we instantly see the fine address of the Poet. Once disjoin the two odes in arrangement: by what attraction should they find their way back again? M. Sanadon, instead of recognising the criminosi Iambi (vv. 2, 3.) in the extant Epodes v and xvII, imagines those libellous verses to be lost; and as well in disjoining as in conjoining-on a plan of his own-the different pieces here alluded to, surpasses even his usual reach of extravagance; whereas in the natural succession which is now given to those pieces, 1 S. VIII. Olim truncus eram ...., (and 2 S. 1. 48. Canidia Albuci, quibus est inimica, venenum.) Ep. v. At O Deorum...; and xvII. Jam jam efficaci. ; 1 C. XVI. O matre pulchrâ . .; and xvII. Velox amænum ... .;-the history of all the parties concerned may be read straightforward with every advantage of interest and perspicuity. It is time to proceed to the 11d Book of Satires. As far however as the personal history of Horace is involved in settling the question of his chronology and localities, I have already anticipated in those pages the principal remarks which belong to this part of the Dissertation. Nor will the reader be displeased, after so extended and discursive a range, to be told that we are now approaching towards the conclusion so far of my original design. A few points only remain to bring matters down to the closing date of the Epodes. And then, the writings of Horace either in the Odes or in the Epistles, when those works are once set in chronological order, may well be allowed to tell the story of his life, which in fact his writings then constitute; illustrated only by a few references to the public annals of Rome. Let us now, therefore, take up the second book of Satires. At this stage of Horace's history, when he was just possessed of the Sabine estate, we find him forming grand resolutions as a kind of censor and moralist. 2 S. II. 9. Atqui vultus erat multa et præclara minantis. He had this year retired on the Saturnalia (v. 5) into the country for leisure and for warmth. v. 10. Si vacuum tepido cepisset villula tecto. The latter charm we know the country possessed. 1 E. x. 15. Est ubi plus tepeant hyemes? If it be asked what were the causes of that advantage, the Cato Major § XVI. may be consulted for explanation: Ubi enim potest illa ætas aut calescere vel apricatione melius vel igni, aut vicissim umbris aquisve refrigerari salubrius ?—the command of a sunny position on the one hand, and the plenty of fuel on the other. And it may be remembered that in that famous Epistle (xiv.) on the Sabine farm, Horace tells his Villicus that the Calo in the city envied him amongst other things (vv. 41, 2.) the ready supply of logs; which at Rome they had not. invidet usum Lignorum et pecoris tibi calo argutus et horti. Horace (who reports himself [1 E. xx. 24] solibus aptum) when more advanced in years, loved to pass his winters on the sea-coast. Thus in that fine Epistle to Mæcenas, 1 E. vII. 10-13. Quod si bruma nives Albanis illinet agris, Incidentally we gather from another Epistle, that to Scæva, (xvII. 52, 3,) that Brundusium and Surrentum also were scenes of resort in winter ; Brundisium comes aut Surrentum ductus amœnum, f and in that (xvth.) to Numonius Vala, Quæ sit hyems Veliæ, quod cœlum, Vala, Salerni, &c. when he thought of going to the cold-baths of the one place or the other, after he has stated (vv. 2, 3.) Antonius Musa's judgment on his case, Mihi Baias supervacuas... Horace proceeds to tell his friend, that he will have to ride his horse past the hitherto well known houses of call, on the way to Cumæ or Baiæ; Mutandus locus est, et diversoria nota Præteragendus equus: Quo tendis? non mihi Cumas Est iter aut Baias, &c. To return to the 1d Satire; on the literary design then alluded to, in packing up his books to carry with him from Rome, he did not forget (v. 12) Archilochus: and when we come to the Epodes, we shall discover in the assaults on Mana (Iv), on Cassius Severus (vi), on Mævius (x), and on other unlucky objects of his wrath, that in studying under that great master of Iambic bitterness he had learned his trade well; πολλοὶ μαθηταὶ κρείσσονες διδασκάλων. as the man said when he stole the Mercury. This fact too, in its way, is demonstrative of the Epodes being absurdly collocated in the old order before the Satires: the fruit produced, and then the tree planted! Of the vith Satire (Hoc erat in votis, &c.) good use has been made in the former part of this Dissertation, as bearing on the great object, to illustrate the life and localities of Horace: one only remark shall be drawn from it now. In the golden treatise De Senectute (§ XIV.) old Cato describes in general his convivial enjoyments: Me vero et magisteria delectant, &c. (he proceeds to transfer the scene into the country :) quæ quidem in Sabinis etiam persequi soleo; conviviumque vicinorum quotidie compleo, quod ad multam noctem, quam maxime possumus, vario sermone producimus. Yet even Cato's party, in his hour of enthusiasm, could hardly have enjoyed with higher zest "The feast of reason and the flow of soul;" than Horace gave and received in that delightful society, which at his own villa (Sabine also) he so cordially entertained. 2 S. vi. 65-75. O noctes cœnæque Deùm ! prout cuique libido est, Siccat inæquales calices conviva, solutus Sermo oritur, non de villis domibusve alienis, Nec male necne Lepos saltet: sed quod magis ad nos Quidve ad amicitias, usus rectumne, trahat nos: With those neighbours of his, to whose cheerful instruction he contributed while yet a novus incola among them, he appears to have been a great favourite from his earliest residence. And many years after he first occupied that estate, 1 E. XIV. 2, 3. [olim] habitatum quinque focis, et Quinque bonos solitum Variam dimittere Patres, we find not only every sign of their being reconciled to his superiority, for such it must have been, but the best proofs possible of good sense and good humour on his part and theirs. He amused himself with rustic labour, for which his figure (pinguis, 1 E. iv. 15. and Corporis exigui, xx. 24.) did not exactly adapt him and they as naturally laughed at his awkwardness. vv. 37-39. Non istic obliquo oculo mea commoda quisquam Limat, non odio obscuro morsuque venenat : Rident vicini glebas et saxa moventem. In passing to the Epodes, very little appears for remark to my purpose which is not already forestalled. We have seen Horace carry the Poems of Archilochus with him for study and imitation into the Sabine valley. And as we know the severe model of correctness in writing which he laid down for himself and enforced upon others, the conclusion is fair, that he had taken most faithful pains with the task, when he afterwards expresses such pride in the execution. 1 E. xix. 21-25. Libera per vacuum posui vestigia princeps, Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben. By the bye, Horace has paid himself a compliment here which truth does not warrant. Canidia alone might testify, that when in the Parian vein, Horace wanted neither talent nor bitterness to drive a Lycambes mad. On the historical bearing of the book of Epodes, nothing can be more satisfactory and singularly distinct than the paragraph quoted in the Chronological Table from Mr. Clinton's Fasti Hellenici, under the year B. c. 31. It ought however to be remarked, that in the Epodes also Horace by no means intended to arrange the several pieces according to the exact order of time. Thus Epode VII. Quo, quo scelesti.... contemplates the impending war betwixt Cæsar and Antony as yet distant, and with horror and dismay deprecates such an event. The date of it, therefore, must be carried back as far as other considerations will |