfy. Well. They came in crowds. 230 The pander speaks: Whatever these and I Possess at home is yours without reserve. Now hear what this most just young man replies: Booted, you sleep on snow, that I may sup On boar's flesh; you net fish in wintry seas; 235 I would not be ungrateful. Here, take you A million sesterces; take you the same; You, for your wife's sake, must have thrice the sum. Clodius, in haste to swallow up his wealth, In vinegar dissolved a precious pearl 240 Drawn from Metella's ear; 'twere just as wise To cast it down into the common sewer. Were Quintus Arrius' sons, the noble pair, Well match'd in love of folly and of vice. Who often dined on costly nightingales, 245 Sane or insane, with chalk or charcoal mark'd ? If any bearded man delights to build 250 255 Sand-castles, drives a team of hamess'd mice, Plays odd and even, rides upon a cane, He surely must be mad. When reason shows The love of women still more puerile, And that the pastimes of a little child Are nobler than your waste of time to gain A harlot's smiles, will you not imitate The convert Polemon, and wear no more The trappings of your servitude, as he Furtively put his supper-wreath away, Abashed at the ascetic master's voice? Offer a spoilt brat fruit: He mutters:— No.— Press him: I won't — But give him none, he pouts. Just so the lover argues with himself: Shall I, or not? — And uninvited haunts 261 Sat. II. 7. 1. 89. id. Horace sets forth a lover's self-questioning, borrowed, nearly word for word, from Terence's Eunuchus, with the slave Parmeno's reflections upon it. — 260 54 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER, 55 The envious door. She sends for him again : Shall I return, or make an end of it? Shut out— recaird; — shall I go back? Not I.— A slave says wisely : Master, when a thing Is formless, methodless, we cannot treat it By form and method: such a thing is love: Quarrelling, making up: now squalls, now calms: A tempest in a duck-pond; which if man Could but reduce to reasonable laws. With form and method he might lose his wits. When you rejoice, if with an apple-pip You chance to hit the ceiling, are you sane? Or, lisping senile nonsense to a girl. Wiser than castle-builders in the sand? Add blood to folly, fire and sword combine : When Marius slew Hellas and destroy'd Himself, was he insane or criminal? Can you, by straining terms to meet the case. Condone his madness and condemn his crime? 265 270 275 280 There was a freed-man, sound in ears and eyes, Old, sober, who with wash'd hands ran about, At all street comers praying thus: Save me, Me only, no great boon for Gods to grant, From death! His mind, unless litigious No man could warrant sound : Chrysippus counts Him and his Hke of the Menenian clan. O Jove, who bringest down and takest up, — A mother cries, beside her sick child's bed,— Let but this quartan fever leave my boy, And he, on thy appointed fast, shall stand Naked in Tiber. If rare skill or chance Save him from death, his mother's frantic zeal And the cold stream will bring his fever back. Poor victim of her superstitious vow. — These arms Stertinius, the eighth wise man. Gave me, his friend, gainsayers to confound. Who calls me mad shall own himself a fool, 285 290 295 S6 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. 57 When I spread out the wallet at his back. — A rising market to your dear-bought wares I Yet show me, Stoic, my peculiar craze, For to myself my mind seems sound enough. — Just so Agave with her dead son*s head Thought herself sober! — Well ! to own the truth, I know myself a fool and even mad. But tell me freely what ingrain'd defects You tax me with. — Attend now; first you build; That is, you, two foot nothing that you are, Vie with the tallest. When you ridicule The swagger and the disproportion'd strut Of the dwarf Turbo, are you less absurd? Why must you do all that Maecenas does, You, so unlike in fortune and in rank? A fry of tadpoles, by a calf s-foot crush'd, Died, all but one, who told the absent frog That some huge beast had squash'd the family. How big? drawing her breath, as big as this? — 300 305 310 315 Bigger by half. — As this? — While more and more She swells herself; You could not, if you burst, Come near his size. — Your portrait, to the life. Add now your poems, that is, oil to fire; If sane man ever wrote such you are sane. Your violence. — Enough !— Your style of living, Beyond your means. — Nay, mind your own affairs. Your profligate excesses and amours. — fool the greater, bear with fool the less. 324 Epp. I. 8. 1. 9, 10. 320 — 325 58 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER, 59 VI. TOWN AND COUNTRY. This was my prayer : a farm of moderate size, A garden-house beside a tinkling brook, May be a little wood. The Gods fulfill'd My utmost wish: 'tis well: I ask no more, O Mercury, but to retain them still; That neither greed may urge me to augment Nor vicious waste to dissipate thy gifts; Nor folly whisper: Ah! that comer-field, How nicely it would fit into my farm, If I upon an urn of silver chanced, Like him who finding treasure bought the land He plough'd for hire, by aid of Hercules. If I am grateful for the past, henceforth 10 Let my beasts fatten and all else except My wits, and prosper me as thou art wont. IS So, when from town I seek my mountain home, What subject most befits my pungent Muse? Ambition grieves me not, nor leaden skies. Nor feverish Autumn, harbinger of death. O Janus, father Matutinus hight, 20 To whom, as heaven ordains, men dedicate Their life and works, be thou my earliest theme. At Rome, thou hurriest me to bail a friend : — Come quickly* lest another take thy place. — Though North-winds blow and winter's narrowing arc 25 Obscures the day with snow-storms, I must go. This business despatch'd, I push my way Among the crowd, and tread on some one's toes. The impious man with curses turns on me: What do you mean? Must all folks stand aside, 30 That you may get back to Maecenas, fool! — This pleases me, I own; but when I reach The Esquiline, a swarm of petty cares 14 Epp. I. 8. 1. 6. 6o HORACE'S LIFE 35 40 Buzz round me: — Roscius entreats you meet him, At two, beside the Puteal to-morrow. — The scribes remind you that they sit to-day On matters of importance ; Quintus, come. — Take care Maecenas seals these tablets, will you?— I'll try.— He growls : Nay, if you will, you can. — Seven years ago, Maecenas first began To be on friendly terms with me; that is, He took me in his coach and chatted thus : What time is it?— Think you Gallina of Thrace A match for Syrus?— Keen, this morning air. — Trifles dropped kindly in receptive ears. Since then, each day and hour, am I the butt Of envy :— Always with him at the games; Or ball-play in the circus : lucky man ! — Bad news flows from the rostra through the street : 35 The Puteal Libonis, a building in the Forum. The place or its neigh- bourhood was the resort of money-lenders. 42 Sat I. 5. 1. 86. 45 AND CHARACTER. Thus waste I tedious days. Venusia, When shall I see thy blest retreats again? And with old books, and sleep, and leisure hours. Drown all my cares in sweet forgetfulness ? When shall the bean, kin to Pythagoras, And pot-herbs, duly cook'd in lard, be served? O nights and suppers of the Gods, which I 61 50 Each gossip asks me: Flaccus, my good friend, You, trusted so by men in power, must know, What have you heard from Dacia? — Nothing, I. — Close as a shutter, eh? — By all the Gods, Not one word. — Then: the farms that Caesar gives His soldiers, are they on Italian soil. Or in Triquetra?— When I vow I know not, They say: Was ever man so still and deep? — 55 60 AND CHARACTER. 63 M Eat by my own fire-side with loving friends, And feed my servants on the ample scraps! Each drinks just what he will, and when he will, Large cups or small, exempt from foolish laws. Then we converse: — no idle gossipry And tittle-tattle from a neighbour's house; Nor whether Lepos dances well or ill; But themes that interest the worid at large; As, whether wealth or virtue makes the man? Is interest or esteem the root of love? What is the nature and the scope of good? Upon all this my neighbour Cervius grafts His senile parable. If one extols The treasures of Arellius, he begins : Once in his hole a country mouse received A city mouse, old host, old guest were they. Sharp, watchful of his stores; yet liberal In hospitalities. Enough! He grudged not His friend the long oat nor the treasured vetch; Brought raisins and half nibbled scraps of lard, Hoping by such variety to tempt His palate, for he scarcely touched the food; 65 75 80 85 While he, the master, lying in the straw. Ate tares and darnel, fasting from the best. Then spoke the guest: Friend, how can you endure To live secluded on this woody ridge, 90 Far from the haunts of men and city-feasts? Come home with me: know that terrestrial mice Are mortal; there is no escape from death, For great or little. Wherefore, my good mouse, Live happy while you may; enjoy yourself; 95 Mindful how brief is life. The country mouse Fired by his words leaps lightly from his hole. They journey on together, purposing To creep by night under the city walls. Great darkness reigns in heaven as both the friends 100 Enter a wealthy house, where coverlets Of richest dye on ivory couches glow. And much remains of yesterday's repast Preserved in well-fill'd baskets stand around. The city-mouse then lays his country friend 105 In purple, girds himself, runs to and fro, Prolongs the feast, with assiduity 62 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. 63 i \ Eat by my own fire-side with loving friends, And feed my servants on the ample scraps ! Each drinks just what he will, and when he will. Large cups or small, exempt from foolish laws. Then we converse : — no idle gossipry And tittle-tattle from a neighbour's house; Nor whether Lepos dances well or ill; But themes that interest the worid at large; As, whether wealth or virtue makes the man? Is interest or esteem the root of love? What is the nature and the scope of good? Upon all this my neighbour Cervius grafts His senile parable. If one extols The treasures of Arellius, he begins : Once in his hole a country mouse received A city mouse, old host, old guest were they. Sharp, watchful of his stores; yet liberal In hospitalities. Enough! He grudged not His friend the long oat nor the treasured vetch; Brought raisins and half nibbled scraps of lard, Hoping by such variety to tempt His palate, for he scarcely touch'd the food; 65 70 75 80 85 While he, the master, lying in the straw. Ate tares and darnel, fasting from the best. Then spoke the guest: Friend, how can you endure To live secluded on this woody ridge. Far from the haunts of men and city-feasts? Come home with me: know that terrestrial mice Are mortal; there is no escape from death. For great or little. Wherefore, my good mouse, Live happy while you may; enjoy yourself; Mindful how brief is life. The country mouse Fired by his words leaps lightly from his hole. They journey on together, purposing To creep by night under the city walls. Great darkness reigns in heaven as both the friends Enter a wealthy house, where coverlets Of richest dye on ivory couches glow. And much remains of yesterday's repast Preserved in well-fill'd baskets stand around. The city-mouse then lays his country friend In purple, girds himself, runs to and fro, Prolongs the feast, with assiduity 90 95 100 105 64 AND CHARACTER. I4f k If ? i Of service, tasting every dish he brings. The other, soft-reclining, much enjoys His lot, his food, his host: when suddenly no A clash of doors scares either from his couch ; This way and that they run, in deadly fear When fierce Molossian dogs begin to bark. Then says the guest : A country life for me. Thanks, fare you well! I'm for my hole again, 115 To feed securely on my frugal pulse. 65 VII. PLAYING WITH EDGE TOOLS. Long have I listen'd and would fain reply, But dare not. — Is it Davus?— •ft Davus, yes: A slave whose faithful service might have earn'd True life, free speech. — Come, for old use and wont, Take your December privilege, have your say.-^ 5 4 Cruquius, differing from Tumebus and Lambinus, thus interprets the words 'ut vitale putes'. Horace's answer puts aside the real meaning of Davus, who was pleading, not for the momentary license of the Saturnalia, but for per' petual freedom. The condition of the slave is such that he has no share in mans natural life, which consists in free speech and free action. Cruquius' entire argument is too long for insertion in this place. 5 h i I! % 66 HORACE'S LIFE Part of mankind, on self-indulgence bent, Sin of set purpose; others fluctuate, To evil now inclining, now to good. Priscus, one day three-ringM, bare-handed goes The next, and shifts his badge from hour to hour; lo Now grandly housed, now in some foul abode, Of which a decent freed-man were ashamed. A libertine in Rome, in Greece a sage, Doom'd by Vertumnus to inconstancy. Lewd Volanerius, after well-eam'd gout 15 Crippled his joints, hired one at daily wage, With bed and board, to gather up the dice And put them in his box. Consistent sin Weighs not upon the conscience like the faults Of those who play at fast and loose with vice. — 20 At whom point you these stale moralities?— At you, I say. — How so, you gallows-bird? — You laud the simple habits of the past, Yet, if the Gods restored them, would recant; Either because your mind belies your tongue, 25 Or wanting firmness to defend the right; AND CHARACTER. 67 With one foot free, the other in the mire. At Rome you praise the country; being there. Extol Rome to the skies. If nowhere bid To supper, praise your vegetarian fare. Hate social slavery, are exceeding glad To spend a sober night. But if at dusk Maecenas sends for you to fill a gap: Quick— Where's my lantern, look alive— you bawl And bluster, till you're off: while Mulvius And others, who had thought to sup with you, Go growling home. He thinks, perhaps, like me: I own I love my belly, savoury smells Delight me, foolish, lazy and a glutton. Should you, who are no better, maybe worse, Be hard upon me, tricking out your vice In specious phrase? A greater fool than I, Your poor five-hundred drachmas-worth. Hands off I I care not for your choler or your frowns; And only tell what Crispin's porter says. You haunt your neighbour's wife, a slave-giri I, 28 Epp. I. 8, 1. 12. 35 40 45 68 HORACE'S LIFE AVhich most deserves the cross? A peccant wife Is at her husband's mercy, you as well, Nay, with more justice ; for she sought you not, Went not disguised, espying time and place. Although she dreads you and distrusts your love. You hug the yoke, and, for a mad caprice. Imperil reputation, body and soul. You 'scape! has past experience made you wise? Not so, you long to risk your all again. Slave to the end. A beast, who snaps his chain. Learns once for all to prize his liberty. I'm no adulterer, say you? — No; nor I In act a thief when coveting your plate : But make it safe, and nature shows herself. My master, you ! In bondage to the world In matters great and small, whom Praetor's wand Touches in vain, it cannot set you free. Now to conclude: Is he who serves a slave A substitute, as custom phrases it. Or fellow-slave? And such am I to you. You, who rule me, are ruled by other men, 65 i^ 70 75 w 80 :. AND CHARACTER. A puppet play'd upon by alien strings. — Who, then, is free.^ — The sage who rules himself: Whom neither want nor chains nor death affright. Who curbs his lusts, nor hankers after place, Polish'd and round and in himself complete ; Whom things external soil not; Fortune's frowns Appal not Do you recognize yourself? A woman asks five talents of you, rails And drives you, drench'd with water, from her door. She calls you back : — throw off the shameful yoke ; Say, once for all, I'm free. You cannot do it. A hard task-master goads your weary mind. And turns you round to work against your will. And when you gaze, infatuate, on a work Of Pausias, are you less to blame than I, On tiptoe, where a poster represents, In red and black, sword-players at their work, Who thrust and parry to the very life? Davus is naught; a loiterer: but you, 89 Sat. IT, 3. 1. 261 seqq. 69 S5 90 95 100 yo HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. A subtle connoisseur and judge of art. I love a smoking cake : that's bad. Do you Of your great virtue sumptuous feasts avoid ? Devotion to my belly harms me, why? My shoulders suffer; shall you go scot-free, Whose stomach craves for high priced delicacies? Good things repeated sting you in the end, When gouty feet from bloated body flinch. Base is the slave who for a bunch of grapes Empawns a scraper : how much nobler he, Who sells a farm to furnish forth a feast? You cannot spend a leisure hour at home, Sick of yourself, a restless vagabond, With wine and sleep by turns beguiling care, In vain : she ever follows at your heels. — Oh ! for a stone ! — What's up now? — For a spear !- He's mad, or ranting verses! — Get you gone, Or work, a ninth hand, on my Sabine farm ! 105 o no HORACE'S EPISTLES. BOOK I. 115 ^9 # i 4. I. TO M^CENAS. First theme and last, Maecenas, of my song, Why should I mix in the old game again. So often shown that now I wear the foil? My age, my mind are changed. Veianius, Lest he should beg for quarter at the last, Offering his arms to Hercules, retired. A warning voice has whisper'd in my ear : Turn the old horse in season out to grass. He'll prove a roarer else, a butt for fools. So, putting verse and sportive themes aside. To truth and wisdom I devote my thoughts, And store them in my mind for future use. 10 <(*PM 74 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. n But,— if you ask me of my sect or school,— Not caring to endorse a master's words, I thread the maze of independent thought; 15 Now boldly swimming on the civic wave A satellite of virtue and of law ; Now falling back on Aristippus* rules, Constraining, not constrain'd by circumstance. As night seems long when lovers are untrue, 20 And day to men who toil; as lags the year That brings release from hated pupillage; So, sluggish and distasteful are the times Wasting my hope and purpose to achieve That which may profit rich and poor alike, 25 Or, if neglected, wrong both young and old. Be this the rale and solace of my life : You cannot see as far as Lynceus sees, But skilful treatment may improve your eyes: You cannot rival Glycon's strength of limb, 30 But temperance may hold your gout in check: So far right means avail if not beyond. For hearts inflamed by lust or avarice, The charms and precepts of philosophy Soothe pain and mitigate disease in part Ambition stirs you? — remedies abound In books thrice read with pure and docile mind. Wrath, envy, sloth, intemperance or love? — None are so wild but that they may be tamed If we to culture lend a patient ear. First step in virtue is recoil from vice. In sense from folly. See, with what a strain On mind and body men contend against Those which they deem the worst of human ills, A poor estate or failure at the hustings. In dread of poverty the merchant flies Through seas and rocks and fire to utmost Ind, And scorns the teachings of experience That show the hollowness of all he seeks. What village boxer, flushed with trivial praise, But would aspire to the Olympian prize, If he might have the palm without the dust ? Silver to gold, to virtue gold is dross. With Romans money is the first and last. 35 40 45 50 !l 76 HORACE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER, 77 I 1 And virtue nowhere: all the forum rings With this vile doctrine, tainting men and boys With bag and tablet hanging on their arms : — If of four hundred thousand sesterces Some six or seven lack, it matters not That you be wise, true, moral, eloquent, You are plebeian. Boys at pastime say : * He who does best is king.' — A conscience pure, Void of offence, let this my stronghold be. Now tell me, which is better, Otho's law. Or the boys* song that gives the highest place To men of Curius' or Camillus' mould ? He who bids you make money, if you can Honestly, but make money, that's the point, To have a stall at Pupius' doleful plays; Or he whose doctrine and example teach: 55 60 65 70 57 Sat. I. 6. 1. 75. 58 Otho Roscius, tribune of the people, settled a Knight's fee at this amount. No one whose income fell short of it could be advanced to tlie dignity of 'eques'. 66 O. I. 12. 1. 42. 69 In the theatre, fourteen rows, next to the Orchestra, where the Senators sat, were reserved for the Knights. Adam's Roman Antiquitk'Sy p. 15. Do well, and fear not Fortune's haughty looks.? But if the Roman people ask me, why I haunt their schools but hold their teaching cheap, Nor seek nor shun the things they love or hate, I answer, as the cautious fox replied 75 To the sick lion : — All the tracks I see About your den point forwards, none return. — O many-headed beast ! what part to choose I know not. Some aspire to farm a tax; With dainties some for greedy widows fish, 80 Or snare old men to fat in their preserves; Many grow rich on usury; and yet While one delights in this and one in that. Neither holds fast his purpose for an hour. Let Dives say: No spot on earth outshines 85 Baiae in loveliness : the lake, the sea Sparkle to greet him. When a new caprice Inspires him : Off, my masons, tools and all. Off to Theanum ! On his marriage-bed He vows: Old Ccelebs is the happier man: 90 85 O. II. 18. 1. 20. III. 1. 1. 33—6. / 7^ HORACE'S LIFE If single : Marriage is a blesse'd state : No cords this ever-changing Proteus bind. The poor man— have your laugh !— he shifts his bed, His garret, bath and barber; hires a boat, And sea-sick apes his betters in their yacht. You laugh to meet me with my hair ill-dress'd; If -with a tunic fresh, and thread-bare vest. Or cloak put on awry, you laugh again. But when my judgment falsifies itself; Scorns what it sought; asks back what it misprised; Confuses all the order of my life ; Pulls down, builds up, and alters square to round ; I*m mad in the worid's fashion, you laugh not. Nor think I need physician, or trustee Named by the Praetor. You, my patron, you. Whom I revere as monitor and friend, Take umbrage at me for an ill-cut nail. In fine : the n\an of sense is next to Jove ; Rich, handsome, free, respected. King of Kings,— Specially s6und, when phlegm annoys him not. 96 Sat. I. 3. 1. 31. 109 Sat. I. 3. 1. 125. 95 100 105 ] 10 AND CHARACTER, XL TO LOLLIUS. Whilst you, great Lollius, declaim in Rome, I, at Praeneste, study Homer's works. Who Grantor and Chrysippus far excels In painting things base, noble, true and false; Why I think thus, if you have leisure, hear. He tells how Paris and his guilty love. The heats of foolish kings and those they ruled, Entail'd ten years of war on Greece and Troy. Antenor would remove the cause of strife. But Paris scorns to live and reign in peace, Upon compulsion. Nestor would appease The feud of Agamemnon and Achilles, 79 -ti JO If 80 HORACE'S LIFE 1 One fired by love and both by jealousy, But kings go mad and Greeks must pay the cost : Sedition, fraud, lust, violence abound 15 Within the walls of Ilium as without Again, in his Ulysses he presents A type of manhood with true wisdom join'd, Who, when Troy fell, his settled purpose held To visit many cities, many men, 20 And battling stoutly with the adverse waves Bore grievous hardships on his voyage home. You know the Siren's song, and CirceV cup, Whereof had he partaken with the rest, Slave to a harlot mistress he had lived 25 The life of dogs unclean and wallowing swine. We are the herd, bom to consume earth's fruits, Penelopean suitors, epicures ; Pamper our bodies, like Alcinous, Sleeping till noon, and driving care away 30 With the inglorious tinkling of a harp. Thieves rise by night that they may take men's lives, 17 A. P. 1. 141. AND CHARACTER. 81 To save your own you will not move a step Till dropsy quickens you. Unless you call For lamp and books before the morning breaks And give your mind to study better things. Envy and lust will rack you on your bed. Sore eyes you treat at once, a mind diseased May wait for treatment till another year. Begun — half-done: dare to be wise — begin. He, who puts off the season of reform. Waits like the rustic till the stream goes by, Which still runs on and will for evermore. Money you seek, a wife to bear you sons, And lands with wood o'ergrown to plough reclaim; Let him who has enough desire no more; Nor home nor land nor store of bronze and gold Can keep their owner's mind and body free From care or fever: what he needs is health, First requisite for using all things well. Who fears or covets, house and home enjoys As blind men pictures, gouty men their wraps. Ears stuff 'd with wax the music of a lute : H. 35 40 45 50 / 82 HORACES LIFE AND CHARACTER, ^l Keep the vase clean or its contents will spoil. Scorn pleasure, seldom worth the price it costs; 55 Greed always wants; set bounds to your desires; Envy grows lean when others fatten near; Sicilian tyrants found no sharper rack Than envy. He who lets his passions loose Does many things that he will wish undone, 60 Hastening revenge of wrongs with violence. Rage, while it lasts, is madness. Rule your mind With curb and bridle lest it master you. The breaker trains a colt while tender-mouth'd To feel the bit: the hound, while yet a pup, Learns from the skin it worries in the hall. To draw the woods : so you, pure-hearted youth, Instruction from your elders should receive; The cask keeps long the flavour it imbibed When new. Choose your own pace, I neither lag 70 With those behind, nor press on those before. 65 in. TO JULIUS FLORUS. In A.U.C. 734 an embassy came from Armenia to Rome, praying that Aujjustus would place upon the throne Tigranes, who was then living in exile at Rome. Augustus assented and sent Tiberius with Tigranes to dethrone Artaxias. About his person Tiberius appears to have had a number of young men, such as Titius, Celsus, and Munatius, mentioned in this epistle, and Julius Florus, to whom it is addressed. Celsus was secretary to Tiberius. Whether the others had any definite occupation, or were merely travelling to enlarge their experience and see the world, is not stated. Macleane's Horace, Florus, I long for news of Claudius, Our Caesar's step-son; where his camp is pitched, Whether in Thrace, by Hebrus' icy chain, Or where twin towers guard the Hellespont, Or in the Asian hills or fertile plains. 5 What of the studious cohort? Let me know 0- -2 «a